Biography

The singer/songwriter David Gilmour was born in 1946 in Cambridge, England. Long before he rose to fame as the guitarist for Pink Floyd, Gilmour grew up in an intellectual household; his father was a Cambridge professor and his mother was a teacher and film editor. David’s parents supported his aspirations in music, and by the time he was a teenager, young David had already learned to play the guitar.

Gilmour met Syda Barrett and Roger Waters at school, and while in college Barrett and Gilmour used to play guitar together socially. In 1967, Pink Floyd’s drummer, Nick Mason, invited Gilmour to join the band as its vocalist and guitarist. David remained with Pink Floyd during the band’s heyday, spending those years contributing to the band’s iconic albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and the Wall.

While still with Pink Floyd, David Gilmour launched a solo career and released his self-titled debut, David Gilmour, in 1978. About Face followed in 1984, and then On An Island in 2006, which rose into the top ten on the Billboard charts. During this time, David Gilmour also began working as an engineer and producer for a number of notable acts, including Paul McCartney, Peter Cetera, Kate Bush, Alan Parsons, Grace Jones, the Who, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Supertramp, and Bob Dylan, to name a few. He also joined Bryan Ferry’s band for a time in the mid 1980’s.

In the new millennium, David Gilmour performed a series of solo concerts in Paris and London and in 2010 he performed alongside Roger Waters to benefit the charity Hoping Foundation. Gilmour has contributed in a variety of ways to numerous charitable endeavors, including donating the sales from his multi-million dollar home to charities which benefit the homeless. He has also supported: PETA, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, and the Teenage Cancer Trust Foundation.