Leader of the legendary Pink Floyd. David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) Facts & Biography

09.04.2019

Name: David Gilmour

Age: 73 years old

Height: 183

Activity: musician, singer

Family status: married

David Gilmour: biography

David John Gilmour - British guitarist, vocalist, bandleader " Pink Floyd". He owns a recording studio, has released several solo albums, and helps charitable organizations. In 2009 and 2011, Gilmour was included in the list of the best and greatest guitarists in the world.

Childhood and youth

David Gilmour was born on March 6, 1946 in Cambridge, England. The child appeared in the family of a senior teacher of zoology and a teacher. Sometimes the musician jokingly calls his relatives nouveau riche. For David, his parents have always been exemplary citizens of society, adhering to socialist views on life, supporters of the Labor Party. Interestingly, political tastes were passed on to his son.


David Gilmour was educated at Persian School, located on Hills Road, Cambridge. It has become an iconic place for the guitarist. It was in this educational institution that a meeting took place with Syd Barrett and. At this time, the comrades were already attending the High School, which was intended exclusively for boys.

The young man was preparing for an important exam, allowing him to enter the university. But in parallel, David studied guitar with Sid. It is interesting that for a long time the guys did not even think about putting together a team. Instead, Gilmour collaborated with Joker's Wild.


In 1966, David broke off relations with the team and went on a trip with Waters and Barrett. Young guys "came off" in France and Spain, guitarists even played along with street musicians. It was not possible to achieve success in this way, they barely had enough to eat. Interesting details of the wanderings were discovered in 1992. It turned out that Gilmore ended up in the hospital due to exhaustion, after which the guys returned home in a truck stolen in France.

Music

Shortly after returning from a friendly tour, the talented guitarist became interested in drummer Nick Mason. The guy invited Gilmour to become part of the Pink Floyd group. young musician did not immediately agree. In January 1968 the quartet became a quintet. David fell under the obligation to help Sid in cases where the guy was in poor physical condition.

Soon Barrett leaves the group. The place of the guitarist was firmly entrenched in Gilmour. In addition to playing the guitar, David had to perform vocals. Bass guitarist Roger Waters and keyboardist Richard Wright helped the aspiring musician.


David Gilmour and Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd was popular among rock fans. The albums "The Dark Side of the Moon" and "Wish You Were Here" brought good luck to the band. Gradually, Gilmour's influence on the group grew. Now the musician writes songs for future discs "Animals" and "The Wall". The more David immersed himself in work, the worse his relationship with Waters became.

Recording the album "Animals" revealed the potential of the Cambridge musician. This prompted Gilmour to create a solo disc, which was released in 1978. David named the collection after himself. The compositions show the unique guitar style of the musician, which testified to the talent of the singer. The tension in the Pink Floyd team was growing. Gilmour comes up with the idea of ​​recording a second solo album. The album was called "About Face". The sales did not confirm David's popularity as a solo artist.

The life of a rock musician was not easy. Constant conflicts in the group, the departure of friends from the team. In the end, only Gilmour and Nick Mason remained. The performers announced in 1985 that Waters was leaving Pink Floyd. But the group did not completely break up. The guys jointly created the album "A Momentary Lapse of Reason".

Pink Floyd went on a world tour already as a trio, as Wright joined Gilmour and Mason. Accomplished musicians recorded a new disc "The Division Bell". According to David, it was difficult to decide on future fate band after Roger's departure. Gilmour later realized that the reason for the two albums' failure was an imbalance between music and lyrics.

David decided to start his own recording studio. According to the musician, the house on the water "Astoria" was best suited for this. The young man moored a floating craft in the immediate vicinity of Hampton Court and began recording tracks for albums. The album "On an Island" was born here in 2006.

"Pink Floyd" almost in the original composition took part in the Live 8 concert. The event became a lever of influence on the representatives of the "Big Eight". Despite this, Gilmore decided to donate the proceeds to needy citizens. Moreover, the man urged colleagues to do the same.


Soon the team was offered to go on a US tour for 150 million pounds, but the musicians refused such a tempting idea. Already in February 2006, Gilmour told the Italian press that the joint work of the members of Pink Floyd was actually completed.

David explained this decision by his age and unwillingness to work as much as in his younger years. The guitarist does not give up on music, but goes on a solo voyage. The Live 8 concert helped the band end the story on a high note. In July 2006, Syd Barrett, Gilmour's high school friend, died. And in December of the same year, the musician presented a single dedicated to a friend.

Interestingly, keyboardist Richard Wright and " Godfather» glam rock . Recording took place at the Royal Albert Hall. This single was widely known in the circles of music lovers. For four weeks, the dedication charted at number 19 in the UK.

In his youth, Gilmore never received an education, but this did not stop David from receiving an honorary doctorate of arts. University of Cambridge Anglia Ruskin Award for Musical Achievement.


45 years have passed since the recording of "Live at Pompeii", the year 2016 has come, and David Gilmour has returned to Pompeii, but already alone. Musician introduced big concert in support of the album "Rattle That Lock". The large-scale event gathered more than 2600 people. Fans of the guitarist were able to plunge into the incredible atmosphere of rock, coupled with memories of gladiators and battles. In September 2017, Gilmour released the official recording from this concert. Everyone could see it in cinemas.

Personal life

David Gilmour is a dedicated family man. The first time a man married Virginia. The girl was often called musical circles Ginger. The guitarist's wife was born in Michigan. The girl in those years worked as a model, was fond of painting.

The acquaintance took place in 1971, during one of the Pink Floyd concerts. The guys played in the city of Ann Arbor. Virginia attended a rockers performance with her boyfriend. The young man took the lady backstage to meet the musicians. For the biography of Gilmour, this moment became fateful.


David fell in love with Ginger at first sight. Later, the photo of the girl was repeatedly placed on the covers of Pink Floyd discs. The wedding of a rock musician and a model took place in 1975. They chose an unusual place - the Abbey Road studio, located in London.

Four children were born in the marriage - Alice, Clara, Sarah and Matthew. Happiness did not last long. The Gilmores divorced between 1987 and 1989. After 5 years, David met his second wife - Polly Samson. The union brought the musician again four children - Joe, Gabriela, Romani and Charlie.


Last son for Gilmour is adoptive. The young man is characterized by inappropriate behavior. In 2010, Charlie was involved in riots on and off campus. The police proved that the guy threw garbage into the car, set fire to the Supreme Court building and hung on the flagpole.

On court session Charlie admitted to using LSD, Valium and whiskey. The court sentenced the guy to 16 months in prison. The public rebelled against the rich son of a musician, albeit an adopted one. Gilmour fans expressed sympathy.


For many years, David considers himself to be an Arsenal football club fan. The guitarist attends matches at the team's home stadium. And in 2015, the BBC channel presented to the public documentary"David Gilmour: Broad Horizons".

David Gilmour now

Rock musician David Gilmour does not plan to stop there. Now the guitarist is recording new singles that will be included in the artist's next music album. Until the songs are completed, Gilmour will not plan a world tour.


The Pink Floyd vocalist does not make any promises about his further musical career, since in last time the recording of the disc took almost 10 years. Perhaps only after the release of the album, Gilmour will retire.

Discography

  • 1968 - "A Saucerful of Secrets"
  • 1969 - "More"
  • 1969 - "Ummagumma"
  • 1970 - "Atom Heart Mother"
  • 1971 - Meddle
  • 1972 - Obscured by Clouds
  • 1973 - "The Dark Side of the Moon"
  • 1975 - "Wish You Were Here"
  • 1977 - Animals
  • 1978 - "David Gilmour"
  • 1979 - "The Wall"
  • 1983 - "The Final Cut"
  • 1984 - "About Face"
  • 1987 - "A Momentary Lapse of Reason"
  • 1988 - "Delicate Sound of Thunder"
  • 1994 - "The Division Bell"
  • 1995 - P U L S E
  • 2006 - "On an Island"
  • 2014 - "The Endless River"
  • 2015 - "Rattle That Lock"

There is no special need. It's already a legend. Her name is associated with five musicians who have been successfully creating their own special, inimitable sound for thirty years. One of them was the lead guitarist, vocalist and author of a good half of all the band's songs. David Gilmour, Solo career which is also of interest to fans of British progressive music.

Born 65 years ago in the famous Cambridge, the future guitarist received an honorary doctorate of arts from the local university for services to music only in 2009. And what kind of education could there be when at the age of 22 you become a member, albeit unknown at that time, but still Pink Floyd. Gilmore's parents were teachers and, of course, wished their child only good in the form of good education and subsequent promising work, But future star The British prog scene took a different path.

Gilmour's contribution to Pink Floyd is enormous. Even his eternal opponent in the group - Roger Waters - in a recent interview mentioned that David is a great guitarist. These words were confirmed by the magazines " Rolling stone" and "Classic Rock", including the former member of Pink Floyd in their symbolic lists " the best guitarists all times and peoples." And indeed it is. His "stratocaster" is always recognizable, whether it's Floyds or solo records, of which Gilmour does not have too many.

After the release of Floyd's album "Animals" in 1977, when the reins of power in the team began to smoothly pass into the hands of Roger Waters, David decided that the time had come to prove himself as a full leader and record his own record, where he and only he would command the parade He. In 1978, his first "solo album" was released. The work turned out to be quite convincing, although it still had to grow and grow before the Pink Floyd albums. Gilmour, as a composer and guitarist, showed his full strength, but listening to this album, it seems that he clearly lacks the rest of the legendary Pink Floyd.

Returning to the bosom of the group, Gilmour realized that Waters' dominance knew no bounds, that it, like a cancerous tumor, was growing and progressing. The albums "The Wall" and "The Final Cut", although impeccable in performance and compositional skills, are a clear confirmation of this. In 1984, at the peak of the Pink Floyd crisis, David released his second solo album About Face (1984).

Two tracks on this fairly strong album were co-written by Pete Townsend of The Who, with some keyboard work by Steve Winwood of Traffic. Although this work was highly praised by critics, it clearly lacks the spirit of the 70s, which created the unique sound of classic progressive rock. Some of the album's pop motifs, inherent in the mid-80s, are very harsh on the ear, and if not for the name of David Gilmour and his excellent guitar playing, this record could have gone unnoticed.

July 2, 2005 as part of charity concert"Live 8" was a live performance of Pink Floyd with its classic line-up. It can even be said that this event led to the official reconciliation of David Gilmour and Roger Waters, but, nevertheless, legendary band never destined to be back in the studio. After such a grandiose event, not only in rock music, but also in the life of David himself, the musician records, perhaps, his most best album On an Island.

The album was released in 2006. Many of David's great musician friends took part in the work on it: Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright, Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera, Robert Wyatt of The Soft Machine, Graham Nash and David Crosby. The orchestral arrangements for the album were performed by the famous Polish composer, the author of soundtracks for the films of Krzysztof Kieślowski, Zbigniew Preisner.

"On an Island" reached number one on the UK charts and reached the top ten in many countries around the world. After the release of his masterpiece, David Gilmour went on tour, which became a real treat for fans, both musician and band Pink Floyd. The concert performance in Gdansk, Poland, was played so high-quality and flawlessly that in 2008 it was released as a separate album “Live in Gdańsk”.

1966, 1986-1987 - David Gilmour - Joker's Wild.

About this group, which existed in the distant sixties among many others like it, now no one would have remembered, if not for one "small" circumstance. And the thing is that at that time young Dave Gilmour played in it, who later earned fame as part of Pink Floyd. Gilmour was born March 6, 1946 in Cambridge. His father, who was engaged in genetics, and his mother, who worked as a film editor, devoted themselves entirely to work, and the guy was completely left to himself and decided for himself what to do.

When David was thirteen, a neighbor gave him Spanish guitar which determined the young Gilmour's interest for the rest of his life. Having mastered the instrument, the guy immediately put together his first gang called "Newcomers".

In the last years of school, he met Syd Barrett and they often got together to jam. Then their paths parted temporarily, and Gilmour joined The Ramblers, who soon changed their sign to Jokers wild. The team included John Gordon, Tony Santi, John Altman and Clive Welham. The group specialized in performing covers of already famous bands such as Four Seasons, Beach Boys, Kinks and a number of others. Despite this fact, "Jokers wild" enjoyed relative popularity and were often invited to open concerts of such stars as "Animals" or "Zoot money". The ensemble performed mainly in London clubs, since the guys did not have money for any trips.

With regards to studio work, we can name only two of them. In 1966, the Regent sound label released the single "Why Do Fools Fall In Love? / Don" t Ask Me (What I Say)", stamped in an amount of only 50 copies. In the same quantity in the same year and the same company published the so-called "mini-longplay" (only one side was recorded on a mini-LP) with five songs: "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" - ​​a cover of "Beach Boys", "Don" t Ask Me "- a cover of" Manfred Mann " , "Beautiful Delilah" - a cover of Chuck Berry, "Walk Like a Man" and "Big Girls Don "t Cry" - covers " Four seasons". Twenty years later, this release was illegally reissued on CD in the amount of hundreds of copies.

By early 1967, the Jokers wild had changed dramatically and looked like this: Dave Gilmour (guitar, vocals), John "Willy" Wilson (born August 7, 1947, drums) and Ricky Wheels (bass). Then the group changed its sign, first to "Flowers", then to "Bullet" and, in the end, after Gilmour left for Pink Floyd, the team ceased to exist.

In addition to the songs of Joker's Wild, this bootleg is supplemented with five songs from the retro performance of Joker's Wild in Cannes on January 29, 1986 (tracks 6 to 10). And, the 11th track, David Gilmour's participation in the Saturday Night Live (SNL) program of the American television channel NBC. This performance took place on December 22, 1987, and the composition "Ah, Robertson It" s U" performed by him is considered the rarest recording among collectors who collect philophonic rarities. The first five tracks, as you understand, were recorded in mono mode (there was no stereo recording then) This recording has never been released in the form of a pressing (silver), and was sold only on CD media.


      Publication date: March 22, 2012

denouement

In principle, yes, of course, Pink was no stranger to it - at first he looked at himself in the mirror, and Clive Metcalfe was reflected in it, then - Barrett, then - Waters .. So that he would not be reborn again? ..

But still, age - at the time of Waters' departure, Pink was over twenty. That for a teenager, which he always was, is already too much.

And now it's just Gilmour and Waters, Mason and Wright. The first two spat at each other in the press, the last two were pushed back by this struggle somewhere very strongly to the rear - and none of them eventually had the strength left to revive Pink.

Nevertheless, Pink Floyd as a brand was by that time already extremely successful and promoted - and therefore Gilmour, Mason and Wright continued to perform, the three of them without Waters, withstanding a couple of attempts on his part to sue the right to use this name ..

By the mid-nineties, they even began work on the next album, "Momentary Lapse of Reason" - by that time Gilmour had bought himself a wonderful house on the Thames, which he soon converted into the Astoria recording studio, where he recorded most of album.

"Momentary Lapse of Reason" was released in September 1987.

The squad did not notice the loss of a fighter - and the album took third place in the UK and the US.

From the outside, it seemed that Pink Floyd was still more alive than all the living - however, in fact, he became only Gilmour's second solo project. According to him, "Nick played a couple of tam-toms on one of the songs, and for the rest I had to hire other drummers. Rick played on a few fragments. Mostly I played keyboards, pretending that it was him."

Is it any wonder that the sound of the new album, devoid of the drama and social pathos so characteristic of Waters and the musical experiments of the Barrett era, was almost identical to the sound of Gilmour's solo albums? ..

Gilmour divorced in 1990. And a year later he married again, English writer and thirty-two-year-old journalist Polly Samson. Soon the couple adopted a child, Charlie, and then made three more - plus one from Polly and four from Gilmour - Joe, Gabriel and Romani.

Released in 1994 latest album Pink Floyd - named, at the suggestion of Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "Division Bell". The album, which included eleven tracks, reached the first lines of the UK charts, and in the US it went triple platinum at all - although it did not receive particularly warm recognition from music critics. The theme of misunderstanding and bad communication runs through the album as a red thread, symbolized by a short telephone conversation between Steve O'Rourke, the band's manager, and Gilmour's adopted son Charles at the end of the final track "High Hopes".

Postposition

"Division Bell" was the band's last album. Yes, live albums and bootlegs were also published, musicians still got together, playing old hits and participating in each other's solo albums - but Pink Floyd remained in the past.

On March 6, 2006, Gilmour - at that time, the father of a large family, an honorary doctor of arts, a Commander of the Order of the British Empire and a laureate of many music awards- turned sixty - an age that inspires respect.

I am 60 years old,” he told La Repubblica in 2006. “I no longer have the desire to work so hard.

On his sixtieth birthday, he presented the album "On an Island" - very different from everything he had done before, and even more so - from the classic pink floyd sound. By comparison, if the band's first album drew Barrett's bottomless LSD eyes, if "the Wall" described a very human soul Waters and social drama society, then "On an Island" generally renounced the human component - this album sounds the sea, sky, earth, rivers, all the elements and natural phenomena - a kind of "world without people". Only for this lovely picture the album deserved the first place in the UK charts and a number of other European countries.

He participated in its creation, which is typical of Gilmour, very impressive list very impressive people: Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzaner, Rob Wyatt of Soft Machine, organist Georgie Fame, drummer Andy Newmark, Americans Graham Nash and David Crosby on backing vocals, and composer Zbigniew Preisner - who later became the conductor of the Polish symphony orchestra, who played with the band at a concert in Gdansk, Poland - from which the album "Live in Gdansk" was made.

The concert and the album based on it became one of the the best works band - and the last recording for Richard Wright, who died of cancer a few days before the album's release.

Epilogue

There is a time to scatter stones and a time to collect them. And the album "On an Island" is a vivid evidence of this. David once said, a rock star ceases to be such at thirty. At the time of the recording of "On an Island" he was sixty.

And despite the fact that Gilmour is by no means planning to give up creativity (last year, for example, he recorded utterly concept album with the Orb), it becomes clear that he said everything - and it's great if somewhere in his soul he sounds his own "Je ne regrette rien" *.

And if you sit don't make a sound
Pick your feet up off the ground
And if you hear as the warm night falls
The silver sound from a time so strange
- as it was sung in one of his favorite songs, the ballad "Fat Old Sun" ... Everything should go into silence.

___
*I don't regret anything

Gilmour sound

"David Gilmour uses a lot of effects like Big Muff and delay, but what really matters is his fingers, his vibrato, his choice of notes, and his effects setup. I find it strange when people try to achieve his sound by copying his sets. Never mind, how well you can do it, it's important that you don't copy his personality" - Phil Taylor, Pink Floyd's technician [and friend of Gilmour, by the way].

Over the years of his musical career, David Gilmour has become in some way the absolute size of the guitar - and the quality of guitar solos, I suppose, can already be measured in Gilmours.

On this long and hard journey, he saved up over a hundred guitars - not to mention amplifiers, pedals, consoles, branded sets and sound engineers ...

There is probably no point in considering the whole hundred, but I would like to focus on three of them:

  • Tri-color Sunburst Fender Stratocaster (repainted radical black and later released in two fender custom shop variations),
  • Fender Stratocaster No. 0001 - formally speaking, the first released strat from the very beginning of mass production.
  • Candy Apple Red "57" is also a Strat, he used it, among other things, on the "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" tour, recording the "Delicate Sound of Thunder" live album, "On an Island" tour (during the performance of "Shine on..."), on "Pulse" and on the latest "Division Bell". The guitar is equipped with a set of active EMG SPC pickups (rewired from SA), two tone controls and an EXG bass and treble expander - the set is called the DG-20 and is personalized Gilmour set: mother-of-pearl pickguard and ivory pickups made of alnico alloy (aluminum, nickel, cobalt), the specificity of the sound is achieved due to the built-in single-backer: two coils and a magnet.

    The DG-20 set costs $310. Information for 2007 - now, taking into account inflation, somewhere under $ 350 .. Although you can buy cheaper from the hands, so luck will smile on those who seek.

    However, from my own experience I can say that the characteristic gilmourish sound is far from being determined by pickups in the first place - and the sound recipe is determined very much by the following parameters:

    Effect pedals:

    Digitech WH-1 Whammy,
    Dunlop wah wah,
    Demeter Compulator,
    Pete Cornish G-2,
    Pete Cornish P-1,
    T-Rex Replica Delay,
    Electro Harmonix Big Muff

    Amplifiers:

    Hiwatt DR103 All Purpose 100W heads,
    WEM Super Starfinder 200 cabinets,
    Fender 1956 tweed twin 40w combo.

    In general, welcome to gilmourish.com. Or, while it's closed, the English Wikipedia is showing extraordinary awareness.

    P.S. However, in addition to hundreds of guitars, Gilmour also plays bass, keyboards, banjo, harmonica and drums (for example, in Barrett's "Dominoes"). Since recently, and in general on the saxophone ...

  • David Jon Gilmour is a legendary rock musician, virtuoso guitarist, composer, frontman of one of the greatest rock bands of all time - Pink Floyd.

    Experts believe that it was he who brought into it an incredible, which has become calling card, scale is everywhere and in everything - in amazing sound, in innovative visual and technical means, in fantastic shows. He is a 1994 Grammy winner (as a member of the band) for the instrumental composition Marooned, notable for its unique playing with "floating" guitar sounds, rapidly and significantly (by an octave) changing in pitch.

    After the rock band's unspoken breakup, Gilmour continued to record and perform solo.

    Rock Artist - Member of the Eight charities. Money from the sale of his house in the amount of 3.6 million pounds in 2003 was transferred for sale social project providing housing for the homeless.

    For outstanding musical services, David was awarded the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and also included in the lists of the best guitarists in the world (Rolling Stone and Classic Rock), and the greatest rock vocalists (listeners of Planet Rock).

    Childhood and youth

    The future rock idol was born on March 6, 1946 in Cambridge. His dad taught zoology at one of the largest and oldest local universities in Britain. Mom was a teacher by education, she worked as a film editor for the Air Force.


    The boy's interest in music appeared early. His parents approved and encouraged his son's hobby. He acquired the first single in his collection at the age of 8. It was famous song"Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley. Then his attention was drawn to Elvis Presley's 1956 composition "Hotel broken hearts". And a year later, after the release of The Everly Brothers single “Bye Bye Love”, which he liked, he began to play the guitar with the help of self-instruction books.

    From the age of 11, David attended Perse School and made friends with the guys from the High School, located in the same area of ​​​​the city. His new friends were Syd Barrett and Roger Waters, who later became the founders of Pink Floyd.


    Since 1962, the young man studied at the Technical College; did not finish the course, but learned to speak excellent French. In his spare time, he played the guitar with Barrett, exploring the musical and sonic possibilities of the instrument. During that period, he became a member of the rock band Jokers Wild. At the capital's Regent Sound Studio they recorded a single, which was released in a small edition of 50 copies.

    In 1965, Gilmour left this group and went on a European tour with Barrett and other friends. During the trip, they performed a lot on the streets, performing songs from the repertoire the Beatles. These street performances were not very commercially successful - they were often detained by the police, and they lived almost from hand to mouth. As a result of malnutrition, Gilmour ended up in the hospital.


    Then he moved to Paris, where he was a frequent guest of the Louvre, worked as a driver and for some time, thanks to his remarkable appearance, worked as an assistant to the famous fashion designer Ozzy Clark, the costume designer for Mick Jagger and other Rolling Stones musicians.


    In 1967, he toured France with former Jokers Wild bandmates Rick Wills and Willie Wilson. Their reunited band, which was first called "Flowers", then "Bullet", also did not achieve much popularity. True, David recorded two songs for the soundtrack to the film "Two Weeks in September" with Brigitte Bardot in the title role. But they returned home with completely empty pockets - they did not even have money for gasoline, so their friends pushed their bus from the ferry on their own.

    Music career development

    In December of the same year, Nick Mason, the drummer of the beginning band Pink Floyd, offered Gilmour to play with them, replacing Syd Barrett, who was hooked on LSD, if necessary.

    David Gilmour and Pink Floyd, beginning

    During this period, the band was gaining popularity among fans of psychedelic rock, and Gilmour, of course, agreed. Initially, it was planned that Barrett would continue to write music for Pink Floyd, but after a year they still had to say goodbye to him. As bass player Waters later admitted, despite the fact that Sid was their friend and creative genius, at that time they often "wanted to strangle him." He could "withdraw into himself" right on the stage, wander aimlessly, staring blankly at the audience and the musicians who were waiting in confusion for his playing.

    Gilmour became the lead guitarist and soloist instead of him, by that time he had formed a recognizable virtuoso style.


    Pink Floyd's first album featuring Devil Gilmour was A Saucerful of Secrets in 1968.

    In 1970, Pink Floyd's fifth album and David Gilmour's fourth, Atom Heart Mother, reached number one on the national chart.

    In 1971 talented performers created a grandiose musical film"Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii". In 1973, with the release of the unprecedented disc "The Dark Side of the Moon", the peak of their career came.


    In 1975, their next project Wish You Were Here was released, which became his favorite (according to the musician) with the track "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" dedicated to Barrett.

    Bass guitarist Waters, the creator of many compositions of the albums of that period - "Animals" and "The Wall" "took over" the leadership in the band. Friends on the stage had the first conflicts, as a result of which keyboardist Richard Wright left them. Relations between the new leader and Gilmour worsened.


    David's performance on "Comfortably Numb" from "The Wall" has been voted one of the greatest guitar solos of all time in several critic and audience polls. In order to realize his incredible potential, he began to work on a solo record, released under his name in 1978.

    With the release of Pink Floyd's The Final Cut in 1983, which turned out to be almost a personal disc of the bass player, the confrontation between him and David deepened. During the recording, they even tried not to be in the studio at the same time. This circumstance prompted David to think about the next solo disc "About Face", which was released in 1984, where he expressed his attitude to a number of sensitive topics, including the murder of John Lennon.


    In 1985, Roger Waters left the band; Gilmour is the frontman. In 1987, the musicians delighted fans with a new joint creation"A Momentary Lapse of Reason". In 1994 they recorded their last album, The Division Bell. It topped the charts in the UK and was certified gold and platinum in the US. In 1996, the iconic guitarist was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

    In 2005, Pink Floyd played in Hyde Park at Live 8, an action calling on the leaders of the G8 to end poverty. David donated the money he received to charity. After this performance, which took place 24 years after their last joint concert at Earl's Court in 1981, sales of the band's albums increased many times over. In addition, they were offered a contract of 150 million pounds for a US tour. However, the musicians rejected it referring to advanced age.

    David Gilmour - Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Pink Floyd

    On his 60th birthday, David presented his third solo album "On an Island" to the judgment of many fans. Gilmour recorded it in his home studio set up aboard his Astoria, a houseboat on the Thames. After the release, the disc took first place in the domestic charts, entered the Top 10 in the United States, and reached platinum status in Canada.

    In 2006, he also released a reworked version of the band's debut song "Arnold Layne". He dedicated it to the deceased Syd Barrett, friend and author of the original composition. Her recording featured Richard Wright and a special guest, David Bowie.


    At the end of 2008 the guitarist was awarded Q magazine for outstanding contribution to music. He dedicated this award to his friend and bandmate Richard Wright, who passed away in September of that year. In 2009, the musician received his doctorate from Anglia Ruskin University.

    In 2015, the singer-guitarist released his 4th studio album, Rattle That Lock, which peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart and number five on the Billboard 200. The lyrics of the title single were written by his wife, Polly Samson, and he performed the piano part on "In Any Tongue" son, Gabriel.

    David Gilmour - Rattle That Lock

    As part of the tour in support of this record in 2016, the vocalist and guitarist gave two concerts in Pompeii, 45 years after the first concert performance Pink Floyd in the same place. But, if in 1971 the shooting was carried out without an audience, now 2.6 thousand of his fans have gathered in the ancient city.

    Personal life of David Gilmour

    The musician is married for the second time. He married for the first time in 1975. His chosen one was an American, model, artist and sculptor Virginia Heisenbein, nicknamed "Ginger" (born 1949). Four children were born in the marriage - Alice, Claire, Sarah and Matthew. David Gilmour and his second wife Polly Sampson

    The guitarist is a longtime fan of Arsenal FC. Like his parents, he is a leftist political views. He does not believe in an afterlife and considers himself an atheist. He is an experienced pilot and aviation enthusiast. For a long time collected a collection of historical aircraft under the auspices of Intrepid Aviation, but then sold it, leaving himself a reliable biplane for flights. The musician also collects guitars. In particular, he owns an electric guitar with serial number 0001 Fender Statocaster.


    Together with his family, David Gilmore lives on a farm near the town of Wisborough Green, West Sussex, and also has a house in the seaside resort of Hove, on the English Channel.

    According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2016, the musician's fortune is estimated at 100 million pounds.

    David Gilmour now

    On September 13, 2017, the film "David Gilmour: Live at Pompeii" was shown in 2 thousand cinemas around the world. The audience saw the best moments of both of their idol's light shows, accompanied by lasers, pyrotechnics and using the famous huge round screen at the back of the stage, where landscapes and psychedelic images were projected.

    David Gilmour in concert at Pompeii

    He performed the classic songs "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", "Wish You Were Here", "Breathe", "One Of These Days". During the sound of "Comfortably Numb" a mirror ball appeared on the stage, turning it, according to eyewitnesses, into " Milky Way flickering effects.



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