David Gilmour

David Jon Gilmour (/ˈɡɪlmɔːr/ GHIL-mor; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink Floyd had become one of the highest-selling and most acclaimed acts in music history. Following the departure of Roger Waters in 1985, Pink Floyd continued under Gilmour's leadership and released the studio albums A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987), The Division Bell (1994) and The Endless River (2014).

Gilmour has released five solo studio albums: David Gilmour (1978), About Face (1984), On an Island (2006), Rattle That Lock (2015) and Luck and Strange (2024). He has achieved three number-one solo albums on the UK Albums Chart, and six with Pink Floyd. He produced two albums by the Dream Academy, and is credited for bringing the singer-songwriter Kate Bush to public attention, paying for her early recordings and helping her find a record contract.

As a member of Pink Floyd, Gilmour was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. In 2003, Gilmour was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). He received the award for Outstanding Contribution at the 2008 Q Awards. In 2023, Rolling Stone named him the 28th-greatest guitarist.

Gilmour has taken part in projects related to issues including animal rights, environmentalism, homelessness, poverty, and human rights. He has married twice and is the father of eight children. His wife, the novelist Polly Samson, has contributed lyrics to many of his songs.

David Jon Gilmour was born on 6 March 1946 in Cambridge, England. He has three siblings: Peter, Mark and Catharine. His father, Douglas Gilmour, was a senior lecturer in zoology at the University of Cambridge, and his mother, Sylvia (née Wilson), was a trained teacher who later worked as a film editor for the BBC. At the time of Gilmour's birth, the family lived in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire; after several relocations they moved to nearby Grantchester.

Gilmour's parents encouraged him to pursue his interest in music, and in 1954 he bought his first single, Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock". His enthusiasm was stirred the following year by Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel", and "Bye Bye Love" by the Everly Brothers piqued his interest in the guitar. Gilmour borrowed a guitar from a neighbour, but never gave it back. Soon afterwards, he started teaching himself to play using a book and record set by Pete Seeger. At age 11, Gilmour began attending The Perse School on Hills Road, Cambridge, which he did not enjoy. There, he met two classmates who would later become the future members of Pink Floyd: Syd Barrett and Roger Waters, both of whom attended Cambridgeshire High School for Boys on the same road.

In 1962, Gilmour began studying A-Level modern languages at the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology, but despite not finishing the course, he eventually learned to speak fluent French. Barrett was also a student at the college, and the two spent their lunchtimes together practising guitar. Later that year, Gilmour joined the blues rock band Jokers Wild. They recorded a one-sided album and a single at Regent Sound Studio, in Denmark Street, west London, but only 50 copies of each were made.

At age 19, Gilmour hitchhiked to Saint-Tropez, France. Barrett and his friends also drove there and met up with him before they were arrested for busking. Gilmour and Barrett later travelled to Paris, where they camped outside the city for a week and visited the Louvre. In this period, Gilmour worked as the driver and assistant for the fashion designer Ossie Clark.