Short answers, pulled from the story.
Musician Damon Albarn and comic artist Jamie Hewlett met in 1998 to create the virtual band Gorillaz. They developed the project after watching MTV for hours and deciding to make a manufactured band that was interesting rather than hollow.
The self-titled Gorillaz album dropped on the 26th of March 2001 and became a major commercial success. It debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart and number fourteen on the US Billboard 200 with sales exceeding seven million copies worldwide.
Plastic Beach arrived on the 3rd of March 2010 and drew inspiration from marine pollution found near Albarn's home in Devon. The concept involved a secret floating island made of human debris and plastic waste recorded across London, New York City, and Syria between 2008 and 2009.
Tensions between Albarn and Hewlett grew public after April 2012 when they announced their fall-out over creative differences. Hewlett felt his visual contributions were being minimized while Albarn focused heavily on music leading to a multiyear hiatus.
On the 29th of January 2020, the band announced Song Machine as a web series releasing one new song monthly as episodes instead of traditional albums. This format replaced standard releases with standalone singles accompanied by music videos culminating in the seventh studio album released on the 23rd of October 2020.