 Gilmour
was born and grew up in Cambridge. His father was a senior lecturer
in zoology. Gilmour met Syd Barrett while attending the Cambridgeshire
College of Arts and Technology where they spent their lunchtimes
learning the guitar. They were not, however, bandmates, and Gilmour
started playing in the band Joker's Wild in 1963. Gilmour left Joker's
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 of the following year. Barrett "left" (in
other words, his bandmates just decided not to pick him up for gigs)
the group only months later and Gilmour assumed the role of the band's
lead guitarist and shared lead vocal duties with Roger Waters. Gilmour's
guitar playing and song writing became major factors of Pink Floyd's
world-wide success during the 1970s. However, at the turn of the
decade, Waters took more and more control over the band. The relationship
between the two grew ever worse.
Gilmour released his first, eponymous, solo album David Gilmour
in the spring of 1978. One of the tunes he wrote at the time, but
did not use, was developed to become the Pink Floyd classic "Comfortably
Numb". Gilmour released his second solo album, About Face,
in 1984.
In 1985, Waters declared that Pink Floyd was defunct. However,
Gilmour assumed full control and created A Momentary Lapse of Reason.
Gilmour explained:
I had a number of problems with the direction of the band in
our recent past, before Roger left. I thought the songs were very
wordy and that, because the specific meanings of those words were
so important, the music became a mere vehicle for lyrics, and not
a very inspiring one... Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were
Here were so successful not just because of Roger's contributions,
but also because there was a better balance between the music and
the lyrics than there has been in more recent albums. That's what
I'm trying to do with 'A Momentary Lapse of Reason' more focus
on the music, restore the balance.
During Pink Floyd's quiet spells, he has amused himself as a session
musician, producer and even concert sound engineer, for a wide
variety of acts including some pseudonymous novelty releases, Roy
Harper, Kate Bush (whose career Gilmour was instrumental in launching),
The Dream Academy (another artist whose early history Gilmour was
pivotal in), Grace Jones, Tom Jones, Elton John, Arcadia, Bryan
Ferry, Robert Wyatt, Hawkwind, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Sam
Brown, Jools Holland, Propaganda, Pete Townshend, The Who, Supertramp,
Warren Zevon, various charity "supergroups" and many
more.
Gilmour is especially renowned for a very precise, "bendy" kind
of soloing, as well as various "violin-type" sounds and
screams. His solos are noted for being well-composed and constructed,
with very little waste of notes. In interviews, Gilmour has explained
that his lack of technique[sic] lead him to concentrate on melody
over virtuosity and the enduring appeal of his major solos is that
that they are expressive tunes rather than technical exercises.
He has been an innovator in the use of guitar sound effects.
In 1996 Gilmour was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
as a member of Pink Floyd.
In 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.
In May 2003, Gilmour sold one of his London houses and contributed
the $5.9 million he made to a housing project for the homeless.
 In
November 2003, he was made a CBE, for philanthropy and for services
to music.
On July 2, 2005, Gilmour played with Pink Floyd - including Roger
Waters - at Live 8. The performance caused a temporary 1,343 percent
sales increase of Pink Floyd's album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.
As a result, Gilmour vowed to donate all his resulting profits
to charities that reflect the goals of Live 8 saying:
"Though the main objective has been to raise consciousness
and put pressure on the G8 leaders, I will not profit from the
concert. This is money that should be used to save lives."
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.
He 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):
Intrepid Aviation was a way for me to make my hobby pay for itself
a little bit, but gradually over a few years Intrepid Aviation
became a business because you have to be businesslike about it.
Suddenly I found instead of it being a hobby and me enjoying myself,
it was a business and so I sold it. I don't have Intrepid Aviation
any more. I just have a nice old biplane that I pop up, wander
around the skies in sometimes...
Gilmour had four children from his first marriage, to Ginger:
Alice, Claire, Sarah and Matthew. They originally attended a Waldorf
School, but Gilmour called their education there "horrific".
[1] He has three children from his second marriage and has adopted
the first-born of his second wife, the writer Polly Samson.
He is reported to be working on a new solo album entitled "On
An Island", due for release in Spring of 2006 and is reported
to have guest appearances by Richard Wright, David Crosby and Graham
Nash. He has also recorded a contribution to an "all-star" version
of the Buzzcocks' Ever Fallen in Love with Someone You Shouldn't
Have?, in memory of John Peel, released in November 2005.
Solo albums by David Gilmour
- David Gilmour (1978)
- About Face (1984)
- On An Island (2006)
Filmography
- David Gilmour Live (1984)
- David Gilmour in Concert (2002)
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