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The fictional character Stuart Pot (born Stuart Harold Tusspot, 23 May 1978), better known by his stage name 2-D, also simply spelled as 2D, is a member of the British virtual band, Gorillaz. He performs the lead vocals and plays the keyboard for the band.
Biography His real name is Stuart Harold Tusspot, (in the Rise of The Ogre, his father saying "Actually my original name was originally Tusspot, but having endured a lifetime of ridicule I thought, around the time of Stuart's birth, that I would shorten it to Pot. But deep down both myself and Stu are still Tusspots") most of the time shortened to Stu-Pot as a joke to his typical behavior which often tends to give the impression of a slight lack of intelligence to others. He was born in Hertfordshire, England, yet raised in Crawley, England. His father, David Pot, worked as a mechanic and owner of the Tusspot's Fairground. His mother, Rachel Pot, was a nurse who supplied Stu-Pot with headache pills. He hit his head when falling from a tree at the age of 10, which caused his hair to fall out. When it grew back it was an azure blue. Stu-Pot attended St. Wilfred's school, where, despite his apparent lack of interest and ambition, he got fairly good grades. For most of his life, Stu-Pot didn't know what he wanted to do when he got older. He first wanted to become a Storm Chaser and then he wanted to paint (inspired by Banksy's graffiti works). He developed an interest in machinery when he and his dad customized his Casio VL-1 keyboard. His musical idol is Augustus Pablo and his favorite band is The Human League. At age 19, on 15 August 1997, Murdoc purposefully crashed his Vauxhall Astra through the wall of Uncle Norm's Keyboard Emporium, where Stu-Pot had been working, in an attempt to ram-raid it and steal the synths. Murdoc's bumper crashed into Stu-Pot's face, landing him with an eight-ball fracture in his right eye ball, and putting him into a deep catatonic state. Murdoc was arrested for being a Nazi and sentenced to carry out 30,000 hours of community service as well as care for the vegetated Stu-Pot for 20 hours every week. During the hiatus, 2D went to work on his father's funfair in Eastbourne. He used to collect money for a ride called 'The Switchback Ride', and there he met Shane Lynch, former member of Boyzone, and they became good friends. By the time they met, 2D adopted a teddy boy style and used to stroll the city along with Shane. Apparently, while he wasn't with Shane he was messing around with a bunch of women he didn't know. He didn't really think about Gorillaz until four years later, when he received a text message from Noodle and, with that, he decided to return to Kong with fully restored confidence after he realised he was responsible for the Gorillaz success. After the El Ma ana conspiracy, 2D and Russel were frantic about Noodle's supposed death. It was a hoax, however, and the band has once again gone separate ways but not for long (so promised Murdoc in the autobiography Rise of the Ogre; their biggest project to date is apparently being planned) and the singer was, according to Murdoc, "...poncing off somewhere. He's probably gonna try and become an actor or a model or whatever..." According to an official mail-out from 31 October 2007, Murdoc says that "2D is away on a vacation at a Jamaican beach." On 13 November, however, the D-Sides text in the G-Shop stated that 2D was currently completing a law degree. Murdoc has revealed that he has kidnapped 2D and is holding him against his will on Plastic Beach, enlisting 2D's vocal talents for use on the third Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach. It was revealed through various media on the trailer in which this kidnapping was revealed that 2D was in a small flat in Beirut at the time, for reasons which are currently unknown. On the Gorillaz website http://gorillaz.com/ it was recently stated by 2D, in the Plastic Beach adventure game,[1] that Murdoc "kindly" had 2D gassed and shipped to Plastic Beach, where he is currently forced to sing for his new demos. His room is located on floor B2. When you enter his room he is found trembling on his bed. When you talk to him he asks who you are, and that he didn't think anyone else was on the island. He states that Murdoc has been gassing various people and forcing them to be on the album. Throughout a recent interview, Gorillaz - iTunes Session, 2D deliberately insults Murdoc just to spite him for the horrible things he has done to him and actually physically attacked him when Murdoc brought up the Paula Cracker affair, which is obviously a sore subject for 2D. In "On Melancholy Hill" (band mate Noodle's first appearance on the album) the lyrics "So let's set out to sea, love. 'Cause you are my medicine when you're close to me" implied to viewers that 2D misses Noodle, and could be classed as a misleading pairing between the two. During the Escape to Plastic beach World Tour, 2D wrote his Gorillaz album The Fall which, apparently Murdoc knew nothing about... Recently, a new character has appeared on Plastic Beach. His name is Big Rick, and he owns the record shop on the beach. It has been reported that the shop (previously locked) will open in time for The Fall's release. During the special XFM radio show to promote the Gorillaz's The Singles Collection 2001-2011 on the 27th of November 2011, Murdoc said that the last he'd seen of 2-D was when the whale bit a chunk out of the island. This apparently included 2-D's room which he was in at the time (Rhinestone Eyes Storyboard Video) and thus he is presumed to have been eaten alive. However, he is mentioned to be alive and back to record a new single. It is revealed in the music video for "DoYaThing" that he is alive and living with the rest of the band at 212 Wobble Street, London. Role as musician 2D has a twofold role in Gorillaz: he sings and plays keyboard. He can play guitar, as can Murdoc, but both leave it to Noodle. In most cases, 2D'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 a falsetto Soprano. All his singing voices are provided by Albarn, including the spoken verses in the 2005 hit Feel Good Inc. 2D apparently has had some influence in the lyric-writing process (as evidenced by the credits on the insert of the Gorillaz debut album, even though his intelligence is reputedly negligible). Apparently Murdoc has had Damon Albarn teach 2D 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 Damon.http://www.nme.com/magazine 2-D was featured on the songs "Squire for Hire" by Nathan Haines and "Small Time Shot Away" by Massive Attack. 2D's looks have changed from Phase 1 to Phase 2. In Phase 1, 2D is seen with very geometric, and almost purple hair at times, unlike in Phase 2, where his hair has seemed to gain a more realistic, lined tone and has turned to an almost teal colour. Further, his shape in Phase 1 was almost ruler-straight; in Phase 2, he seemed to gain some tone and shape and wrinkles, making him look more realistic, compared to his Phase 1 appearance. In Phase 3 his appearance is much different in that he has a little more of a wrinkled texture to his face, but he still looks like a teenager. From various videos, it can be assumed that 2D can see despite having two eight-ball fractures, but whether or not his vision is impaired is unknown. In the "Stylo", "On Melancholy Hill" and "Rhinestone Eyes" videos, he wore a red T-shirt and a clown mask. 2D's eyes are white every once in a while, due to him getting nervous, but soon return to black. Noodle stated in an interview that 2D smells like Butterscotch-flavored Angel delight. Despite missing his two front teeth, 2D can sing clearly. His speech, while still mainly clear, has a definite Cockney (or thereabouts) accent: he says "sumfink" instead of "something", and "fing" instead of "thing." As stated in Rise of the Ogre, he lost his tonsils in a food fight that started at the party held in honour of the Gorillaz label signing, when an clair was pushed into his face. His singing voice has become deeper since the group's first album. 2-D has had two known relationships, both of which were ruined by Murdoc. The first of which, Paula Cracker, was ruined when Murdoc had "happenings" with her in a bathroom. The second, Rachel Stevens from s club 7, Murdoc seemed to "scare off". More recently, though, 2D has developed a grudge against Murdoc, for sticking him in a room below sea level in the Plastic Beach house, and for (somehow) paying a whale to watch him constantly, because according to 2D, "Murdoc knows I hate whales." 2D even seems resentful of Murdoc, particularly in the fourth Radio Pirate broadcast. As for his actual relationships with the other band members, 2D seems to connect with each member in a different way. In Phase 1, 2D and Noodle were said to have a "Zen Bond". 2D also seemed to be very close to Murdoc. On the most recent XFM Residency Radio Show (16 May 2010), Murdoc seemed to be noticeably friendlier with 2D; he let him out of his underwater room so that he could join him in hosting the show, saying that he and the singer needed to "stick together". He showed hardly any spite or sarcasm to 2D throughout the session, if at all. 2D clearly said in the interview though, "Why are you being so nice to me?" As well as Murdoc saying "he's a lovely little fella" during his MTV cribs episode. Also, in the iTunes session interviews, many times, 2D would try to stand up to Murdoc about his bass playing, his effects on him, and Paula incidents. Right after 2D would stand up to Murdoc, he would bully and beat 2D back. Russel has both picked on and stood up for 2D. In a similar fashion to his referral to Murdoc as "Muds", Russel often calls 2D simply "D". As mentioned above, it is revealed by 2D in the Plastic Beach Online Game that he has a severe case of cetaphobia, or fear of whales. In chapter 3 of the Escape to Plastic Beach game, when the whale comes to get him, he can clearly be heard saying that "It's just like the whale that bit me in the tank in Seaworld." When and how this event occurred is unknown. References External links es:2-D (cantante) fr:2D (Gorillaz) it:2D (Gorillaz) ka:2D ( ) pt:2D (vocalista) ru:2D (Gorillaz) tr:2-D
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