大卫·格雷

David Peter Gray (born 13 June 1968) is a British singer-songwriter. He released his debut album in 1993. Gray received worldwide attention upon the release of White Ladder and its hit single, "Babylon". White Ladder was the first of three chart-toppers in six years for Gray in the UK, and it became the fifth best-selling album of the 2000s there. In 2019, it was ranked as the UK's tenth best-selling album of the 21st century. Gray reached the US Top 20 with five successive albums. He has received four Brit Award nominations, including two nominations for Best British Male.

Early life

David Gray was born in 1968 in Sale, Cheshire. He was born with pyloric stenosis, which is a narrowing of the opening from the stomach to the first part of the small intestine. He was initially misdiagnosed, and nearly died from starvation. He lived in Altrincham before moving with his family at the age of nine to Solva, Pembrokeshire, Wales, where his parents took over a gift shop and started a clothing business. "I had an amazing time growing up there ... My imagination could run wild ... It was that which gave me the kind of insane self-belief I have, and had even then, that I could do something as unlikely as play music for a living." He went to Ysgol Dewi Sant high school in nearby St Davids and then on to Carmarthenshire College of Art and finally Liverpool School of Art.

Career

Early career

Gray's first two albums, A Century Ends and Flesh, were issued in 1993 and 1994, respectively. The albums made Gray popular in folk-rock circles, but failed in terms of commercial sales. Simon Price wrote of Gray's debut single, "Birds Without Wings": "He sounded like an anguished, intense troubadour, potentially a male PJ Harvey." In 1996, Gray released his third album, Sell, Sell, Sell.

White Ladder and rise to fame

Originally released on Gray's own label IHT Records in November 1998, White Ladder was re-released in 2000 on the Dave Matthews–owned ATO Records; it became a worldwide hit and made Gray a superstar. While his first three albums featured acoustic folk songs and guitar-based alternative rock, White Ladder introduced his now-trademark folktronic sound. The album included his best-known songs: "This Year's Love", "Babylon", "Please Forgive Me" and "Sail Away". After its re-release, combined with the release and success of single "Babylon", it sold 100,000 copies in Ireland alone, making it number one for six weeks, and according to a 2012 report was the biggest-selling album ever in that country. The album was No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart, two years and five months after its original release, spending a total of 151 weeks on the chart. Aside from "Please Forgive Me", which charted at No. 72 on the UK Singles Chart, all other single releases charted within the Top 20. In June 2000, the single "Babylon" hit No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart.

The year 2001 also saw the release of a rarities compilation of Gray's early works, The EPs 1992–1994, as well as an album of previously unreleased songs recorded in 1999, Lost Songs 95–98, both of which followed White Ladder into the Top 20 in the UK Albums Chart. Gray also provided vocals on the electronic-based band Orbital's 2001 single "Illuminate".