David Gilmour Biography Quotes 10 Report mistakes

Early Life and Background
David Jon Gilmour was born on 6 March 1946 in Cambridge, England. His father, Douglas Gilmour, was a senior lecturer in zoology at the University of Cambridge, and his mother, Sylvia, taught and later worked as a film editor for the BBC. Raised in an intellectually curious household, he gravitated early toward music. As a teenager he developed a particular affinity for the expressive possibilities of the electric guitar, inspired by blues, folk, and the melodic clarity of players such as Hank Marvin. He attended The Perse School and later the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology, where he deepened both his musical skill and his circle of friends in the growing Cambridge-London art and music scene. It was in this milieu that he became acquainted with fellow Cambridge musicians Syd Barrett and Roger Waters, relationships that would shape the trajectory of his career.

Formative Bands and Path to Pink Floyd
Before international recognition, Gilmour cut his teeth in local groups, notably Jokers Wild, a Cambridge-based band active in the mid-1960s. He toured clubs, busked across Europe, and spent time working in France, experiences that hardened his stagecraft and broadened his musical vocabulary. Meanwhile, Pink Floyd, founded by Syd Barrett with Roger Waters, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason, rose rapidly in London. By late 1967, as Barrett struggled with deteriorating mental health, the band invited Gilmour to reinforce the lineup. In early 1968 he joined, initially to share guitar and vocal duties, and soon assumed the primary guitar role when Barrett departed. The transition preserved the band and set the stage for a new phase of experimentation and growth.

Rise with Pink Floyd
Gilmour's arrival reshaped Pink Floyd's sound. His lyrical phrasing, control of sustain, and vocal warmth became signatures on the studio and stage. He contributed to A Saucerful of Secrets (1968) and helped steer the group through an exploratory period that yielded Atom Heart Mother (1970) and Meddle (1971), with the side-long piece Echoes signaling a mature chemistry among Gilmour, Waters, Wright, and Mason. The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) crystallized that chemistry, marrying musical invention with sonic finesse and thematic unity. The group's visual world was guided by the design collective Hipgnosis, led by Storm Thorgerson, a longtime Cambridge friend whose artwork became inseparable from the music's identity. Wish You Were Here (1975) paid implicit tribute to Syd Barrett and showcased Gilmour's melodic sense on guitar and voice. Animals (1977) emphasized intensity and texture, while The Wall (1979), produced with Bob Ezrin, featured one of Gilmour's most celebrated guitar-vocal statements on Comfortably Numb. These albums, built through collaboration and at times creative friction with Waters, and colored by Wright's harmonic palette and Mason's steady pulse, placed Gilmour at the center of an era-defining body of work.

Leadership After Roger Waters
Following Roger Waters's departure in the mid-1980s, Gilmour assumed leadership of Pink Floyd, working with Nick Mason and, in time, reestablishing Richard Wright as a full member. A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) reintroduced the band on its own terms and inaugurated massive tours, with bassist Guy Pratt becoming a trusted onstage and studio collaborator. The Division Bell (1994) emphasized ensemble interplay and expansive atmospherics, and its sessions at Gilmour's houseboat studio, the Astoria, were crucial to the album's sound. Years later, The Endless River (2014) drew on unreleased material from The Division Bell era, serving as a reflection on the group's instrumental language and a posthumous tribute to Wright, who died in 2008.

Solo Career and Collaborations
Alongside Pink Floyd, Gilmour pursued an eclectic solo path. His debut, David Gilmour (1978), revealed an affectionate blend of blues and melodic rock. About Face (1984) expanded his songwriting footprint. After an extended period focused on Pink Floyd, he returned with On an Island (2006), a reflective, intimate record co-produced with Phil Manzanera; the album and its tour featured graceful contributions from Richard Wright and guest harmonies from David Crosby and Graham Nash. Rattle That Lock (2015) followed, with lyrics crafted in close partnership with novelist Polly Samson, his wife and a key creative collaborator across his later work. Gilmour's concerts of this period, including performances at London's Royal Albert Hall, welcomed guest appearances by friends such as David Bowie, who joined for spirited renditions of classic songs. Beyond his own catalog, Gilmour has contributed to a broad array of artists, including playing the soaring guitar lines on Paul McCartney's single No More Lonely Nights and helping Kate Bush in her early career by supporting her demo recordings and later appearing on her tracks. In 2022 he and Nick Mason revived the Pink Floyd name for the charity single Hey, Hey, Rise Up!, featuring the voice of Andriy Khlyvnyuk, to support humanitarian relief in Ukraine.

Musicianship and Sound
Gilmour's style is a study in economy, touch, and tone. His phrasing favors melody over speed, with expressive bends, carefully shaped vibrato, and an ear for space that lets notes linger with emotional weight. He is closely associated with the Fender Stratocaster, especially his famed Black Strat, a continuously modified instrument central to many of Pink Floyd's classic recordings and tours. His rig has often balanced clarity and power: Hiwatt amplifiers, judicious use of compression, delay, and modulation, and occasional fuzz sustain for dramatic peaks. His feel for lap steel and slide added a spectral dimension to pieces across the catalog. The Astoria studio on the Thames, outfitted to his specifications, provided a laboratory for refining this sound in collaboration with engineers and producers.

Personal Life and Philanthropy
Gilmour's personal life and creative life have long intertwined. He married sculptor Ginger Gilmour in the 1970s; after their separation he married Polly Samson in the 1990s, forging a lasting artistic partnership that anchored his later albums and tours. He has consistently used his profile for charitable causes. After Pink Floyd's Live 8 reunion with Roger Waters, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason in 2005, he donated his earnings to charity. In 2019 he auctioned a large collection of guitars, including the Black Strat, raising tens of millions of dollars for environmental initiatives, with proceeds directed to organizations such as ClientEarth. These efforts reflected a conviction that the artifacts of his career could be repurposed for wider social good.

Legacy
Few guitarists have balanced textural imagination and melodic storytelling as effectively as David Gilmour. His interplay with Roger Waters, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason, his production work with Bob Ezrin, and his long collaborations with Storm Thorgerson and Polly Samson helped to define the sound, look, and voice of Pink Floyd. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the band and appointed a CBE for services to music, he remains a touchstone for players and listeners who prize tone and emotional directness. Whether in the studio crafting songs with trusted collaborators like Phil Manzanera and Guy Pratt, or onstage shaping a single note into a moment of high drama, Gilmour has sustained a career marked by integrity, curiosity, and a commitment to the power of music to move people and, at times, to help them.

Our collection contains 10 quotes who is written by David, under the main topics: Music - Meaning of Life - Self-Improvement.

Other people realated to David: Warren Zevon (Musician), Kate Bush (Musician), Gerald Scarfe (Artist), Syd Barrett (Musician), Alan Parsons (Musician), Rick Wright (Musician), Peter Munk (Businessman), Roy Harper (Musician)

• Wikipedia