Quotes from Craig David

When I grew up, I was living on a council estate overlooking a car park for a good 16 years of my life.

I have admiration for beautiful women.

I am only as good as my last song. Hits are a pension, but I don't want to rest on those songs. I want to have a future.

I just keep it real, and I have written songs from my heart and performed them how they should be performed.

Something's wrong with all countries and all voting systems.

What I've learned is that if you stay focused and believe and actually walk the walk, anything is possible.

I'm a big fan of Usher, and I'd love for us to record together.

Failure and success are part of the same seed. If you don't embrace your failure, you never really know what success is.

I'd love to reach the pinnacle where you just can't wait to get the new album by Craig David.

I wanna have a positive impact and bring in artists on the come-up. It gets me hyped!

I like buying people little things, not flooding them with money, trying to win them.

I aspired to playing at Glastonbury, not just the Camden Palais.

I grew up in Southampton. My mum was a shop assistant; my dad was a carpenter. They broke up when I was eight.

Everything around me is surreal. I get picked up in cars and go to celebrity bashes, and I get sponsorship on clothes, and it's great, and I really enjoy it. But you should remember where it all started: the music. That's the key.

I have to perfect my beard every morning and it takes a long time. I think a lot of musicians are into graphic design and art. I decided to be a little bit of an artist on my face.

That whole 'Bo' Selecta!' thing was damaging. I played along with it; I said it was cool, I can take a joke, roll with it, so I went on the show. But it was killing me.

I am not competing to be an athlete. I make music.

My grandmother and my mother raised me, but my dad made a conscious effort to be in my life - every weekend he would take me out.

The council estate I grew up on wasn't too bad.

'Born to Do It' took a kid out of a council estate and put my mum into a home of her own. It changed my whole family's situation, and all from doing something that I loved.

I played 'Rewind' so many times in the club to see which parts were working, see how the crowd reacted to it.

Don't take social media seriously. Don't buy into the hype.

I'm walking away from the Troubles in my Life.

I've experienced everything any aspiring artist could ever want.