Stuart Harold "2-D" Pot is a fictional English musician and member of the British virtual bandGorillaz. He provides the lead vocals and plays the keyboard for the band. 2-D's singing voice is provided by Blur frontman Damon Albarn on Gorillaz' recordings and performances; his speaking voice is provided by actor Nelson De Freitas in various Gorillaz direct-to-video projects such as ' and '. In 2017, Kevin Bishop was cast as the new speaking voice of 2-D. He was created by Albarn and Jamie Hewlett.
Characterization
2-D was loosely inspired by a friend of Hewlett and Albarn who had worked with both Gorillaz and Blur. Stuart Pot was born on 23 May 1978 to David and Rachel Pot. The original surname of Stuart's father was Tusspot, but he legally changed it to Pot, shortly before Stuart was born. His father, David, works as a mechanic and as a fairgrounds worker, while his mother, Rachel, works as a nurse. He was born in Crawley, England and attended St Wilfrid's Catholic School. When he was 11 years old, Stuart was involved in an accident where he fell from a tree and hit his head. This caused all his natural brown hair to shed, until it eventually grew back in a deep azure blue color. The accident also caused him to experience frequent migraines, for which his mother supplied him with painkillers. At age 19, Stuart was hit in the face by Murdoc Niccals when he crashed his Vauxhall Astra into Uncle Norm's Organ Emporium in an attempt to raid the store of its musical equipment. This caused Stuart to receive hyphema in his left eye and put him into a coma. Murdoc was then arrested and sentenced to 3 years of community service, as well as to care for the vegetabilised Stuart for 10 hours a week. Not long after, Murdoc injured Stuart again while pulling off 360 donuts to impress a small crowd of women. Stuart came crashing through the windshield of the car and fractured his other eye. After the incident, he woke up from his vegetative state and was given the nickname "2-D", which refers to the two dents in his head.
Role as musician
The character 2-D sings and plays the keyboard. He can play guitar, as can Murdoc, but both usually leave it to Noodle. In most cases, 2-D's singing voice is much lower than his warbly speaking voice. His vocal range is very wide, and he has sung everything from baritone to falsetto. All his singing voices are provided by Damon Albarn, including the spoken verses in the 2005 hit "Feel Good Inc." 2-D apparently has had some influence in the lyric-writing process even though his intelligence is reputedly negligible. Apparently, Murdoc has had Albarn teach 2-D from time to time to sing better than he already could, and apparently even sing in some of their songs, as stated in an NME interview with Albarn.
