Gray, David

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DAVID GRAY

Born: Manchester, England, 1970

Genre: Rock

Best-selling album since 1990: White Ladder (2000)

Hit songs since 1990: "Babylon," "Please Forgive Me," "The Other Side"

After toiling in relative obscurity and slowly building a fan base over three albums during the 1990s, singer/songwriter David Gray broke through in 1998 with the European release of his homegrown recording White Ladder. With an ingenious sonic backdrop for beautiful melodies and insightful, emotional lyrics, White Ladder is a carefully crafted, seamless work.

At the age of nine, Gray moved with his family to Pembrokeshire, Wales, where he spent the remainder of his childhood. As a teen, Gray played in various local punk bands, and his interest in music continued when he returned to England to study at the Liverpool School of Art, once attended by John Lennon. He released several albums and developed a small following, but was by no means a huge success. Although his earlier albums such as Sell, Sell, Sell and Flesh did not feature the marriage of folk and electronic so prominently on White Ladder, it was clear that Gray had a lyrical talent that elicited comparisons to the folk legends Bob Dylan and Van Morrison. The folksinger Joan Baez has said that Gray writes "the best lyrics since young Bob Dylan." Despite the kudos, EMI dropped him shortly after its release of Sell, Sell, Sell.

Determined to keep making music, Gray decided to do it himself. White Ladder was recorded in Gray's London flat and released on his own IHT label with his collaborator Clune, who plays drums and sings backup vocals. The album is a brilliant meeting of electronic and folk music; the light and airy touch of programmed synthesizers and drum machines provide a perfect match for the organic earthiness of piano and acoustic guitar. After its European release in 1998, White Ladder became a huge success in Ireland and the United Kingdom. White Ladder was brought to a wider audience after it caught the attention of the singer and guitarist Dave Matthews, who offered Gray a deal on his label ATO Records. White Ladder was released in the United States in March 2000, and within less than a year it reached platinum status. As of the fall of 2002, the album had sold more than 5 million copies worldwide.

Gray toured extensively to sold-out crowds in support of White Ladder. He took some time off between 2001 and 2002 to spend time with his lawyer wife, Olivia, whom he had married in 1995, and to record his 2002 fall release A New Day at Midnight.

From the ambling chord changes in "Dead in the Water," the lead-off track, to the chilling, soul-searching of "The Other Side," Gray somehow remains optimistic on A New Day at Midnight, an otherwise somber album that no doubt reflects the emotional impact of his father's death in the previous year. In the album's press release Gray says, "There's a vividness to life even at the bleakest moments. Those are the times when you get the most out of other people." The sentiment seems to sum up Gray's overall attitude toward songwriting, and it is what keeps his music consistently hopeful, even in the face of adversity.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Sell, Sell, Sell (EMI, 1996; re-released on Nettwerk America, 2001); White Ladder (ATO/MCA, 2000); Lost Songs: 95–98 (ATO/RCA, 2001); A New Day at Midnight (ATO/MCA, 2002).