David Gilmour

David Jon Gilmour, CBE, was born on March 6, 1946 in Cambridge, England. His father was a senior lecturer in Zoology at the University of Cambridge. Although David Gilmour is best known as the guitarist, vocalist and writer with the UK band and international phenomenon Pink Floyd, he has a growing reputation for his solo work. The international success of On An Island has caused many to broaden their assessment of one of the world’s greatest guitarists, with critics describing the album as ‘a sublime piece of virtuosity’, ‘a sumptuous record’ and ‘a hugely sensual work’. Gilmour toured the album, playing to packed houses across Europe, the UK and the States during the summer of 2006, garnering rave reviews. A year later ‘Remember That Night – David Gilmour Live at the Royal Albert Hall’ was released on DVD and Blu-ray, topping music DVD charts around the world.

David Gilmour and Syd Barrett both attended the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology where they spent their lunchtimes learning the guitar. They were not, however, bandmates, and while Barrett joined Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Rick Wright to form Pink Floyd, Gilmour started playing in the band Jokers Wild in 1963. Gilmour left Jokers Wild in 1966 and formed a new band with some of its members. This band, firstly named Flowers, later changing their name to Bullitt, spent the rest of 1966 and most of 1967 playing in Spain and France, before disbanding later that year.

Gilmour was asked to join Pink Floyd in January 1968, to supplement the guitar work of the increasingly erratic Barrett. Syd left the group only months later, struggling with mental illness, and Gilmour assumed the role of the band's guitarist and main vocalist.

Gilmour's guitar playing and song writing were major factors of Pink Floyd's world-wide success during the 1970s. However, at the turn of the decade, as Waters took more and more control over the band, the relationship between the two deteriorated.

Gilmour released his first, eponymous, solo album David Gilmour in the spring of 1978, seeing it chart in the UK Top 20. One of the tunes he wrote at the time, but did not use, was developed to become the Pink Floyd classic "Comfortably Numb".

Having left the band in 1985, Waters declared that Pink Floyd was defunct but David Gilmour demurred and assumed full control. A new Pink Floyd album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, was created and recorded with Nick Mason and Rick Wright and released in 1987 accompanied by a massive world tour. The Division Bell, the last Pink Floyd studio album, was released in 1994 and also supported by a 100 date global sell-out tour. A live album and video of the tour, Pulse, which was recorded and filmed at Earl’s Court in London, followed in 1995 and the DVD of Pulse was released in 2006.

In 1996 Pink Floyd were inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in November 2005 the band were similarly inducted in the UK Music Hall of Fame.

David Gilmour stunned the music world by reuniting with erstwhile band member Roger Waters for a one-off Pink Floyd performance at Live 8 in Hyde Park in July 2005. The Live 8 performance showed a band undimmed by the passage of time – Gilmour’s playing and singing was a highlight of the show. Shortly after, he also called upon all artists experiencing a surge in sales from Live 8 performances to donate the extra revenue to Live 8 fundraising.

David Gilmour was key to launching the career of Kate Bush, and pivotal in the early history of Dream Academy. He has performed as a session musician, producer and even concert sound engineer, for a wide variety of acts including Roy Harper, Bryan Ferry, Robert Wyatt, Hawkwind, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Sam Brown, Jools Holland, Grace Jones, Tom Jones, Elton John, Arcadia, Propaganda, Pete Townshend, The Who, Supertramp, Warren Zevon, various charity "supergroups", and many more.

In 1999 David Gilmour played on Paul McCartney’s rock ‘n roll album, Run Devil Run, which was followed by several concerts culminating in a performance at Liverpool’s famous Cavern Club.

Following a concert which he was invited to undertake for Robert Wyatt’s Meltdown Festival, three semi acoustic concerts were performed by David Gilmour and friends in 2002 at London’s Royal Festival Hall, with one critic remarking that a ‘reinvented rock god shines on as 21st century folk hero.’

In May 2003 David Gilmour hit the headlines by donating the proceeds of the sale of his Maida Vale house, £3.6 million, to Crisis, the charity for the homeless. In November of that year he was made a CBE, for services to music.

At the launch event in September 2007 for the massively successful ‘Remember That Night – David Gilmour Live At The Royal Albert Hall’ DVD, which spent three weeks atop the UK music DVD chart, David Gilmour was asked about future plans, and reassured fans that ‘I’m not done yet”…