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David Jon Gilmour, CBE was
born on 6th March 1946 in Cambridge, England, the
second child of Douglas Gilmour, a senior lecturer
in Zoology at the University, and Sylvia, a teacher.
Best known as guitarist, vocalist and writer with
Pink Floyd, he is also renowned for his solo work
and collaborations with other artists including Kate
Bush, Paul McCartney,
and Pete Townshend.
David Gilmour and Roger 'Syd' Barrett met as children
in Cambridge and later, whilst studying at the Cambridgeshire
College of Arts and Technology, began playing guitar
together. In 1965 they spent a summer hitchhiking
and busking around the South of France before Syd
joined Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Rick Wright to
form Pink Floyd, and David continued playing with
his own band Jokers Wild, subsequently touring Europe
with Flowers, and later Bullitt.
David was asked to augment the Pink Floyd line up
as the singer and guitarist in 1967, only for Syd
to leave the group five gigs later.
David's guitar playing and song writing became major
factors of Pink Floyd's worldwide success during the
1970s, including his distinctive vocals and guitar
playing on The Dark Side Of The Moon, the third
most successful album of all time.
As a side project, David released his first solo album
David Gilmour in 1978. Featuring Rick Wills
on bass and Willie Wilson on drums & percussion, the
album charted in the UK and the US.
David's second solo album About Face was released
in 1984, again hitting the Top 20 in the UK.
David assumed control of Pink Floyd in 1985, after
Roger Waters' departure, creating the new Floyd album
A Momentary Lapse of Reason with Nick Mason
and Rick Wright. It was followed in 1994 by The
Division Bell, which contained the instrumental
Marooned, composed by David and Richard Wright,
for which Pink Floyd won their sole Grammy Award.
Both albums charted at number one on both sides of
the Atlantic and were supported by sell-out world
tours. A live album and video, P.U.L.S.E, followed
in 1995. In 1996, Pink Floyd were inducted into the
US Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, followed by the same
honour in the UK in November 2005; in 2005, David
Gilmour was made a CBE for services to music.
In 2002, following a concert for Robert Wyatt's Meltdown
Festival, three semi acoustic concerts were performed
by David Gilmour and friends at London's Royal Festival
Hall, with one critic remarking that a 'reinvented
rock god shines on as 21st century folk hero'.
In 2003, David donated the £3.6 million proceeds
of the sale of his London house to Crisis, the charity
for the homeless of which he is a vice-president.
Acclaim for David Gilmour as a guitarist came with
his headline billing at the 2004 London Wembley concert
celebrating 50 years of the Fender Stratocaster guitar.
He was also voted 'Best Fender Guitar Player Ever'
in a poll in Guitarist magazine, beating such
greats as Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.
In July 2005, Pink Floyd reunited with Roger Waters
for a one-off performance at Live 8 in London's Hyde
Park, which was regarded by many as the highlight
of an astonishing show.
On 6th March 2006, David released his third solo album,
On An Island, which entered the UK Charts at
Number One, subsequently hitting the top position
in the pan-European Charts, as well as hitting multi-Platinum
around the world, including countries as diverse as
Canada and Poland.
On An Island was accompanied by tour dates
in the US and Europe, performed by a stellar list
of musicians including Pink Floyd's Richard Wright,
Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera, and regular Floyd musicians
Dick Parry, Guy Pratt, and Jon Carin.
Summer concerts in Europe included a one-off performance
in front of 50,000 in Gdańsk's historic dockyards,
as a celebration of the 26th Anniversary of the Soldarity
movement, which was founded there. For one time only,
the performance featured a 40-piece orchestra conducted
by noted Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner, who had
written the orchestrations for the On An Island
album. The concert was also filmed by director Gavin
Elder.
The live show at London's Royal Albert Hall was filmed
in High Definition by award-winning director David
Mallet for DVD release. Entitled Remember That
Night – Live At The Royal Albert Hall, it
was released in Europe on Monday 17th September 2007
and the following day in North America, immediately
hitting the No. 1 spot in many countries around the
globe.
Remember That Night was released in the high-definition
Blu-ray format in November 2007.
In May 2008, David was awarded an 'Ivor' for Lifetime
Achievement by the British Association of Composers
and Songwriters.
In September 2008, Fender Guitars made available their
David Gilmour Signature Black Strat model,
in two versions. The 'Relic' model Fender Stratocaster™
replicates the wear on David's own 30-year old, much-customised
guitar, while the 'New Old Stock' model includes all
the same custom parts but without the wear.
September also saw the release of Live In Gdańsk,
David's live album from the outdoor show with orchestra
in the Gdańsk shipyards. Available as a 2-CD audio
package, other formats include a DVD of nearly two
hours of concert footage plus a documentary of the
Gdańsk experience.
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| David Gilmour Official Website. Copyright © 2010 David Gilmour Music Ltd. All rights reserved. |
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