How often do you kick back and think of Craig David? Be honest. Close your eyes, take a minute, take a moment, realise. Your answer is probably never.
Mine, sadly, is daily. I never quite moved on and regularly pop on Walking Away, 7 Days or, my personal favourite, Rendezvous , to revisit a time when Craig David was all over our boink.
Let's just re-e-wind and examine his achievements. He has Ivor Novello awards, Mobo Awards, MTV Awards and Grammy nominations. His debut album Born To Do It * (2000), went six times platinum and sold more than eight million copies before digital downloads were a thing. He revolutionised facial hair and reminded us of the importance of chilling on a Sunday. His huge level of success and other earnings from 2002's Slicker Than Your Average and his three other not-so-famous albums had him joint 6th with Charlotte Church and Paolo Nutini in 2011 as one of the richest British musicians under 30. He was worth £8 million in 2011. Eight. Million.
I no longer had to ponder what the What's Your Flava? chanteur was doing when I discovered his Instagram account. He is alive and, boy, is he a chiselled modern-day Hercules. Let me fill you in on his life. He spends his 7 Days admiring his muscles, taking selfies, posting inspirational slogans and drinking protein shakes. He is in shape, having a proper bo time and intent on letting the world know. Surely, you say, he must be doing more than just pumping iron and ingesting whey.
Whey, yes.
Yes he is. When he is not performing at private parties in Dubai or at weddings in Moscow**, the Booty Man is working on his music. He recently collaborated with Russian rapper Timati on a single called Sex in the Bathroom . Haven't heard it? Keep it that way. But that is not all on his schedule. Rejoice!
This year, we will have a new Craig David album. His Instagram photos show him in the studio and they have captions such as "Caught in a musical moment while recording my new Album entitled Following My Intuition #LivingIt" and "Blasting some of the tracks for my new album! Soberly gassed right now! @marshallmusic #followingmyintuition".
I feel sorry for the poor intern who took these photos. His positive energy and use of the hash tag “health money” teeter on manic. This says it all: “You ready to get this #healthmoney today or hungover feeling sorry for yourself? Maybe the night felt great after the shots got taken down & the girl/guy laying next to you this morning was whole load of fun, but on the real . . . how the f#ck do you feel! lol #Choices #EatCleanTrainDirty”.
That was posted on March 17th. I was particularly hungover that day and took it as a personal insult. These are mere samples of his online oddities that are accumulating to something very . . . interesting.
His world tour had a rough start this week with a tricky visa situation and a promoter in Australia who went AWOL but, for now, it is all on track. He has a number of UK shows scheduled for May, which I am adamant to go to because even when he was out of sight, he was never out of my mind.
*
Born To Do It
was the answer to the £32,000 question in
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
? when Charles Ingram so won by cheating through a series of coughs.
**A couple asked him to perform at their wedding. He did. Can someone marry me so that I can have this? You don't have to love me. Just love Craig David!
