Gorillaz
British virtual band
Gorillaz are an English virtual band formed in 1998 by the musician Damon Albarn and the artist Jamie Hewlett. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: 2-D (vocals, keyboards, melodica; vocals provided by Albarn), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (guitar, keyboards, backup vocals) and Russel Hobbs (drums). Their universe is presented in media such as music videos, interviews, comic strips and short cartoons. Gorillaz's music has featured collaborations with a wide range of musicians and featured artists, with Albarn as the only permanent musical contributor.
With Gorillaz, Albarn departed from the distinct Britpop sound of his band Blur, exploring a variety of musical styles including hip hop, electronic and world music. The band's 2001 debut album, Gorillaz, which features trip hop, punk rock, dub and Latin influences, went triple platinum in the UK and double platinum in Europe, with sales driven by the success of the lead single, "Clint Eastwood". Their second studio album, Demon Days (2005), went six times platinum in the UK, double platinum in the US, and spawned the successful lead single "Feel Good Inc.", along with other hit singles such as "Dare", "Dirty Harry" and "El Mañana". The band's third album, Plastic Beach (2010), featured environmentalist themes, synth-pop elements and an expanded roster of featured artists. Their fourth album, The Fall, was recorded on the road (mainly on Damon Albarn's iPad) during the Escape to Plastic Beach Tour and released on 25 December 2010.
In 2015, after over ten years providing the voice of Russel, Remi Kabaka Jr became a permanent percussionist and music producer for the band.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Gorillaz” as british virtual band. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as british virtual band. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q189991. VIAF identifies the subject as 133543207. The Library of Congress control number is no2002020758. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1998, 2001, 2005 and 2010.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gorillaz” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.