Craig Ashley David (born 5 May 1981) is a British singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer who rose to fame in 1999, featuring on the single, " Re-Rewind " by Artful Dodger. David's debut studio album, Born to Do It , was released in 2000, after which he has released a further five studio albums and worked with a variety of artists such as Tinchy Stryder,
Kano, Jay Sean , Rita Ora , Hardwell and Sting . David has 20 UK top 40 singles, and seven UK top 40 albums, selling over 15 million records worldwide as a solo artist.
Craig David
David performing in Gran Canaria , 2009
Background information
Birth name
Craig Ashley David
Born
5 May 1981 (age 36)
Southampton , Hampshire , England
Genres
R&B • garage • hip hop • dance
Occupation(s)
Singer • songwriter • rapper •
record producer
Years active
1999–present
Labels
Wildstar • Teacup • Warner Bros. •
UMTV • Atlantic • Reprise •
UMPG • Insanity • Speakerbox •
Sony
Website
David has been nominated for thirteen Brit Awards: four times for Best British Male, and twice received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance . [1]
[2][3]
Early life
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David was born in Southampton , Hampshire , [4] the son of Tina (née Loftus), a retail assistant at Superdrug , and George David, a carpenter, [5][6] and grew up in the Holyrood estate.
[7] David's father is Afro-Grenadian and David's mother is
Anglo-Jewish and related to the founders of the Accurist watch-making company; David's maternal grandfather was an
Orthodox Jew and his maternal grandmother a convert to
Judaism . [8] David's parents separated when he was eight and he was brought up by his mother. [9] He attended
Bellemoor School and Southampton City College .
David was bullied by other students at school. He wrote and released the song "Johnny" in 2005 about his sad memories of being bullied. [10]
David's father played bass in a reggae band called Ebony Rockers. As a teen, David began accompanying his father to local dance clubs, where DJs let him take the microphone.
Career
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Early career
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David's earliest exposure came when he worked on a B-side to British group Damage 's cover of " Wonderful Tonight ". He then started doing vocals for a few tracks with the English
garage band Artful Dodger.
Wildstar Records first became aware of David when the artist's then manager Paul Widger met the label's co-owner
Colin Lester and played some of his music. [11] Lester later told HitQuarters that he was particularly impressed by the first song he heard, " Walking Away", saying "That was an absolute stand out ... It struck me that any seventeen year-old that could write a song like this had huge potential." [11] The Wildstar boss was further won over when, on later visiting the artist's home in Southampton, he found David's tiny bedroom stacked from floor to ceiling with 12" vinyl records, commenting: "That convinced me he was the real deal and not just some kid acting out the part." [11] At that point Lester offered him a development deal with his label. When Lester later heard the song " 7 Days ", he said he immediately heard a number-one record and promoted the contract to an album deal the same day. [11]
2000–03: Born to Do It and Slicker Than Your Average
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The song " Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta) ", from the Artful Dodger album It's All About the Stragglers , hit number two on the UK charts in 1999; thus, paving the way for a solo career. David's first single, " Fill Me In ", released on Colin Lester 's and Ian McAndrew's Wildstar Records , topped the UK chart and was the first of a string of four top 10 singles from his debut album Born to Do It , which eventually sold more than 8 million copies worldwide, earning multi-platinum status in more than 20 countries. [12][13] The song "Key to My Heart", taken from the US version of the album, was also featured on the award-winning Warner Bros. animated film
Osmosis Jones .
The success of David's debut, which was written almost entirely by David and Mark Hill of Artful Dodger, led to the United States release of "Fill Me In" in May 2001. It reached number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Born to Do It was released in the United States on 17 July 2001, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard 200 chart and sold over 1 million copies. The single "7 Days" hit the top 10 in the U.S.; although "Walking Away", which had reached number 3 in the UK and number 5 in Australia , missed the top 40 in the U.S. and was the last of his singles to chart there.
In April 2009, MTV viewers voted Born to Do It as number 2 on their "Greatest Album of All-Time" poll
