David Gray on 'The Ghosts in the Music'
Mega-selling folk-pop star talks about his musical, and poetical, influences.
Oct. 2, 2009 — -- David Gray was born in Manchester, U.K., in 1968 and it is there that he remembers hearing music for the first time as a small boy. Sitting on a leather sofa, mixed in with the smell of cigarette and cigar smoke, he remembers the sound of records his parents would play. "Cat Stevens, lots of Cat Stevens," he says, "Like 'Tea for the Tillerman.' And then 'Atlantic Crossing' by Rod Stewart. 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.' Those sorts of records have sort of made an indelible mark on me."
Gray recently sat down with "Nightline" in a recording studio at Mercer Street/Downtown Music in the Soho section of Manhattan. Downtown Music released Gray's eighth studio album, "Draw the Line," on Sept. 22.
At age of 9, Gray moved with his family to Wales. He began to broaden his musical palette by listening to punk, reggae and ska. One of his all-time favorites from childhood is the British band Madness. "They were my first sort of obsession," says Gray. "I was the ultimate fan. Soon as a single came out I'd buy it. I wanted them to go to No. 1."
Gray began performing music himself in the mid-eighties, teaming up with some of his classmates from school to form a cover band. The teens played everything from Led Zeppelin to the Cure, The Who and Jimi Hendrix. While many articles have reported that Gray's first band was a "punk band," he denies they deserved such a title, saying, "In our crude musicianship it was probably akin to punk but I don't think it was sort of that thought-out as that."
But this partnership was Gray's first glimpse at the camaraderie and satisfaction that comes from being in a band. "It's the most fun in the world," he says, "making a loud noise and just upsetting people in general. It's your own little tribe."
Soon, while on a road trip with his father, David Gray's life changed forever. "I discovered Bob Dylan for the first time," he says. "Which sort of stopped me in my tracks." There was one tape in his father's car that they played over and over. On one side was Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Pavarotti was on the other side. "Bob won out," says Gray. "He's had the greater effect although I do eat a lot of pasta and it could have been to do with old Pavarotti."
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