Damon Albarn discusses regret over failed album with David Bowie and Ray Davies
Damon Albarn has opened up about how he “nearly” made a record with David Bowie and The Kinks’ Ray Davies in the late 1990s.
Speaking on The Evening Show with Dan O’Connell on Radio X, the Gorillaz star reflected on the legacy of the Gorillaz. When asked by O’Connell to discuss his favourite collaborators from the past, he brought up a fair few names.
He began, “I mean, De La Soul, obviously. Probably very, very important to us just as friends and pre-Gorillaz as an inspiration, you know?”
Another highlight for him was working with Bobby Womack, “who I went on to make a record with. Just sitting at the piano with Bobby Womack working out new songs, kind of an incredible experience, a voice.”
Moving past the nostalgic celebration, Albarn then mentioned a project he regretted letting pass him by. He shared, “Then there were people pre that. I mean, someone like David Bowie who… I nearly made a record with Ray Davies and David Bowie back in the late 90s.”
Unfortunately, the project never came to fruition. He added, “That didn’t happen. So, I mean, Dionne Warwick.”
Albarn has previously spoken on the topic to The Herald in 2021, saying: “David Bowie asked me and Ray Davies to make an album with him. It was actually a serious thing we were going to do.”
In the middle of his crazy schedule, Bowie found time to tee up the future project. Albarn continued in the 2021 interview, “He summoned me when he was playing in Switzerland into the labyrinth of his backstage and I went to see him and he said, ‘Well, we’re going to do this but if this tour keeps doing as well as it is then I’m going to carry on touring.’”
Nonetheless, Bowie never made it off the road, with Albarn adding previously, “And that’s why there’s no album. I regret that one. I just imagine what that might have sounded like.”
Meanwhile, last week, Gorillaz shared their new collaboration with Idles, ‘The God of Lying’. The new single, featuring Idles frontman Joe Talbot, is the second single to be released from Gorillaz’s forthcoming album, The Mountain, which is scheduled to arrive on March 20th, 2026.
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