David Jon Gilmour,  (born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a longtime member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He joined the group as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1968, effectively as a replacement for founder member Syd Barrett, who was dismissed from the band shortly afterwards. Pink Floyd subsequently achieved international success with the concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. By the early 1980s, they had become one of the most critically acclaimed and best-selling acts in the history of popular music; it was estimated that by 2012 the band had sold over 250 million records worldwide, including 75 million units sold in the United States.

David Jon Gilmour was born on 6 March 1946 in Cambridge, England. His father, Douglas Gilmour, eventually became a senior lecturer in zoology at the University of Cambridge, and his mother, Sylvia (nee Wilson), trained as a teacher and later worked as a film editor for the BBC. At the time of Gilmour's birth they lived in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, but in 1956, after several relocations, the couple moved their family to Grantchester Meadows.  Gilmour's parents encouraged him to pursue his interest in music, and in 1954 he bought his first single, Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock". His enthusiasm for music was stirred the following year by Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel", and later "Bye Bye Love" by the Everly Brothers piqued his interest in the guitar. He then borrowed one from his neighbour, but never gave it back. Soon afterward, he started teaching himself to play using a book and record set by Pete Seeger. At age 11, Gilmour began attending the Perse School on Hills Road, Cambridge, which he "didn't enjoy". While there he met future Pink Floyd guitarist Syd Barrett and bass guitarist Roger Waters, who attended Cambridgeshire High School for Boys, which was also situated on Hills Road.  In 1962, Gilmour began studying A-Level modern languages at Cambridge Technical College. Despite not finishing the course, he eventually learnt to speak fluent French. Barrett was also a student at the college, and he spent his lunchtimes practising guitar with Gilmour. In late 1962, Gilmour joined the blues rock band Jokers Wild. They recorded a one-sided album and a single at Regent Sound Studio, in west London, but only fifty copies of each were made. In August 1965, Gilmour busked around Spain and France with Barrett and some other friends, performing songs by the Beatles. They were not very successful, getting arrested on one occasion and living a virtually hand-to-mouth existence, which resulted in Gilmour requiring treatment in a hospital for malnutrition. He and Barrett later trekked to Paris, where they camped outside the city for a week and visited the Louvre. During that time Gilmour worked in various places, most notably as the driver and assistant for fashion designer Ossie Clark.  Gilmour travelled to France in mid-1967 with Rick Wills and Willie Wilson, formerly of Jokers Wild. The trio performed under the band name Flowers, then Bullitt, but they were not commercially successful. After hearing their uninspired covers of current chart hits, club owners were reluctant to pay them, and soon after their arrival in Paris, thieves stole their equipment. While in France, Gilmour contributed--as a session musician--lead vocals to two songs on the soundtrack of the film Two Weeks in September, starring Brigitte Bardot. In May, Gilmour briefly returned to London in search of new gear. During his stay, he watched Pink Floyd record "See Emily Play" and was shocked to find that Barrett did not seem to recognise him. When Bullitt returned to England later that year, they were so impoverished that their tour bus was completely empty of petrol and they had to push it off the ferry.

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