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David Gray

Poppy but infectious and different - David Gray rose to fame for his "White Ladder" album which was home recorded and was finished long before anyone had ever heard of it.

David Gray

Biography

David Gray was born in Manchester but spent most of his childhood in Wales. He dabbled in punk during his career at university. After graduating, he headed to London to try and get a record deal - and succeded in 1992, releasing his first single Birds Without Wings. The album, A Century Ends followed in 1993.

It was in Ireland that he first built up a large following, and this finally seems to have translated to the UK in the very late 90's. He built up a reputation as a great live act - helped, I'm sure, by the band's more-than-slightly-manic drummer.

White Ladder hit the Irish charts big-time. It was completely home-recorded, in a London flat with traffic roaring past. He released it on his own label IHT. Another cue for success was the film This Year's Love - the title track for that appears on White Ladder, and four other of his songs featured on the film.

The subsequent album, A New Day at Midnight has also done well. It's a bit mellower than White Ladder but well worth getting hold of.

And the latest David Gray album, Life in Slow Motion, has just been made available (see links to the left).

Official site

Recommended Listening

Releases

White Ladder by David Gray from East West Price: £11.99
A major artist in Ireland, David Gray has a loyal but somewhat smaller following throughout the rest of the world. Since his 1994 debut album A Century Ends, he has consistently produced quality, folk-tinged songs that showcase his one major talent--a raw yet melodic voice. White Ladder marks s ...
Life in Slow Motion by David Gray from Atlantic Price: £11.99
While it's truistic to state that success breeds success, for his seventh album, Life In Slow Motion, David Gray appears creditably disinclined to exploit the mainstream global success of White Ladder by languidly adhering to any prescripted expectations.

Evidently not one for squatting on h ...

Greatest Hits by David Gray from Atlantic Price: £11.99
A New Day at Midnight by David Gray from East West Price: £11.99
David Gray's A New Day at Midnight is darker than its mega-hit predecessor, and deeper, and all the better for that. Emotionally fuelled by the death of Gray's father and the birth of his son, it possesses much the same tone as White Ladder, being simultaneously celebratory and troubled. The al ...
Famous Hymns from Westminster Abbey from Essential Classics Price: £4.99
Shine by David Gray from Hut Price: £11.99
This is not the first collection of David Gray's "pre-success" recordings, but it is the best one. Unlike many such collections of early works by noted artists, you're not seeing the artist's abilities in their infant state--each of these 15 songs is already great. The Mancunian musician's performing abiliti ...
Lost Songs 1995-1998 by David Gray from East West Price: £12.99
Released as a glass-raising toast to the longstanding loyalty of his Irish fan base (whose thirst for fresh David Gray material is truly quenchless), Lost Songs assembles material written during a label-hopping lapse either side of the Sell Sell Sell album and which was belatedly committed to t ...
A Century Ends by David Gray from Hut Price: £7.99
Hardly anybody--with the notable exception of Irish songstress Mary Black, who subsequently turned out a rather splendid cover version of "Shine" some years later--bought A Century Ends, David Gray's debut album. Emerging in 1993, at a time when an uncharacteristically contented British public was ben ...
Flesh by David Gray from Hut Price: £7.99
Heaven knows things got even worse before they got better for wordy folk-pop minstrel David Gray. Much like its immediate predecessor A Century Ends, Flesh managed to sell only in trickles at the time of its release and an underwhelmed record company swiftly shunted him in the direction of the ...
Sell Sell Sell by David Gray from EMI Price: £7.99
When it was originally released in 1995, Sell Sell Sell was such a commercial failure that David Gray's record company didn't think twice about dropping him from its roster. But because of the Welsh singer-songwriter's international breakthrough, White Ladder (recorded in his own bedroom and in ...