David Jon Gilmour (6 March 1946) is an English musician and multiinstrumentalist, who was the guitarist, lead vocalist

and songwriter of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of artists, and has enjoyed a successful career as a solo artist. Gilmour has been actively involved with many charities over the course of his career. David Gilmour has stated in interviews that he doesn't believe in an afterlife and that he is an atheist.[43][44] On 22 May 2008, Gilmour won the 2008 Ivor Novello Lifetime Contribution Award.[45] In autumn 2008, he was awarded for outstanding contribution for music by the Q Awards. He dedicated his award to his bandmate Richard Wright, who died in September 2008. On 11 November 2009, Gilmour received an honorary doctorate from the Anglia Ruskin University.

Biography
Gilmour was born in Cambridge, England. His father, Douglas Gilmour, was a senior lecturer in zoology at the University of Cambridge and his mother, Sylvia was a teacher and film editor who raised her family at Grantchester Meadows, At age 13, Gilmour was given his first guitar, a Tatay, by his neighbour, Gilmour started learning how to play using a book and record set by Peter Seeger.

Pink Floyd
Gilmour was approached in late December 1967 by drummer Nick Mason, who asked if he would be interested in joining Pink Floyd, which he did in January 1968, making Pink Floyd briefly a five-piece band. He filled in for Syd Barrett's guitar parts when

the frontman was unable to take a consistent part in Floyd's live performances. Syd Barrett "left" the group due to his erratic behaviour commonly believed to have been caused by excessive use of LSDwhen the band chose not to pick Barrett up one night for a gig; and Gilmour by default assumed the role of the band's lead guitarist. He took over most of the band's lead vocal duties, with bassist Roger Waters and keyboard player Richard Wright also occasionally singing in Barrett's stead. However, after the back-to-back successes of The Dark Side of the Moon and then Wish You Were Here, Waters took more control over the band, writing much of Animals and The Wall by himself. Wright was fired during The Wall sessions and the relationship between Gilmour and Waters would further deteriorate during the making of The Wall film and the 1983 Pink Floyd album The Final Cut.

Music Style
Gilmour is best known for his lead guitar work. Gilmour's solo style is often characterised by blues-influenced phrasing, expressive note bends and sustain. In 2011, Gilmour was rated the 14th greatest guitarist by Rolling Stone. In January 2007, Guitar World readers voted Gilmour's solos, "Comfortably Numb", "Time" and "Money" into the top 100 Greatest Guitar Solos ("Comfortably Numb" was voted the 4th, "Time" was voted the 21st and "Money" was voted the 62nd greatest solo of all time).[47] In his early career with Pink Floyd, Gilmour played a multitude of Fender Stratocasters. One of his popular guitar solos ("Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2") was played on a 1955 Gibson Les Paul Gold Top guitar equipped with P-90 pickups.[48][49] In 1996, Gilmour was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Pink Floyd. Gilmour's solo on "Comfortably Numb"

was voted as one of the greatest guitar solos of all time in several polls by listeners and critics.[ Although mainly known for his guitar work, Gilmour is also a proficient multi-instrumentalist. He also plays bass guitar (which he did on many Pink Floyd tracks), keyboards, synthesiser, banjo, lap steel, mandolin, harmonica, drums (as heard on the Syd Barrett solo track "Dominoes",[19] and other songs where he opted to play all the instruments) and lately, the saxophone.