Craig David
Craig David on the cover of his single "7 Days"
Background information
Birth name	Craig Ashley David
Born	May 5, 1981 (Age 26)
Origin	Southampton, Hampshire England
Genre(s)	R&B
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	2000-present
Label(s)	Sire/Warner Bros. (2006- ) Wildstar/Atlantic (2000-2006)
Website	Official site of Craig David

Craig Ashley David (born May 5, 1981 in Holyrood, Southampton) is an English R&B singer. Craig has sold around 13 million albums worldwide as of 2007.

Contents 1 Biography and music career 2 Discography 2.1 Albums 2.2 Singles 3 Trivia 4 Awards/Nominations 5 References 6 External links

Biography and music career

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, "seven days", 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 4 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.

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 3 in the UK and the top 5 in Australia, missed the top forty in the US 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 the debut. None of the six singles released from the album charted in the US. Although both "What's Your Flava" and "Rise and Fall" received airplay on both the Urban contemporary and/or Soft AC formats, they did not make the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks chart or the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. However, "What's Your Flava" made the Rhythmic Top 40 (#32), Top 40 Mainstream (#24) and the Top 40 Tracks peaking at #37. The albums' first 4 continued his streak of top ten hits in the UK, bringing his total to nine consecutive top ten hits until "World Filled With Love" hit #15 in 2003 and spent only four weeks on the chart, his shortest chart run thus far. This was followed by the even more disappointing chart performance of "You Don't Miss Your Water ('Til The Well Runs Dry)", which hit #42 in the UK, spending a total of two weeks on the chart. It was also his first single to miss the top 40 in Australia, charting at #180. He famously refused to duet with Monica on the single "Go to Bed Mad", and did not turn up to the recording. Tyrese took his place, and Craig later suggested that he wants to break America on his own, rather than appearing on someone else's album.

David's career took a blow when his record label, Telstar Records, went bankrupt. He later signed on with Warner Music and put together his third album, The Story Goes..., which was released in the 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.

David appeared on Live From Abbey Road on Channel 4 in the UK and the Sundance Channel in the USA. His performance at the studios took place on August 1st 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.

He has recently collaborated with UK Rapper Kano on the latter's upcoming album London Town for the single This Is The Girl. The single is set to release on CD single and vinyl and from August 20, 2007 it will be available as an online digital download track.

Discography

Albums

• 2000 Born To Do It #1 UK [UK. 1.8 million], #11 US (2001 release) [U.S. Platinum], #2 AUS
• 2002 Slicker Than Your Average #4 UK [UK. 520,000], #32 US [U.S. Gold], #5 AUS
• 2005 The Story Goes... #5 UK Platinum [UK. 300,000] ,#9 AUS
• 2007 Craig David's Forth Studio Album

Singles

Year	Title	Chart Positions						Album
		UK Singles	US Hot 100	US Radio & Records	US R&B/Hip-Hop	IRE	AUS Singles
1999	Rewind (The Artful Dodger featuring Craig David)	2	-	-	-	15	-	It's All About The Stragglers
2000	Fill Me In	1	15	6	19	7	6	Born To Do It
2000	Woman Trouble (The Artful Dodger and Robbie Craig featuring Craig David)	6	-	-	-	-	-	It's All About The Stragglers
2000	7 Days	1	10	5	52	3	4	Born To Do It
2001	Walking Away	3	44	16	-	9	5	Born To Do It
2001	Rendezvous	8	-	-	-	29	28	Born To Do It
2002	What's Your Flava?	8	-	24	-	22	10	Slicker Than Your Average
2003	Hidden Agenda	10	-	28	-	-	24	Slicker Than Your Average
2003	Rise & Fall (featuring Sting)	2	-	83	-	5	6	Slicker Than Your Average
2003	Spanish	8	-	-	-	-	-	Slicker Than Your Average
2003	World Filled With Love	15	-	-	-	-	32	Slicker Than Your Average
2004	You Don't Miss Your Water ('Til The Well Runs Dry)	42	-	-	-	-	180	Slicker Than Your Average
2005	All The Way	3	-	-	-	27	31	The Story Goes...
2005	Don't Love You No More (I'm Sorry)	4	-	-	-	30	49	The Story Goes...
2006	Unbelievable	18	-	-	-	-	96	The Story Goes...

Trivia

• It is widely known that Craig David is a Southampton FC fan. Not a Leeds United fan as said by Leigh Francis' interpretation of Craig in the popular comedy T.V. show "Bo' Selecta"
• 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, Willy Wonka 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 just "born to just do it"

• Once said that if he was to record a duet, that it would be with Pantera

• The music video for "What's Your Flava?" is a parody of the children's movie classic Willy Wonka 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, 3 of the 4 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.

• In Avid Merrion's Channel 4 Series Bo' Selecta, Craig David was parodied as having a Leeds accent and a pet peregrine falcon (both reminiscent of the character of Billy Casper from the novel Kes), and frequently using the catchphrase "Proper Bo'!" The parody of Craig was the central character used throughout the various series. This has since haunted Craig so much so that he even blamed the show for his lack of recent success, although Craig did appear in the closing episode of the second series. Also, 'Merrion' performed his impersonation onstage to a real Craig David gig audience, much to their bemusement.

• Famous singer/songwriter Elton John once said "If there is a better singer in England than Craig David, then I am Margaret Thatcher."[1]

• Has worked with numerous American artists & songwriters such as Mos Def, Nate Dogg and DJ Premier on a remix to his hit "7 Days." He penned "Key To My Heart" with American songwriter Zachary-Jaydon & has worked with numerous American artists such as Twista, Jadakiss, Usher, Guru and Chingy on a song called "Static" as well as Fat Joe.

• Has stated one of his main musical influences Dru Hill frontman Sisqo.

• 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).

Awards/Nominations

• BET Awards
  • 2002, Best R&B Male Artist (Nominated)
  • 2002, Best New Artist (Nominated)

• MOBO Awards
  • 2001, Best UK Act (Winner)
  • 2001, Best R&B Act (Nominated)
  • 2001, Best Album: Born to Do It (Nominated)
  • 2000, Best R&B Act (Winner)
  • 2000, Best UK Newcomer (Winner)
  • 2000, Best UK Single of the Year: "Fill Me In" (Winner)
  • 2000, Best Video: "7 Days" (Nominated)
  • 2000, Best UK Single of the Year: "Woman Trouble" (Nominated) shared w/ Robbie Craig & Artful Dodge

• MTV Europe Awards
  • 2001, Best R&B Act (Winner)

• MTV Video Music Awards
  • 2002, Best Male Video: "Walking Away" (Nominated)
  • 2001, MTV2 Award: "Fill Me In" (Nominated)

References

1. The A to Z of Craig David
2. http://www.musicrooms.net/cm/live/templates/?a=5146&z=2 August 20th digital download

External links

• Craig David's official website (UK)
• Craig David's official website (US)
• Craig David Official Forum
• Craig David Official MySpace