I played 'Rewind' so many times in the club to see which parts were working, see how the crowd reacted to it.
— Craig David
'Born to Do It' took a kid out of a council estate and put my mum into a home of her own. It changed my whole family's situation, and all from doing something that I loved.
I am only as good as my last song. Hits are a pension, but I don't want to rest on those songs. I want to have a future.
When I write a song, I get the melody right first, and then hopefully I can back it up with a lyric that has to respect the melody.
Me and guitar music is so entwined.
I have enough rings to cover both hands, but that is crass. There is a fine line between looking nice and looking over. Sometimes, I look at myself and say, 'Craig, that is over.' You have to be careful.
My thing is, for artists who are having success, being given an award shouldn't be the thing that defines you in the first place.
I've realised that as long as the youth has the ability to use social media, and their voice is there, people can actually cut through the nonsense and see what's really going on.
What I've learned is that if you stay focused and believe and actually walk the walk, anything is possible.
Before my first album 'Born To Do It,' I used to DJ.
Failure and success are part of the same seed. If you don't embrace your failure, you never really know what success is.
Let me create great music, go in the studio, and possibly become a memory and a time stamp in people's lives - and just give the best performances, because I know that's all that really matters.
When I go on stage, there's no way I can do the kind of show I do and not be fit for it. I can't. I want to give everything.
We need to stop thinking the grass is greener on the other side and be happy with the love we have.
I do about two hours working out in the morning with my trainer. It's like brushing my teeth.
I feel, in the sense that if you're heterosexual, if you're bisexual, if you're gay, if you're a lesbian, if you're transgender, whatever the vibe is, that's what you represent. I've always found it quite strange that we always like to try and define people and say this is how it is, and this is how it should be.
With every person you meet, there is a new and exciting experience to be had.
It does feel that TS5 gave me such a new lease of life.
I love all my albums... I use the metaphor they're like my children: some do better than others, but you love them all equally.
I aspired to playing at Glastonbury, not just the Camden Palais.
I always find that, when it comes to writing songs, if the melody and the chords are working, we're 90 per cent there.
It is cool to be gay, but I am not.
It amazes me how quickly you can earn money.
When I got to the second album, there was an expectation, because we'd sold nearly seven million albums on the first record, that this would do eight or nine.
For any healthy relationship to work, you have to be able have that time to spend with your friends.
That's the beauty with music in the digital age: you're always one follow away from experiencing something new.
It's lovely to feel part of a community.
Life is all about how things rough up against you and how you see them and the vantage point you have from them.
In the course of my career, which has been an incredible rollercoaster ride, I look at the journey and think it's been immense.
I am not competing to be an athlete. I make music.
Something's wrong with all countries and all voting systems.
If I can be an advocate for people to get healthy, that's good, and it's not about just needing to go to the gym.
I think I'd be a very good dad, and I think I'd have a lot of wisdom to share.
I'm grateful for what I have and the people around me.
You have to have those times when your hunger and drive is in a different place because you're under pressure to have success.
When I was 16, I didn't really know what intuition was as a word, even. It's one of those things you experience, but you don't really know what it is.
I'm not angry about 'Bo' Selecta!' I was flattered at first and even appeared on his show, but he just went on to become more vicious, knocking down everything I did.
I don't know if, in a previous life, I was, like, the embodiment of a guitar, because any time someone plays a guitar with the licks, I just resonate to it.
I'm an only child, so I got spoilt a lot. Which was a good thing.
I've done a couple of tunes with Kaytranada. 'Got It Good' has had such a great response.
'Fill Me In' went to number one at the same time Destiny's Child released 'Say My Name.' Having a number one over Destiny's Child at their peak was just madness to me.
There's nothing that I own that really makes me as happy as knowing that the people around me are all good.
For me, I have the highest amount of respect for DJs. There's a real skill set and ability to hold a crowd's attention for four to five hours, especially with an R&B/hip-hop and open-format music.
When you start to ascertain a physique, you run that thing where you don't want to lose it. It catches you; it's like a hook.
I recognise life is like a magnet. Positive and negative are on the opposite sides of the magnet. You can try to cut the negative part off, but it's still there. When you accept both of them, it's like, 'You know what? Don't get too identified with success or too identified with failure - just be cool with them.'
I'm all about the melody.
You find your personality real quick in school.
Psychologically, when you've been overweight, you want to achieve the polar opposite.
I leave it very open because, at the end of the day, it's one of those things where I shouldn't have to reinforce and state, 'No, I'm a heterosexual' - because that's all nonsense.
I wanna have a positive impact and bring in artists on the come-up. It gets me hyped!
