Craig David is cool. Not that you'd expect anything less from the man British magazine NME named "the best thing to happen to British R&B . . . ever" or the man who was introduced to a U.S. industry crowd as "quite simply, the biggest new artist in the world today."

So, who is this guy?

Well, for starters, he counts Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory among his favorite movies and Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby as his most influential album. And he's a twenty-year-old who carries himself with the poise and composure of someone twice his age.

Then again, when your debut album has sold six million copies around the world before even being released in America, you have to be poised, or be prepared to fall into the deep abyss of swelled-headed one-hit wonders.

But David has an advantage over those who've come before him: He's been studying them, preparing for this moment he knew would come. "As I was growing up, my mom was a big fan of Terence Trent D'Arby and what he was doing, so I couldn't get enough of him playing," David recalls. "He was a great vocalist, and a great songwriter with a massive first album. Then the second album he kind of took a left-of-center creative approach. The album didn't do so well and people kind of lost who Terence Trent D'Arby was. But I think for me it gave me a massive learning curve as to how someone's career can quickly happen and then be taken away."

David's humility may surprise those who find the title of his debut album -- Born to Do It -- indicative of a cocky, brash kid. "I felt like I was born to be passionate and creative with music," he explains. "I think the title's kind of cool because it's opened up people's eyes, and now they're like, 'OK, let's see what happens?'"

David knows people are watching to see what happens here in the U.S. But after conquering the rest of the world with relative ease, he's looking forward to the challenge. "For me, it's so exciting coming to the states because I've been so heavily influenced by American R&B and hip-hop music in general," he says. "So coming over here I'm like, 'Yo, I've got something to prove.'"

He got a head start last year when he appeared on Guru's third Jazzamatazz album. The experience was not only rewarding for David, who calls himself a fan of Guru and the "whole Gang Starr thing," it was educational as well. "It was kind of cool just sitting down and chatting with him," David recalls. "He said, 'When you come to the states, you've got a lot to prove, and just remember that you need to build from ground zero so you have a foundation. Don't think you can bypass that and then try and come back.' So that was quite interesting, because he's someone who's always toed the line really well."

David has already established himself as someone who can toe that same line, between critical favorite and commercial success. His secret is just to write songs people can relate to. "I'm kind of like, 'Just tell real life experiences, but draw out the context in a way that someone else can digest it.' If you give it more of a general feel, people can tap in, then hopefully finish the song on their own and say, 'Yeah, this is my life.' They get to cherish a song and hold on to it."

But don't expect David to get complacent. "There's another kid out there who's studying my moves," he says, "waiting to take my position."

STEVE BALTIN
(July 17, 2001)