David Peter Gray (born 13 June 1968)[2] is a British singer-songwriter. He released his first album in 1993 and received worldwide attention after the release of White Ladder six years later. It was the first of three UK chart-toppers in six years for Gray, of which the latter two also made the Top 17 in the United States. White Ladder became the fifth best-selling album of the 2000s in the UK.[3] In October 2019 it was ranked the tenth best-selling album of the 21st century in the United Kingdom.[4] Gray has been nominated for four Brit Awards – twice for Best British Male.[5]
Gray was born in 1968 in Sale, Cheshire, and lived in Altrincham near Manchester before moving with his family at the age of nine to Solva, Pembrokeshire, where his parents took over a gift shop and started a clothing business.[6][7] “I had an amazing time growing up there … My imagination could run wild … It was that which gave me the kind of insane self-belief I have, and had even then, that I could do something as unlikely as play music for a living.”[7] He went to Ysgol Dewi Sant high school in nearby St Davids and then on to Carmarthenshire College of Art and finally Liverpool School of Art.[7]
Gray’s first two albums, A Century Ends and Flesh, were issued in 1993 and 1994 respectively and led to Gray becoming popular in folk-rock circles, but both failed in terms of commercial sales.[8] In 1996 Gray released his third album, Sell, Sell, Sell.The album was recorded at Pyramid Sound Studios in Ithaca, NY. Despite his dislike of the album, Gray continued to maintain residence in Ithaca, NY on and off over the years. Despite critical acclaim,[citation needed] the album did not chart, but the song “Late Night Radio” received some airplay on alternative UK radio stations. On the 1997 Mary Black album Shine, Gray contributed five songs.[citation needed]
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