David Grant

David Beresford Grant (born 8 August 1956) is an English singer and vocal coach.

Career

Grant became famous in the early 1980s as a member of UK soul/funk duo Linx, whose biggest hit was "Intuition" in 1981. He began a solo career in 1983 with the top 40 hit "Stop and Go". Further hits included "Watching You Watching Me" and two duets with Jaki Graham – "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love", which reached number five in 1985, and the Todd Rundgren-penned "Mated", which made number 20 later that year. He has also worked as a session singer for artists including Diana Ross, Rick Astley and Lighthouse Family.

David has become well known, along with his wife Carrie, as a vocal coach on Pop Idol and a judge/vocal coach on Fame Academy and its spin-off Comic Relief Does Fame Academy. In addition, he has worked with some of the UK's top pop acts, including the Spice Girls, Take That, S Club, and more recently Will Young, Atomic Kitten, Melanie C, Lemar, Charlotte Church, Joss Stone, Geri Halliwell and Julian Perretta.

He also appeared regularly as a panellist on the topical debate show The Wright Stuff. In 2006, he appeared in the four-part series The Sound of Musicals. In September 2006, he appeared on MasterChef. At the start of 2008, David Grant sat as a judge on The One and Only, where he again worked alongside Carrie.

Soon after, David starred as the celebrity 'hider' in an episode of the CBBC show Hider in the House. He is the only celebrity to have been 'discovered' on the first day of filming of the show. This appearance was a precursor to David and Carrie branching out into children's television later in the year, when they hosted their own CBeebies show, Carrie and David's Popshop.

Grant often presents episodes of Songs of Praise and is a regular talking head expert for Channel 5 on a number of pop music-based chart countdowns.

Personal life

Grant was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and moved to London as a child in the late 1950s. David and his wife Carrie have four children: Olive, Tylan, Arlo, and an adopted son, Nathan. All of their children are neurodivergent. David and Carrie are both Christians and run a church plant in their home.

Grant was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours.

Linx

Linx were a British soul/Brit funk band consisting of David Grant (lead vocals), Bob Carter (keyboards), Andy Duncan (drums), Canute Edwards (guitar), Peter Martin (bass) and Junior Giscombe (backing vocals). Carter and Duncan were session musicians who were known for their contributions to Hazel O'Connor's Breaking Glass album and film.

After their first hit in 1980, the band slimmed down to a duo of Grant and Martin. Peter Martin (the bassist) joined the band 23 Skidoo. Junior Giscombe became a pop singer in his own right.

Overview

Linx had six entries on the UK Singles Chart from mid-1980 until mid-1982. The band's biggest success was "Intuition", which reached number 7 in early 1981. Other hits included "You're Lying" and "So This Is Romance." Linx also contributed the track "Don't Get in My Way" to the influential C81 compilation cassette released by New Musical Express magazine in 1981.

Linx split in early 1983. Grant later had a number of solo hits. Between 2002 and 2003, he was featured as a vocal coach on the BBC TV show Fame Academy.