Craig David made an MBE after staging career comeback
The Southampton star returned to the spotlight in 2016.
Noughties UK garage star Craig David has been made an MBE after staging a career comeback.
The singer and rapper, who has been named in the New Year Honours for services to music, found overnight fame with the release of his debut album Born To Do It in 2000.
The record entered at number one to become the fastest-selling debut by a British male solo act to date, making David the face of the UK garage genre.
As his subsequent albums failed to chart as well, he was ridiculed by Leigh Francis on the TV comedy show Bo’ Selecta! and eventually moved to Miami.
With the release of comeback record Following My Intuition in 2016 he returned to number one and landed headline gigs at Brixton Academy and a slot on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage.
These were followed by regular radio slots and high-profile collaborations with artists including Bastille and AJ Tracey.
David, 39, was born in born in Southampton, Hampshire, to an Afro-Grenadian father and Jewish mother.
At school he suffered at the hands of bullies and this would later inform his music, with the 2005 song Johnny about his memories of that time.
David’s father played bass in a reggae band called the Ebony Rockers and, as a teenager, he would accompany him to local clubs, where DJs would let him take the microphone.
He found mainstream success singing on Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta) by garage duo Artful Dodger, which reached number two in the charts in 1999.
The pair would later help David write and record much of his debut album, Born To Do It, including the tracks Fill Me In and 7 Days.
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