David Jon Gilmour
was born on 6th March, 1946, in Grantchester Meadows,
Cambridge. He is the youngest Pink Floyd member. As
the lead guitarist of Pink Floyd, he's one of rock's
most distinctive players with his use of echoes, delays,
and distorted sustain. He joined the band in '68 - after
he already had established a reputation as a guitarist
and vocalist in the group "The Jokers Wild"
- in order to "support" the ailing Syd Barrett
(the idea was, according to Roger Waters, to let Syd
carry on writing songs, but have Dave actually do Syd's
part live), but Syd was to soon leave and so Dave took
over as lead guitarist, and also took over some of the
singing.
Right up to "The Dark Side of The Moon",
Dave was also writing his own songs, but from there
to "The Final Cut", Roger Waters took over
in the Lyrics department. Dave, released, perhaps reluctantly
of this responsibility, did make up for it by producing
some excellent Guitar, and production work on all those
albums, most notably Shine On You Crazy Diamond (from
"Wish You Were Here") and Comfortably Numb
(from "The Wall"). He also did a large amount
of the vocals, and it can be argued that he's probably
got the best singing voice in the band.
His solo efforts have done well, with his self-titled
debut reaching #29 and followup About Face hitting #32
on the charts.
After Roger Waters decided to officially leave the
group, Nick Mason and Dave subsequently decided to record
an album under the Pink Floyd name. Waters, who thought
the name best layed to rest, sued them over its use.
The two parties eventually reached a settlement before
the matter ever reached court.
Meanwhile, Pink Floyd did NOT die. Their first post-Waters
release, "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" went
on to become a major success. In 1995, several years
off, the group released "The Division Bell",
followed by a live recording from this tour, their most
recent release, "Pulse".
In the early 90's Gilmour divorced his wife Ginger.
He now lives with his girlfriend Polly Samson, a journalist
who also contributed with some of The Division Bell's
lyrics. He is a neighbour to his friend and band mate
Nick Mason in Maida Vale, London and has a fully equipped
recording studio, The Astoria, on his houseboat on Thames.
He also enjoys flying his planes and owns the Intrepid
Aviation Company collection of classic aircraft.
|