Craig David Biography
Summary
"Craig Ashley David" (born May 5 1981) is an English R&B singer. He has released four studio albums; "Born to Do It", "Slicker Than Your Average", "The Story Goes..." and "Trust Me".
Life and career
Craig David was born in Holyrood, Southampton, Hampshire to a Grenadian father and a Jewish-English mother. He attended Bellemoor School.
His earliest exposure to recording came when he worked on a b-side to British R&B group Damage's cover of the Eric Clapton song 'Wonderful Tonight'. He then started doing vocals for a few tracks with garage act Artful Dodger, of which the song 'Rewind', released off the Artful Dodger album "It's All About the Stragglers", hit #2 on the UK charts in 2000, thus paving the way for a solo career. His first single, 'Fill Me In', made him the youngest solo male artist ever to reach #1 in the UK (he was 19 at the time). This was the first of a string of four Top 10 singles from his debut album, "Born To Do It", which was released the same year and also hit #1, going on to sell 1.8 million copies.
The success of his debut, which was written almost entirely by David himself and Mark Hill of The Artful Dodger, led to the U.S. release of 'Fill Me In' in May 2001. It proved a success, reaching #15 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "Born to Do It" was released in the U.S. on July 17 2001, peaking at #11 on the "Billboard" 200 and sold over one million copies. The single '7 Days' hit the Top 10 in the U.S., although 'Walking Away'-which had reached #3 in the UK and #5 in Australia-missed the Top 40 in the U.S. and was the last of his singles to chart there.
The follow-up album, "Slicker Than Your Average," was released in 2002 and fared considerably less well than his debut. None of the six singles released from the album charted in the U.S. Although 'What's Your Flava' and 'Rise and Fall' (David's duet with Sting) received airplay on the Urban contemporary and Soft AC formats, they did not make the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Tracks chart or the Adult Contemporary chart. However, 'What's Your Flava' made the Rhythmic Top 40 (#32), Top 40 Mainstream (#24) and the Top 40 Tracks (#37). The albums' first four singles continued his streak of Top 10 hits in the UK, bringing David a total of nine consecutive Top 10 hits until 'World Filled With Love' peaked at #15 in 2003.
David signed on with Warner Music and put together his third album, "The Story Goes...", released worldwide in August 2005 (excluding the U.S. where it was never released). The first single, 'All the Way', returned him to the Top 3, and the second single, 'Don't Love You No More (I'm Sorry)', tied with '7 Days' as his longest running single in the charts since 'Rewind', spending 15 weeks inside the UK Top 75. The album's third single, 'Unbelievable', debuted at #18 in March 2006.
David has recently collaborated with UK rapper Kano on his upcoming album "London Town", for the single 'This is the Girl'. The track was released on August 27 2007 and debuted at #18 on the UK charts.
Craig's new single, 'Hot Stuff', was released on November 5 2007 and is the first single from the upcoming album 'Trust Me', which is available to buy now.
Craig David is set to release a greatest hits album in 2008
Discography
Albums
2000 "Born to Do It"
2002 "Slicker Than Your Average"
2005 "The Story Goes..."
2007 "Trust Me"
Guest appearances
2007 'Bad Boy' (Kano feat. Craig David)
Trivia
It is widely known that Craig David is a Southampton FC fan.
Born To Do It, Craig David's first solo album, was released in the UK on August 14 2000, and instantly made it to the No. 1 spot. The often misinterpreted title owes to his favourite film as a kid, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where a man in a candy store is asked how Wonka makes such great candy. But rather than explain, he just replies that, you wouldn't ask a fish how it swims or a bird how it flies, because they were 'born to just do it'
The music video for 'What's Your Flava?' is a parody of the children's movie classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where Craig sponsors a 'lottery', four females discover 'golden CD's' (similar to the 'Golden Tickets' in the movie), during the tour, three of the four females misbehave and disappear from the tour (similar to the children, other than Charlie Bucket, in the movie), and Craig and the winner end the video in a glass elevator.
Famous singer/songwriter Elton John once said 'If there is a better singer in England than Craig David, then I am Margaret Thatcher.' (... more)
Has worked with numerous American artists & songwriters such as Mos Def, Nate Dogg and DJ Premier on a remix to his hit '7 Days' as well as Twista, Jadakiss, Usher, Guru, Fat Joe and Chingy on a song called 'Static.' 'Key To My Heart' was also featured on the Soundtrack to the animated film 'Osmosis Jones.' The song was written with American singer/songwriter Zachary Jaydon (Credited J. Paull)
2004 Australian Idol Runner Up Anthony Callea sang Walking Away on Aussie Idol on the 2nd last episode in 2004.
He samples Busta Rhymes song Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See in a part of his song Time To Party.
His song 'What's Your Flava?' can currently be heard in commercials for Popeyes Chicken (2007).
He and A1 singer Ben Adams are friends and 'drinking buddies'.
He performed 'This Is The Girl' with the twice nominated Kano at the 2007 MOBO Awards
His song 'Hot Stuff (Let's Dance)' samples David Bowie's 'Let's Dance.'
Awards and nominations
BET Awards
*2002, Best R&B Male Artist (nominated)
*2002, Best New Artist (nominated)
MOBO Awards
*2001: Best UK Act
*2001: Best R&B Act (Nominated)
*2001: Best Album: "Born to Do It" (nominated)
*2000: Best R&B Act
*2000: Best UK Newcomer
*2000: Best UK Single of the Year: 'Fill Me In'
*2000: Best Video: '7 Days' (nominated)
*2000: Best UK Single of the Year: 'Woman Trouble' (nominated) shared with Robbie Craig and Artful Dodger
MTV Europe Awards
*2001: Best R&B Act
MTV Video Music Awards
*2002: Best Male Video: 'Walking Away' (nominated)
*2001: MTV2 Award: 'Fill Me In' (nominated)
External links
(Craig David's official website)
(Craig David's official forum)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Craig David.
