Craig David live at the AO Arena in Manchester

Born in Southampton in May 1981, Craig David made the jump from radio and club DJ to RnB superstar with his 2000 debut single Fill Me In. The single made him the youngest ever solo male British artist to reach the No.1 spot on the official UK charts, only a year after teaming up with garage duo Artful Dodger on the Platinum selling Re-Rewind (When The Crowd Say Bo Selecta).

Fill Me In paved the way for his globally celebrated debut full-length Born To Do It in August 2000 and the huge singles 7 Days and Walking Away. As well as reaching the top spot on the UK album chart, the record led to a deal with Atlantic in the United States and was widely heralded as the catalyst for UK garage’s global reach. That year, David secured three MOBO Awards and three Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting, compounding the early promise he’d shown when winning a songwriting contest held by RnB boy band Damage in the late ’90s.

With a handful of high-profile fans to his name, David wasted no time in releasing his follow-up to his UK 6x Platinum debut, releasing Slicker Than Your Average in November 2002. Breaking into the top five on the UK album chart, the record was launched with the remarkably heavier What’s Your Flava, and included a collaboration with British musical veteran Sting on Rise & Fall.

Craig David’s success continued with his Warner Records debut The Story Goes… in 2005 and Trust Me two years later. A greatest hits compilation followed, alongside an album of Motown covers in 2010. Taking a step away from the limelight, David continued to perfect his DJing skills, hosting exclusive parties in his Miami home, quickly picked up by KISS and Capital Xtra for regular residencies. It marked the birth of his TS5 project, bringing together RnB, garage and contemporary house for a global touring sound system. The UK debut of TS5 took place in July 2015, going on to perform at larger venues and securing prime slots at festivals all over the world.

Embodying this newfound energy, Craig David returned to the studio for his sixth studio album Following My Intuition, released in 2016 and including the Big Narstie collaboration When The Bassline Drops. The album rocketed to the top spot on the UK charts and, repeating his prolific release schedule from the early ’00s, David returned just a year later with Heartline – the lead single from his seventh studio album The Time Is Now. Taken from the record, the Bastille featuring I Know You secured David his thirteenth top ten UK single.