CRAIG DAVID

'Craig Ashley David' (born 5 May 1981), better known as 'Craig David', is an English R&B singer and songwriter who has sold about thirteen million albums worldwide as of 2007.

Contents

Biography and music career

Discography

Albums

Singles

Guest appearances

Trivia

Awards/Nominations

References

External links

Biography and music career

Craig David was born in Holyrood, Southampton, Hampshire^[1] 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, "7 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 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.
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.
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 four 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.
David signed on with Warner Music and put together his third album, The Story Goes..., which was released around the world in August 2005.
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. The album's third single, "Unbelievable", debuted 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.
He has recently collaborated with UK Rapper Kano on his upcoming album London Town for the single This Is The Girl. The single was released on August 27 2007 and debuted at #18 in the UK Charts.
Craig's new single, "Hot Stuff" will be released 5th November 2007 and is the first single from the upcoming album "Trust Me" which is available to buy on 12th November 2007

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 ''Trust Me''

Singles

'Year'	'Title'	'Chart Positions'						'Album'
		UK Singles	US Hot 100	US Radio & Records	US R&B/Hip-Hop	IRE	AUS Singles
2000	"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	"Personal"	-	-	-	-	-	-	''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...''
2007	"This is the Girl" ''(Kano featuring Craig David)''	18	-	-	-	-	-	''London Town''
2007	"Hot Stuff"	-	-	-	-	-	-	''Trust Me''

Guest appearances

★ 2007 "This Is The Girl" (Kano featuring Craig David)

Trivia

★ It is widely known that Craig David is a Southampton FC fan.

★ 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, Charlie 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 "born to just do it"

★ The music video for "What's Your Flava?" is a parody of the children's movie classic Charlie 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, three of the four 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.

★ 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 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).

★ He and A1 singer Ben Adams are friends and 'drinking buddies'.

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

External links

★ Craig David's official website (UK)

★ Craig David's official website (US)

★ Craig David Official Forum

★ Craig David Official MySpace