Welcome to Younghollywood. com. Hey Young Hollywood, it's Michelle Marie and I'm here with singer-songwriter David Gray here at the Sunset Marquee. How is LA treating you, David?

It's good. Yeah, I'm busy, you know. I'm trying to be as fabulous as possible.

You look fabulous. I like the style today. Tell me what you're wearing.

Yeah, this is this is the works. I've got my special shoes on to start down there. A pair of sort of burgundy socks, and then up this is a Paul Smith three-piece. Yes, yes. And then the double breasted shirt from German string, so it's kind of this is uh it's a bit sort of Thomas Crown Affair, Steve Steve McQueen, Thomas Crown Affair. It's got a slightly Victorian vibe, I feel.

I like it.

Yeah, I I'm I'm this is my favorite at the moment. He's the infant and the above. Crashing a hole like a mud speak to you. Draw the line, your album has achieved some great success.

Tell me about the vision behind this album, because I know you had said that it was a revitalized or a renewed sound for you.

Yeah, it was. I mean, I think every now and again when you're making records, you need to make some big changes. It's just the way that it goes. There's a slightly tougher sound, I think, to the to the new music. So there's a real fresh energy about it, and I think it's very sort of outward as a record, as as opposed to maybe a couple of my previous ones, which have been a bit more kind of introspective. This suddenly feels a little different in tone.

We're used to seeing you with an acoustic guitar, occasionally on the piano. What is your creative process with this album?

I generally still write with acoustic guitars and and pianos, but more and more now I I I have all the musicians around and songs will be born out of a little bit of interaction. So on this record I I worked in a sort of group setting a lot. So that was different. The woman you're singing. Shout it more than just a line. Got to track.

With your single Fugitive, you collaborated with a gospel choir. I know that you have one, that's very different for this album. What inspired you with the gospel choir?

I just realized I wanted people to shout, "Yay!" you know. It's in the chorus. Lots of them. So, uh, yeah, that was a simple idea, but once I'd heard it, it was like it had to happen, and that was great. They were they were great, and it it does lift the track.

Now, I know you're also collaborating with uh Annie Lennox on a song. Tell me about how that came together.

I wrote the the song and realized it was a duet. And then I was looking for the other voice in it, and it had to be someone with a very strong sort of delivery to stand next to to mine. She was such a star when she actually came down to the studio. It's the studio she used to work in. It's where she recorded Sweet Dreams and I I bought it off Dave Stewart of the of the Eurythmics. So it's it's where she used to sort of hang out. So there was a nice kind of circle being completed there in terms of her recording there.

I know that you've been in this music business for a very long time, and you broke through into the mainstream success with your album White Ladder. What was that like, you know, just first hearing that you're went multi-platinum? Do you remember that moment?

Yeah, well it didn't happen overnight. Of course. It it it it was a slow slow, even the success of that record unfolded quite gradually to begin with. But I think there was a certain point when we realized there was a sort of irresistible momentum to it.

When did you first get stocked by a fan after that album? Uh, or at least just crowded by a bunch of people screaming.

Well I I remember going to the supermarket and like getting completely crowded out at the deli counter. It was like my number came up, but I couldn't get anywhere near it. It was like, "Dave, Dave, yeah, right," I was, and it just became like a scrum, you know. And I was like, "What is going on?" you know. I I didn't know how I felt about it, and suddenly walking down the street was, you know, a bit of an adventure for a while. But the thing about all that is is it's very intense, but then it does cool off a little bit, you know. Yeah, it cools off, it's well cooled now.

Well, you did take some time off and all your fans are, you know, they've been anticipating this album. Now speaking of the time that you were away, what did you do during that time? Did you work on this album or did you just take time for yourself and just got away from it all?

A bit of both. I mean, I worked very hard on recording the new music, but also I made sure that, you know, I engineered some family time there. I think I was getting a bit jaded, you know, constant touring and the whole thing. It it suddenly you find you're not enjoying it as much as you should be, and it's the best job you could ever have. So if it if you're not, then something's gone wrong. I've got young children, too. So it's like I've got a little house out on the coast in England, and I I go up there. It's right by the beach and uh, particularly going up there, we had a lovely time just getting away from it all and just being a family. So there was a bit of that going on, too.

Hello, this is David Gray. I'm uh presenting Young Hollywood today, and perhaps for the next couple of months. So you better get used to me. Uh I just wanted to say hi to anyone who's even remotely interested in my music, in myself and um and that was about it, really. Thank you.