Making a star of Craig David

By REBECCA BARRY

Craig David has just made two important changes in his life. He's bought his mother a new house so she can move out of her Southampton council flat. And he's chopped off his trademark braids, joking that his three hairdressers probably aren't particularly happy with him at the moment.

"What do you wanna do, Craig, spend three-and-a-half hours having your hair done or do you wanna go out and see New Zealand?" he quips to himself on the line from London to promote his new release, Slicker Than Your Average. It seems this 21-year-old, who laughs off accusations of narcissism, has indeed come of age.

Growing up fast after the release of his first album, Born To Do It in 2000, was inevitable. The garage scene was taking off in Britain and with his incandescent mix of Grenada good looks, smooth R&B vocals and fresh two-step backing tracks, David quickly won his way into the hearts and CD players of millions of listeners worldwide.

At 19, he not only became the youngest British male solo artist to have a number one single (Fill Me In), he also became one of the few British acts to successfully crack America, where the album sold 1.5 million copies.

"Born To Do It was very much about the relationships and the make-ups and break-ups of a teenager's life," he says. "Not to say that I'm way beyond my years but I feel I've been able to experience so many things in a small period of time that I've got so much more to say this time round."

Indeed, the past two years have been a maelstrom of different cities, plush hotels, screaming girls, awards ceremonies and doing wild and exciting things day in, day out. At the other end of the celebrity spectrum, David has received death threats, experienced the disappointment of coming away from last year's Brit Awards with nothing despite six nominations, and struggled to get his head around his new-found cachet.

"I don't regret where I am now but I must admit there were certain things back in the day that I really enjoyed - being not so well known, and doing my own thing, and my private life would be my private life. I try to be positive but I really miss the friendships I had ... It's a shame because some people think I've changed and it's difficult to explain that I'm the same guy they always knew but my circumstances have changed. It doesn't mean I now have an ego beyond belief or I'm materialistic."

Still, David is the first to keep his integrity in check. In the first verse of new song, Rise & Fall, he warns, "This game I'm in don't take no prisoners, just casualties/ I know that everything is gonna change/even the friends I knew before", and in the second verse, "With the money came a different status/Now I'm too concerned with all the things I own, blinded by all the pretty girls I see ... "

"I'm very aware of how easily you can get mixed up in the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll lifestyle," he explains. "I feel I've kind of reached halfway through the first verse. Hopefully I don't get to the second."

It's a song he recorded appropriately with Sting, an artist who has publicly weathered the pitfalls of stardom. It's also fitting that on What's Your Flava?, Fast Cars and Personal, David sounds remarkably like another casualty of fame, Michael Jackson.

The Jackson-isms are probably the most American elements you'll find on the album. To "keep it real", David says, he chose to work with his long-time studio collaborator, British producer Mark Hill (Artful Dodger) and Danish producers Soulshock and Karlin. It would be pointless, he says, to use American producers or to write music that belies his roots just because it would be released there.

"[Americans] are open to embracing something slightly different. And my perception of R&B/hip-hop/pop music is probably quite different from somebody who lives in the Bronx or Harlem or in New Zealand or Germany for that matter. For example, the gun violence that happens in the States - in Southampton where I'm from, someone wouldn't even know how to hold a gun let alone fire one."

It has been two years since David worked as a DJ in Southampton, dropping ragga and R&B tunes on his local radio station, working on remixes and playing clubs nights. Through his club associations he hooked up with Hill, and after securing a record deal with Wildstar Records, the pair of them worked on Born To Do It, before David gained a deal with Atlantic that would break him into the States.

"Man, from one minute trying to scrape together enough money to get blank CDRs to do some new mix tapes I was doing as a DJ ... " he remarks wistfully. One minute based in Southampton, the next travelling the world.

Early next year he heads to New Zealand for the first time, as part of his promotional tour for the album.

As for whether the woman of his dreams will be joining him ... "I haven't met her yet! She could well be in New Zealand. And all this time, I haven't stopped off there.

"I'm really bringing down the odds of finding her if I don't go to certain places."

* Slicker Than Your Average is released this week.