Craig David was born in Southampton to a Grenadian father and a Jewish-English mother and 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 The 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, spending seventeen weeks in the top 75 and paving the way for a solo career. His first single, "Fill Me In", made him the youngest solo male artist to reach #1 in the UK (he was nineteen at the time). This was the first of a string of four top ten singles from his debut album, Born To Do It, which was released the same year and hit #1, going on to sell 1.8 million copies[citation needed].
The success of his debut, which was written almost entirely by Craig David and Mark Hill of The Artful Dodger, led to the US release of "Fill Me In" in May 2001, where it reached # 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. Born To Do It was released in the US on July 17, 2001, peaking at #11 on the Billboard 200 and reaching platinum status, selling 1 million copies. "7 Days" reached the top ten in the US, although "Walking Away", which had reached the top three in the UK and the top five in Australia, missed the top forty in the US and was the last of his singles to chart there. UK, Australia, Asia and other territories in August 2005, but not in the USA.
The first single, "All The Way", returned him to the top three, 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. However, the album's third single, "Unbelievable", debuted and peaked at #18 in March 2006.
Following rumours which surfaced on 21st December 2006, claiming that Craig David had left Warner Music/Atlantic Records by mutual agreement due to the failure of Unbelievable and musical differences, it was confirmed that he is still with Warner Music, although his US label has changed from Atlantic to Sire Records.
Craig David returns with new single ‘Hot Stuff’ on November 5th and fourth album ‘Trust Me’ on November 12th
With 13 million album sales worldwide and still only 26 years old, Craig David has earned a reputation as one of the UK’s foremost talents, as well as one of the nation’s most successful musical exports. He’s now poised to return with a new album ‘Trust Me’ on November 12th, already being heralded as his finest since the 2000 debut set ‘Born To Do It’.
‘Trust Me’ will be previewed by the release of the single ‘Hot Stuff’, available on physical (and digital download from October 29th) formats from November 5th. ‘Hot Stuff’ combines Craig David’s inimitable vocal gift with irresistible funk-infused beats and a sample of David Bowie’s classic track ‘Let’s Dance’.
Recorded in Havana, Cuba with producer Martin Terefe (KT Tunstall, James Morrison) and writer/producer/mixer Fraser T. Smith (Kano, Beyonce, Plan B, Jamelia), the track ‘6 of 1 Thing’ emphasises how Cuban musical culture influenced his new work, whilst the ballad ‘Awkward’ (highlighting guest vocals from a female west London star-to-be) features some of his most evocative lyrics to date. Other highlights include the infectious hook and insistent rhythms of the title track, and ‘She’s On Fire’ which combines sublime bass with Craig’s fluid lyrical flow.
Since becoming a global phenomenon with ‘Born To Do It’, Craig David has become a huge UK superstar with two 1 singles (‘Fill Me In’ and ‘7 Days’) and a further ten appearances in the Top 10. All three of his albums have been chart hits: ‘Born To Do It’ (1), 2002’s ‘Slicker Than Your Average’ (4) and 2005’s ‘The Story Goes…’ (5).
A multiple-award winner who has earned three Ivor Novello Awards (including Songwriter of the Year and Best Contemporary Song), four MOBOs (one of which was for Best UK Act) and 2 MTV Europe Awards, Craig David has worked with a talented array of artists including Sting and Artful Dodger’s Mark Hill and Pete Devereux. Craig David also recently featured on Kano’s Top 20 single ‘This is The Girl’.
