www.musicweek.com


15.11.13 MusicWeek 23


“First of all, my office was not a shithole,” retorts


“Nothing hurt me more than when Craig’s public persona was damaged - I wanted to kill that puppet. The public have never really seen what a lovely guy Craig is, with such an amazing talent” COLIN LESTER


“I do believe that everything happens for a


reason; life mirrors something to show you it clearly. Maybe I did say my name on the records too many times - that’s why he highlighted it. Maybe I didn’t see success in America like I wanted to. But it’s true, he did over-step the mark.” Twelve years on, David’s career is back on track


in a big way. In 2013, he’s inked a megabucks publishing deal with Universal in the US and launched a growing national radio show on Global’s hugely popular Capital Xtra. Ahead of the release of his first album of original material for seven years, he’s just completed a sold-out world tour, taking in Australia, the Middle East, the Far East and Europe. That’s not ‘sold-out world tour’ of embarrassingly teeny venues, either: having been boosted by extolment from the likes of Drake and Justin Bieber - whose recent single Recovery samples Fill Me In - David packed out London’s IndigO2 in May and, according to Lester, could have done so three times over. “Banish all thoughts of Craig David being a bit


of a joke,” demanded the oft-barbed Daily Star in its review. “We need stars like this again.” This resurgence rewards a long-term bond


between David and his manager that begun when the artist was just 17. Bowled over by his experimental take on urban pop, North Londoner Lester invited David to sign with Wildstar - at the time co-owned by Capital Radio and Telstar. David and then-manager Paul Widger were also


attracting interest from Sony, with the major label keen to snap up the singer on a development deal - one David now suspects would have “left me on the shelf ” as “they didn’t quite know what to do with me”. Debating the inception of their partnership in


front of Music Week and 250 music business students at the University Of Hertfordshire, Lester and David’s chummy repartee wears the unifying strength of jointly surviving both professional ecstasy and the torment of fallow years. Clad in similar black leather jackets, they observe


each other’s anecdotes with attentive patience and occasional, protective interuptions. And, now and again, they just take the piss.


Fraser T Smith (pictured) is one of Britain’s most lauded pop record producers, having worked with the likes of Adele, Leona Lewis, Rebecca Ferguson, Cee-Lo Green and Britney Spears. But the musician started life in the music industry big leagues as Craig David’s guitarist from 1999-2004. And in the early noughties, he was at the centre of the uglier side of the US business. Colin Lester explains: “So Craig is


touring America and I get a call from his label over there, Atlantic Records, who say: ‘There’s a problem with Craig promoting his album at black radio


Lester after David recalls his own juxtaposition of Wildstar’s office (“a table all mashed-up with dents in it, with old broken chairs - like going to your grandma’s house”) and Sony’s plush London HQ (“a Destiny’s Child disc on the wall next to Will Smith… marble floors, a slick-looking TV on the wall”). “I did showcases for everybody, but nothing was


on the table,” recalls David. “One individual stuck their neck out and said: ‘Forget development deals, forget singles deals. I want to do an album with this guy.’ I owe so much to Colin because of that belief. “He came down to Southampton to see my


mum - and trust me, in that area, had he left his car any longer outside my flat his wheels would have been taken off. I realised that day that it wasn’t about marble floors or pictures of Destiny’s Child or Will Smith: Colin promised my mum he’d look after me, and those words have resonated ever since.” Shortly after Fill Me In hit No.1, David


parted ways with Widger, and Lester reluctantly stepped in as his manager. The partnership soon heralded huge worldwide spoils for the pair, but it wasn’t long before the exec really had to prove his mettle: handling the unforeseeable decline of an artist selling millions of records worldwide, whilst shouldering the tricky job of keeping his friend’s optimism intact. “I’ve learnt that every success is back-loaded


with failure,” says David, now 32, casting a philosophical eye over his fall from commercial eminence. “Each No.1 you have notches up your expectations. Then when you hit No.2, it’s tough; you feel like a failure. It felt amazing to be in the eye of that storm for a while, but I’m probably, genuinely, having the best time of my life now - I’m a lot more balanced. In any career, it’s all about riding the ups and downs.” Finally, David is enjoying some ‘ups’ again -


propelled by an audience young enough to remember falling in love with his radio hits, without the reputational baggage that followed. As Lester and David’s university presentation


draws to a close, the floor is opened to a question- and-answer session. One hooded teen boldly delivers a cheeky query - “Can I get a photo with you?” - with audibly excited support from his peers. When told to volunteer a more earnest question,


he doesn’t veer too far from his previous effort: “Okay. Um, could you sing us something?” David obliges with an unaccompanied slice of Seven Days, and a room full of 18-year-olds go nuts.


RACE RELATIONS: DAVID’S REFUSAL TO DUMP FRASER ON AMERICAN RADIO


stations.’ They explain that certain stations don’t want Craig to come in [for a live session] with a white musician - meaning Fraser, a stunning guitar player. He simply wasn’t welcome on urban stations. “The label said: ‘We need you to change


Fraser for a black musician.’ I said I’d speak to Craig, but that I was appalled. I started explaining to Craig that Atlantic had been told they’d have to cancel all urban radio in the US unless we got rid of Fraser. “Before I’d even finished, in a heartbeat,


Craig said: ‘Forget it then. Cancel the urban stations.’ Atlantic pushed back and the stations relented.”


ABOVE Making moves: Craig David signed to Colin Lester’s label aged 18 in 1999. At last count, he has sold more than 13 million albums around the world


Before they take their chance to mob the stage


en masse - a grinning David satisfying a sea of iPhone selfie requests - Lester has the final word. “Without Craig, my life wouldn’t be anywhere


near as colourful. He’s one of life’s great characters. Nothing hurt me more then when his public persona was damaged - I wanted to kill that puppet. But what the public has never really seen is what a lovely guy Craig is, with such an amazing talent. It feels like we’re re-writing the script a little bit now, and he deserves it more than anyone.” It’s been more than a decade since the


indubitably talented Craig David was publicly battered into a professional quagmire - a fate that, amongst modern pop trangressions of twerking, tawdriness and, well, Chris Brown, seems bewilderingly undeserved. His response has been consistently dignified


and estimable; to keep on quietly trying to write his way out, safe in the knowledge that Colin Lester will be backing him up, rise or fall.


CAPITAL GAINS: RADIO RETURN


Craig David’s radio show, TS5, is named after the apartment he owns at the Mondrian in Miami - where he lives for most of the year.


A mix of classic R&B and garage as well as


modern hits, the show features unique and improvised vocal lines from David over the records, all presented live as a house party from his own abode. After posting recordings of DJ sets played in front of friends in Miami on Soundcloud, the show was picked up by Kiss FM in 2012. Last month, it was acquired by Global-owned Capital FM as a Friday evening launch show for its £1million-backed Capital Xtra station. “Global are all about what’s current, what’s


hot, so it’s a great compliment,” says David. “I feel dialled into the scene that I’m playing on air.”


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52