David Gilmore was born in Cambridge in 1946. Best known as the guitarist of Pink Floyd he has also recorded as a solo artist and has produced a variety of performers including Kate Bush, Elton John, Supertramp, Eric Clapton and many others.
David met his future fellow band mates Syd Barrett and Roger Walters while still in school. After leaving school, he played in a local band, Joker’s Wild, in 1962 until 1966. Not long after he took off for a bus tour of France and Spain that ended up being so unsuccessful that he had to be treated for malnutrition upon his return in 1967.
David Gilmore joined Pink Floyd in 1968 – originally asked to just cover for Syd Barrette, who was becoming more and more eccentric and unreliable. David took over the lead guitarist role and sang vocals with Roger Waters.
Following the phenomenal multi-million selling albums “Dark Side of the Moon” and “Wish You Were Here” , the relationship between David Gilmore and bassist/singer Roger Waters became strained and locked in a power struggle.
David looked to work on solo projects as a way of creative escape and released his first solo album, “David Gilmore” in 1978.
Pink Floyd’s albums “Animals” 1977, the epic “The Wall” 1979 followed by” Final Cut” 1983, were all very successful but there were tensions within the band over Water’s creative dominance. Then in 1985, Roger Waters left the band. Pink Floyd, with David Gilmore now in charge, released “A Momentary Lapse of Reason” in 1987 and went on to record three more Pink Floyd albums culminating in PULSE 1995.
David Gilmore’s guitar sound could be described as soaring. A pioneer of many studio guitar techniques and innovative sounds, he owns a recording studio situated on a converted Thames Houseboat. He produced the later Pink Floyd albums and his solo work plus countless other recording artists.
David Gilmore reformed with Pink Floyd and Roger Waters in 2005 at Live8; a series of concerts with a goal to rid the world of poverty. David Gilmore donated all of his profits from the sales of Pink Floyd albums to related charities. He was awarded a CBE for his contribution to music and charitable causes in 2008.