David Gilmour Biography

David Jon Gilmour, CBE (born March 6, 1946 in Cambridge, England) is a guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has also worked as a record producer for a variety of artists. Gilmour has been very active in many charity organizations over the course of his career and in 2003 he was appointed CBE for this work.

Gilmour was born and grew up in the affluent Grantchester Meadows area of Cambridge. His father, Douglas Gilmour, was a senior lecturer in zoology at Cambridge University and his mother, Sylvia, was a teacher.

Gilmour attended The Perse School on Hills Road, Cambridge, and met future Pink Floyd bandmate Syd Barrett who attended Hills Road College, also situated on Hills Road. He took modern languages A-Levels, and along with Syd, he spent his lunchtimes learning to play the guitar. They were not bandmates however, and Gilmour started playing in the band Joker's Wild in 1963. Gilmour left Joker's Wild in 1966 and busked around Spain and France with some friends. They were't particularly successful, living a hand to mouth existance. Indeed, Gilmour ended up in hospital being treated for malnutrition. In 1967, they returned to England, driving a van with fuel stolen from a building site in France.

Gilmour was asked to join Pink Floyd late 1967 making Pink Floyd briefly a five piece. He was used to fill in for Syd's guitar parts when the front man was too high to take a consistent part in Floyd's live performances. When Syd Barrett "left" the group, by the band choosing not to pick him up one night for a gig because of his increasingly erratic behaviour on stage, Gilmour by default assumed the role of the band's lead guitarist and shared lead vocal duties with Roger Waters and Richard Wright in Barrett's stead. Gilmour's guitar playing and song writing became major factors of Pink Floyd's world-wide success during the 1970s. However, after the back to back successes of first Dark Side of the Moon and then Wish You Were Here, Waters took more and more control over the band, writing most of Animals and The Wall by himself. The relationship between the two would further deteriorate during the making of 'The Wall film and the 1983 Pink Floyd album The Final Cut.

In 1986, he purchased the houseboat Astoria which is moored on the River Thames near Hampton Court, and transformed it into a recording studio. The majority of the two most recent Pink Floyd albums and his solo 'On An Island' were recorded there.

In 1985, Waters declared that "as far as he was concerned Pink Floyd was over". However in 1986, the rest of Pink Floyd issued a press release saying that Waters had quit and the band intended on continuing without Waters. It was also at this time that Gilmour assumed full control and created A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Later, they would go on to create The Division Bell as well. Gilmour explained:

During Pink Floyd's quiet spells, he has amused himself as a producer and even concert sound engineer, for a wide variety of acts including former bandmate Syd Barrett, Kate Bush, Grace Jones, Tom Jones, Elton John, B.B. King, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Sam Brown, Jools Holland, Bob Dylan, Pete Townshend, The Who, Supertramp, Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Alan Parsons, various charity "supergroups" and many more.

He also recorded two solo albums which both hit the U.S. Top 40 and went Gold, his 1978 self-titled debut and 1984's About Face.

In 2001 and 2002, he held a small number of acoustic solo concerts in London and Paris, along with a small band and choir, which has been documented on the In Concert release.

Gilmour is renowned for a very precise solo style, rooted in blues and often using extreme note bends and sustain. His solos are noted for being well-composed, economical, lyrical and emotional. In interviews, Gilmour has explained that what he sees as his lack of technique led him to concentrate on melody over speed and 'virtuosity', and this is borne out by the enduring appeal of his solos. To this end, he has also been an experimenter and innovator in the use of amplifiers and guitar effects.

Whilst chiefly associated with the Fender Stratocaster, Gilmour's sound is more the result of choice of notes and playing style than specific equipment. Indeed one of his most famous solos ("Another Brick in the Wall Part II") was played on a Gibson Les Paul.

Although mainly known for his guitar work, Gilmour also plays bass guitar (which he did on numerous Floyd tracks, including "One of These Days" (additional), "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (Additional), "Pigs (Three Different Ones)", "Sheep" and "Hey You"), drums, keyboards, and lately, the saxophone. [3] In fact, on the compilation album A Collection of Great Dance Songs, Gilmour had to re-record the song "Money" due to licensing problems, and played all instruments himself (except for saxophone and drums)[4].

In 1996, Gilmour was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Pink Floyd.

In August 2006, Gilmour's solo on "Comfortably Numb" was voted the greatest guitar solo of all time. [[5]] in a poll by viewers of TV music channel Planet Rock.

Gilmour has four children from his first marriage, to Ginger; Alice (b.1976), Clare (b.1980), Sara (b.1982) and Matthew (b.1985). They originally attended a Waldorf School, but Gilmour called their education there "horrific". [6] He has four children from his second marriage (to Polly Samson) - one adopted (Samson's son with Heathcote Williams, Charlie) and three biological, Joe, Gabriel and Romany.

Gilmour is also an experienced pilot. Under the guise of his company, Intrepid Aviation, he had amassed an impressive collection of historical aircraft. He decided to sell Intrepid, for the following reason (taken from a BBC radio interview in 2002):

Though generally polite, friendly and easygoing, David Gilmour is annoyed when reporters address him as "Dave". He claims never to have used that nickname, preferring his given name, David. However, the three other members of Pink Floyd have often referred to him as "Dave" when giving their own interviews.

The following is a list of equipment David either has used on his solo or Pink Floyd recordings, as well as on current or previous tours.

For his work with Pink Floyd, see Pink Floyd discography between 1969 and 1994