Craig David

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Craig David (2018)

Craig Ashley David (born May 5, 1981 in Southampton ) is a British singer and songwriter .

Life

Craig David is the son of a father from Grenada and a Jewish - English mother. With almost 14 million records sold, he is one of the most successful British musicians of the 2000s and 2010s.

Music career

The beginnings

As a musician, Craig David had his first success when he took part in a songwriting competition for the boy band Damage in 1997 and won with his entry I'm Ready . The song was released as the B-side of the single Wonderful Tonight , which became their biggest national hit and the band's only international success. A short time later, Craig David recorded an R'n'B version of the Human League classic Human for the first time, but it was never published.

Before Craig David made his breakthrough, he was already a presenter at a local radio station and DJed in various clubs. This was how he had already established his first relationship with the music business. Among other things, he had met Mark Hill from Artful Dodger and the DJ duo used him several times as a singer. In 1999 they released the single Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta) , which became an international hit and an anthem of UK garage music. It reached number 2 in the British charts . It was not only the first big hit for Artful Dodger, it also brought David a record deal with Warner Music and a little later the first solo single with the support of Mark Hill.

The breakthrough

In the spring of 2000, Fill Me In was released and went straight to number 1 on the UK charts. At the age of 19, David was the youngest male solo musician to have a number one hit in England. The song was also successful internationally and reached number 15 in the US singles charts . He then worked on his debut album. His second single 7 Days was released beforehand , again reaching number 1 in his home country and even the top 10 in the USA. This made him the most successful international representative of the UK garage sound. In August, the debut album Born to Do It was released and built on the success. It was # 1 in the UK for two weeks and was rated 6 times platinum for sales . It achieved top 10 placements and platinum awards worldwide for a total of over 7 million copies sold. Two more single releases achieved top 10 placements. At the MOBO Awards David then received four awards, including the main prize for the best British musician, and at the BRIT Awards he was nominated six times, but then could not win any of the national music awards. He also received several awards for his songwriting at the renowned Ivor Novello Awards .

In 2002 his second album Slicker Than Your Average was released . Although he could not repeat the great success of the debut, this album was still in international demand and achieved gold status in Germany and the USA, among others. In Great Britain it fell slightly short of expectations at number 4, but it brought 6 chart singles, 4 of which made it into the top 10. The most successful was a duet with Sting . The song Rise & Fall reached number 2 in the UK charts and was his best-placed hit in these countries at number 11 in Switzerland and number 15 in Germany. The album sold more than 1.5 million times worldwide.

In general, however, interest in UK Garage waned very quickly and that's why he took three years ... for his third album, The Story Goes . He focused on songwriting and turned more to adult contemporary R&B . There was no interest in it in the USA and the album was not even released there in 2005, but it was still well received in England and Europe and achieved good chart positions. The songs All the Way and Don't Love You No More (I'm Sorry) were top 5 hits in the UK.

Break and comeback

In the following years he was able to assert himself on the music market, but the success dropped significantly. In 2007 he took the song This Is the Girl with the British rapper Kano and had a smaller hit as a guest musician. The next own single, Hot Stuff, with a sample of the David Bowie hit Let's Dance , was released in November 2007 as a pre- single for the fourth album and once again reached the top 10, but the album Trust Me did not go beyond 18th place in England. A greatest hits album in 2008 and an album with cover versions under the title Signed Sealed Delivered 2010 did not bring better results and only a few smaller single hits.

After that, Craig David took a long break. He retired to his home in Miami and gave parties there regularly. He also turned to other activities, in addition to extensive tours, he again took on a show as a radio DJ for a London station and was a jury member for the South African edition of the Idol casting show. A successful single was not released until 2015: When the Bassline Drops was his 12th British top 10 hit and the third single with platinum status. This also sparked interest in his sixth studio album, Following My Intuition , which was released at the end of September 2016. 16 years after his debut, it entered the British album charts at number 1 for the second time . Three more songs achieved top 40 placements and high sales and viewing figures. The pre-single for his next album was released at the end of 2017. I Know You was a collaboration with the band Bastille . It brought him the seventh top 5 placement and after 9 years also single charts again in Switzerland and Germany. It was named the best collaboration of the year at the NME Awards . The Time Is Now album was released in January 2018 and peaked at number 2 in the UK.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placementsTemplate: chart table / maintenance / without sources
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
2000 Born to Do It DE3
platinum
platinum

(38 weeks)DE
AT8 (21 weeks)
AT
CH6th
platinum
platinum

(52 weeks)CH
UK1
Six-fold platinum
× 6
Six-fold platinum

(71 weeks)UK
US11
platinum
platinum

(62 weeks)US
First published: August 20, 2000
Sales: + 7,000,000
2002 Slicker than your average DE16
gold
gold

(38 weeks)DE
- CH6th
gold
gold

(37 weeks)CH
UK4th
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(43 weeks)UK
US32
gold
gold

(14 weeks)US
First published: November 19, 2002
Sales: + 1,632,500
2005 The Story Goes ... DE13 (7 weeks)
DE
AT46 (3 weeks)
AT
CH3 (12 weeks)
CH
UK5
platinum
platinum

(24 weeks)UK
-
First published: September 6, 2005
Sales: + 500,000
2007 Trust Me DE62 (2 weeks)
DE
- CH16 (9 weeks)
CH
UK18th
gold
gold

(8 weeks)UK
-
First published: November 12, 2007
Sales: + 100,000
2010 Signed Sealed Delivered - - CH93 (1 week)
CH
UK13 (3 weeks)
UK
-
First published: March 29, 2010
2016 Following my intuition DE85 (1 week)
DE
- CH43 (1 week)
CH
UK1
gold
gold

(24 weeks)UK
-
First published: September 30, 2016
Sales: + 100,000
2018 The Time Is Now DE97 (1 week)
DE
- CH75 (1 week)
CH
UK2 (5 weeks)
UK
-
First published: January 26, 2018

Awards

  • Ivor Novello Awards
    • 2001: in the category "Best Contemporary Song" (7 Days)
    • 2001: in the category "Best Dance Single Award" (Woman Trouble)
    • 2001: in the category "Songwriter of the Year" (with Mark Hill)
  • MOBO Awards
    • 2000: in the category "Best R&B Act"
    • 2000: in the "Best UK Newcomer" category
    • 2000: in the category "Best UK Single of the Year" (Fill Me in)
    • 2001: in the "Best UK Act" category
  • MTV Video Music Awards Japan
    • 2003: in the category "Best Male Video" (What's Your Flava?)

Individual evidence

  1. Craig David wants the big comeback , Christian Stein, Ruhr Nachrichten, February 3, 2018
  2. Sales of Craig David and his debut album

Web links

Commons : Craig David  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files