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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, Berlin, 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
has 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
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. Also
in November 2005, he spoke at the inauguration
of Pink Floyd into the UK Music Hall of Fame.
He
is reported to be working on a new solo album
entitled "On An Island", due for release
in March 2006 and is reported to have guest
appearances by Richard Wright, David Crosby
and Graham Nash.
Solo
discography
David Gilmour (1978)
About Face (1984)
On An Island (due March 2006)
Filmography
David Gilmour Live (1984)
David Gilmour in Concert (2002)
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