“The Greatest Hits is the history of my work so far and the catalyst to my future.”
Conventionally a summary of an artist’s career to date, Craig David has utilised the Greatest Hits format as a means of rediscovering his roots and pushing on with fresh styles and new sounds for his fifth studio album – the latest in a line of releases that have already accumulated over 13 million sales to date.
“It’s the new material that’s so important to break the next steps for you,” he explains with his passion undiminished by almost a decade of critical and commercial success. “So it means you have to step up your game as a songwriter as you’re going against proven hits by yourself.”
Having cut his teeth as a garage DJ in his teens, the collection’s new songs highlight Craig’s roots and his continuing interest in the underground music scene. ‘Where’s Your Love’, his collaboration with Tinchy Stryder, the new Prince of Grime (“lyrically he was on top of his game, he can really bring something to the table”), is based upon the garage classic from Colours featuring Stephen Emmanuel. “It was a big garage tune at the time but it never got embraced commercially,” recalls Craig. “You know what, I may not have made many garage tracks along the way as leading singles, but this one I'm fully behind because I feel like it brings back all the great memories of what the scene was about and I really hope that it does it justice."
If ‘Where’s Your Love’ looks back to where Craig David came from, the other new track ‘Insomnia’, with its juddering, nervy beats and insistent hooks looks very much to the future. ‘Insomnia’ is the “one that really shone out” from Craig’s sessions in Philadelphia with Jim Beanz of Timbaland Productions. Offering an exciting glimpse into his upcoming musical direction, the track also draws parallels with what made him such a hot talent when he burst onto the scene with ‘Rewind’.
“I wanted to show what made me jump from being this kid from Southampton to this kid on the scene was being creative, being innovative and being able to push the boundaries. So I went to Philadelphia with that same attitude,” he says with the infectious enthusiasm of a debuting artist. “I don't want to make a Ne-Yo record or an Usher record or a Justin Timberlake record, I want to make a Craig David album.”
Outside of the new songs, the ‘Greatest Hits’ compiles many of Craig David’s most loved songs to date including the chart-topping hits ‘Fill Me In’ and ‘7 Days’, the collaborations ‘Rewind’ (with Artful Dodger) and ‘Rise & Fall’ (with Sting) that both peaked at number two as well as a further five top ten singles.
The breakthrough hit ‘Rewind’ almost never was. “I was going crazy, thinking I can’t wait for people to hear this in the clubs,” he reminisces. “I felt it was very different to what was going on in the scene… it was a no brainer that it would be a hit.” Craig and Artful Dodger’s Mark Hill would take cassettes of their work to listen to in their car as a final test of their quality, but on this occasional a technical glitch had meant the recording was lost. Devastated, the duo thought they’d never recapture the magic that the original had and were forced to set about rerecording the track. Clearly the magic had survived, as ‘Rewind’ became UK garage’s signature tune and one of the biggest hits of the year.
While ‘Rewind’ was a huge hit in its own right, is was the consecutive number one singles ‘Fill Me In’ (“An exciting moment because the sound of the song was a hybrid between the garage scene which was starting to blow-up and R&B”) and ‘7 Days’ (“The song that actually got me my record deal”).
As Craig David’s career continued to evolve, his list of hit singles continued to flow. Of ‘Don’t Love You No More (I’m Sorry)’, Craig says, “When you go with simple songs with a simple melody and a sentiment everybody can relate to, usually they're the ones that do the best.” That theory certainly proved to be correct as it became one of his most played radio hits. Last year’s ‘Hot Stuff (Let’s Dance)’ also powered into the higher reaches of the charts, buoyed by the patronage of David Bowie himself, whose classic track the single sampled. His approval was clearly respected: “He knows his soul music, he had Luther Vandross as a backing vocalist for x amount of years and then pushed him to the forefront and encouraged him to be a solo artist."
Declaring the proudest moment of his career to date being when he arrived at Wembley Arena to find that he’d sold-out three consecutive nights, Craig David has also lifted numerous industry awards three Ivor Novello Awards (including the two highly prestigious awards for Songwriter Of The Year and Best Contemporary Song), four MOBOs (one for Best UK Act) and two MTV Europe Awards. “I didn’t really know what the Ivor Novello awards meant at the time, I knew it was a prestigious award ceremony but when I was looking at the kinds of people who had actually won this award and, especially for Songwriter of the Year, it was the great artists – people like Elton John and Bernie Taupin. So for my first year in, to pick up Songwriter of the Year with Mark Hill was incredible.”
“I’m very blessed and privileged to still be here with a Greatest Hits. It’s the catalyst, the means, to get to my fifth album,” he concludes as his looks towards a future every bit as exciting as what has preceded. “Musically, I’m so passionately involved with different styles and sounds that I haven’t had the opportunity to put out there yet. Lyrically, I’ve got new things to talk about, I’ve been inspired by listening to some great sounds and songs from travelling around, I’ve worked with some great producers, found my strengths and my weaknesses. So I want to pave out a long-term career, I want to be putting music out for ten, twenty, thirty years.”
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Hey, Craig David!! Check out my newest uploaded track "Freestyle feat. Shyla E - Just Have To Know" prod by me!! It's staight and pure HEAT!! ;)
It is also featured on the "The Timbaland Buzz Mixtape Vol. 2" as a Bonus track. The Mixtape also has productions by Timbaland, Danja, Venture, DMR, Moe Masri, James Englis, Astro and Black Arrow(me)!! Download it and comment on it here: http://tinyurl.com/mpeptb
Craig David, I just stopped by to say Hello. Actually, the possiblity that you have a new song is awe inspiring. This is my long awaited experience: To see you in the news and on top of the world.I for one can't wait for your spine tingling beats, your soft, soothing, voice and your personal gifts that you continue to bring to me. I am so excited for you ... well ... US!!! It is all happening the way time stands still in outer space, and life is emerging from all points of the globe like jet-lag. I wished this for you with all my heart. Your fame and success seems to come together for you at once; however, now my life is on a travel-course toward Pluto again, and gaining momentum. Light Years have passed ... or so it seems since you recorded a new hit, or at least, I hope it is a hit! You WILL hear from me, but then you already know that. LOL "Bye, bye." Love you mucho, Stormy Shea
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