David Gray (musician)
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David Gray (musician) |
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| David Gray | ||
|---|---|---|
| Background information | ||
| Birth name | David Peter Gray | |
| Born | June 13, 1968 | |
| Origin | ||
| Genre(s) | Rock Alternative Folk rock |
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| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter | |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals Piano Guitar |
|
| Years active | 1993 - present | |
| Label(s) | Eastwest
(UK) / RCA (US) Hut (UK) / |
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| Website | http://www.davidgray.com/ | |
David Gray (born June 13, 1968 in
Contents
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Gray moved from Manchester to Wales at the age of nine. He grew up in the small coastal town of Solva in Pembrokeshire and attended the Carmarthenshire College of Art. He later moved to the north-west of England to attend the University of Liverpool.
His musical career received early support from a dedicated Republic of Ireland fan base. At an early gig in Ireland, Gray was introduced by comic playwright Pat Ingoldsby.
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 to do any serious business in terms of commercial sales.
In 1996 Gray released his 3rd album, Sell, Sell, Sell. With his first two albums having been entirely comprised of acoustic folk music, this was his first mature exhibition and saw him use his now-trademark blend of folk, alternative rock and electronics for the first time. Despite critical acclaim, the album did not chart, but the song "Late Night Radio" received some airplay on alternative UK radio stations and nearly became Gray's first hit single.
The UK folk-rock scene had known about Gray for some time
before his breakthrough into the pop mainstream in 2000, but after a
few marginally successful releases through the 1990s, Gray's
breakthrough came with the worldwide release of his 4th album,
White
Ladder, in 1998. This was a critical and
commercial success and included his best-known songs: "This Year's
Love", "Babylon" and "Please Forgive Me". In
August 2000, "Babylon" hit #5 in the UK singles chart; it remains his
biggest UK hit to date. In the
On August 11, 2001, White Ladder finally reached the top of the UK albums chart, on the back of the single success of "Babylon" (a remixed and edited version for radio, which omitted the 3rd verse completely). The album had been selling steadily since its reissue the previous May, thereby setting a new record for the longest uninterrupted climb to Number One. The year 2001 also saw the release of two compilations of Gray's early works and unreleased material, The EPs 1992-1994 and Lost Songs 95-98, both of which followed White Ladder into the UK album chart Top Twenty.
In November 2002, Gray released the follow-up to White Ladder, entitled A New Day at Midnight. The new release did not receive the same critical acclaim as its predecessor, but still went straight in at Number One, famously beating Pop Idol runner-up Gareth Gates' debut album "What My Heart Wants To Say" to the summit and selling nearly fifteen thousand copies in its first week of release; it went on to reach platinum status within a year and was the second-biggest selling album by a UK artist in 2002. A New Day At Midnight spawned two further UK Top 30 hits in "The Other Side" and "Be Mine" and a minor US hit with "Dead in the Water".
After a 3 year break which saw him wind down his
recording and touring schedule due to exhaustion, Gray returned with
his seventh album, Life in Slow Motion
in September 2005, which, like its predecessor, also hit the top of the
UK album chart in its first week of release. After the much-criticised A
New Day At Midnight, Life in Slow Motion
was hailed as a return to form by many critics. Lead single "
In March 2007, Gray released the compilation album
On 7
July 2007, Gray performed with Damien Rice at the
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 technique which differentiates him from many of his peers. 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, Life in Slow Motion is a collaboration with noted producer Marius De Vries.
The band "Venus in Furs" (named after the Velvet
Underground song whose title and lyrics in turn reference a novel of
that name by
Gray's music has been featured in many films and television shows:
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| 1992 | "Birds Without Wings" | - | - | A Century Ends |
| 1993 | " |
- | - | |
| " |
- | - | ||
| 1996 | "Faster Sooner Now" | - | - | Sell, Sell, Sell |
| "Late Night Radio" | - | - | ||
| 1999 | " |
- | 72 | White Ladder |
| 2000 | "Babylon" | 57 | - | |
| 2001 | " |
- | - | |
| "Babylon" (single remix edit) | - | 5 | ||
| " |
- | 18 | ||
| " |
- | 18 | ||
| " |
- | 26 | ||
| " |
- | 26 | ||
| 2002 | " |
- | 35 | A New Day at Midnight |
| 2003 | " |
- | 23 | |
| 2005 | " |
- | 8 | Life in Slow Motion |
| "Hospital Food" | - | 34 | ||
| 2006 | " |
- | 71 | |
| David Gray |
|---|
| David Gray |
| Other musicians: |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: A Century Ends · Flesh · Sell, Sell, Sell · White Ladder · Lost Songs 95-98 · A New Day at Midnight · Life in Slow Motion |
| Singles: Birds
Without Wings ·
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| Compilations: The
EPs 1992-1994 ·
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| Videos: David
Gray: Live ·
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