Early years and Easyworld Having played in several local groups together through their school years, Ford – who went on to attend
Manchester University – and drummer Glenn Hooper formed the band
Beachy Head in
Eastbourne in the late 1990s. Soon after, the band was completed by bassist Jo Taylor. The trio recorded several demos and an unreleased album as Beachy Head before renaming the band Easyworld. The new name for the band was taken from the line "It's an easy world" in their song
Better Ways to Self Destruct. From 2001 to 2004, the group released one mini-album, two full-length albums and several singles. After lacklustre sales of their final record,
Kill the Last Romantic, Ford privately announced his intention to disband the group. After several short festival performances and radio appearances to promote their final single,
How Did It Ever Come to This?, Easyworld announced their split in September 2004. Their last public performance was at the
Staffordshire date of 2004s
V Festival on 22 August.
Solo career , Asbury Park, New Jersey, May 2011 Almost immediately after Easyworld's dissolution, Ford began to play a sporadic series of intimate solo gigs, debuting a number of songs which would later appear on his first solo album. In 2005, he embarked on his first headline solo tour. Fan favourite "
State of the Union" was released as his debut single on 26 September 2005, followed swiftly by his self-recorded debut album ''
I Sincerely Apologise For All The Trouble I've Caused''. After a support tour with
Starsailor and a sold-out headline tour in February 2006 and the release of his second single, "I Don't Care What You Call Me", David confirmed headline shows in Ireland as well as shows across the US and high-profile slots supporting
KT Tunstall,
Richard Ashcroft,
Elvis Costello and
Gomez. His debut was released in the United States in May 2006 by
Columbia Records. After supporting
Suzanne Vega on her UK tour, Ford released his second solo album,
Songs for the Road in August 2007. He toured extensively to support the album in October 2007 and toured the US in May 2008. The album was released in the US on Original Signal Records on 1 April 2008. Ford released a cover of
The Smiths' "
There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" as a bonus track. His third studio album,
Let The Hard Times Roll, was released on 3 February 2010. Ford released his most successful album to date,
Charge, in the UK in March 2013, and America in June 2013. Charge was produced by James Brown, who had just completed
Dave Grohl’s most recent Sound City project and is a fan of Ford's music. Brown agreed to produce and mix the new album on his kitchen table in Brooklyn, New York, for the price of a few pizzas.
Charge debuted on the UK independent Album Chart at No. 30. A review in
The Daily Telegraph praised both the album and the accompanying tour: "His fourth solo album of smart, angry, witty, emotional songs delivered with raw-throated passion. Live, he is something to behold, a one man band looping up an acoustic storm…stirring and extraordinary". In 2012, Ford's 2008 single "I'm Alright Now" was pitched to French singer
Johnny Hallyday, and became a hit in January 2013 under the name "20 ans" ("20 years") with French lyrics by
Christophe Miossec. In February 2014, this song was awarded "Best Original Song" at the
Victoires de la Musique awards, sometimes referred to as "the French
Grammys", with Ford and Miossec accepting the award on stage in Paris.
Personal life Ford is married to Emma Ellis. He has stated that his favourite place to perform in the US is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ==Discography==