David Gray (musician)
David Peter Gray (born 13 June 1968)[2] is a British singer-songwriter. He released his first album in 1993 and received worldwide attention after the release of White Ladder five years later. White Ladder was the first of three UK chart-toppers in six years for Gray; it became the fifth best-selling album of the 2000s in the UK[3] and ranked as the tenth best-selling album of the 21st century in the United Kingdom in October 2019.[4] Gray is also known for the hit single "Babylon" from the White Ladder album.[5][6][7] He has received four Brit Award nominations, including two nominations for Best British Male.[8]
David Gray
David Peter Gray
- Musician
- songwriter
- producer
- Vocals
- guitar
- piano
- keyboards
- harmonica
1992–present
Career[edit]
Early life and career[edit]
Gray was born in 1968 in Sale, Cheshire, England, and lived in Altrincham before moving with his family at the age of nine to Solva, Pembrokeshire, Wales, where his parents took over a gift shop and started a clothing business.[9][10] "I had an amazing time growing up there ... My imagination could run wild ... It was that which gave me the kind of insane self-belief I have, and had even then, that I could do something as unlikely as play music for a living."[10] He went to Ysgol Dewi Sant high school in nearby St Davids and then on to Carmarthenshire College of Art and finally Liverpool School of Art.[10]
Gray's first two albums, A Century Ends and Flesh, were issued in 1993 and 1994 respectively and led to Gray becoming popular in folk-rock circles, but both failed in terms of commercial sales.[11] In 1996 Gray released his third album, Sell, Sell, Sell. The album was recorded at Pyramid Sound Studios in Ithaca, NY. Despite his dislike of the album, Gray continued to maintain residence in Ithaca, NY on and off over the years. Despite critical acclaim, the album did not chart, but the song "Late Night Radio" received some airplay on alternative UK radio stations. On the 1997 Mary Black album Shine, Gray contributed five songs.
1998–2002: White Ladder and rise to fame[edit]
Originally released on Gray's own label IHT Records in November 1998,[12] White Ladder was re-released in 2000 on ATO Records. The re-release brought him commercial success and critical attention.[13] While his first three albums featured acoustic folk songs and guitar-based alternative rock, White Ladder introduced his now-trademark folktronic sound. The album included his best-known songs: "This Year's Love", "Babylon", "Please Forgive Me" and "Sail Away". After its re-release, combined with the release and success of single "Babylon", it sold 100,000 copies in Ireland alone, making it number one for six weeks,[14] and according to a 2012 report was the biggest-selling album ever in that country.[15] In June 2000, "Babylon" hit No. 5 in the UK Singles Chart; it remains his biggest UK hit to date. In the United States, the album received a boost from jam-band leader Dave Matthews, who made it the first release by ATO Records, the record company he co-founded. "Babylon" was also the first of three US chart entries for Gray to date.
Musical style[edit]
Gray's early music was in a contemporary folk-rock, singer-songwriter mode; his primary instrument was acoustic guitar, with occasional piano. 1996's Sell, Sell, Sell featured some rock arrangements and electric instrumentation. Starting with the release of White Ladder, Gray began to make significant use of computer-generated music to accompany his voice and acoustic instrumentation. A New Day at Midnight continued this direction, although lyrically it was darker in tone than White Ladder and the instrumentation much more downbeat. In the liner notes, Gray dedicated the album to his father, who died in 2001. Despite the move to more complex music, Gray has used small-scale, often home-based, recording methods and equipment and espoused a do-it-yourself approach to music production. However, 2005's Life in Slow Motion was a collaboration with the record producer Marius de Vries.
Gray is noted for his 'bobble-headed' style of performing, often rocking his head in time vigorously to the music. Gray himself would comically play up this trait in the video for "Be Mine", in which his head eventually rolls off his body and gets thrown around in a variety of different locations.
Former longterm band members:
Tours[edit]
Gray has been touring since 1993. Prior to his breakthrough album White Ladder in 1998, Gray had been the supporting act for the likes of Kirsty MacColl, The Corrs, Dave Matthews Band and Radiohead. He has had multiple tour dates in many different places such as Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States.[33]
Personal life[edit]
Gray married his wife Olivia in Los Angeles, California in 1993,[46] and together they have two daughters:[47] Ivy and Florence.[48] He lives in London, having moved to Hampstead in 2009.[49] Gray is also the brother-in-law of Phil Hartnoll of Orbital.[50]
In 2011, a portrait of Gray was painted by English artist Joe Simpson. The painting was exhibited around the UK, including at a solo exhibition at the Royal Albert Hall.[51]
Gray is a Manchester United supporter.[49] He said in 2005 that he is an atheist.[52]
He is a patron of the charity Curlew Action.[53] In 2022, Gray contributed a new song, "The Arc", to the album Simmerdim: Curlew Sounds, released in partnership with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and musician and producer Merlyn Driver.
