Craig David is back

Loads of hit singles, four albums, duets with Sting, concerts at Wembley, the Royal Albert Hall... We met him (on a Wednesday, in case you were wondering), asked him the Living Questions and got him to fill us in. Heh. See what we did there...? Living... For The City I'm from Southampton but I've been in London for seven or eight years. And I recently got a place in Miami. I've been going there for New Year for the last three or four years and once you get past South Beach and the whole party scene, there is a lifestyle there. Musically, producers – Timbaland, that whole camp – are very much based in Miami, you've got Dallas Austin and those guys in Atlanta, New York is only two-and-a-half hours away, so it's a very good music scene over there. My place should be ready by the end of the year. It'll be a home away from home... but it's still London for me. Living... For The Weekend You'd have to start on the Friday. Friday is always a better night to go out, Saturday just gets a little hectic, because everyone from all over the place comes to London. So we'd start with drinks and dinner in Nobu – always a good idea, a light little Japanese number – and there's a new club, Dolce, which is pretty good. By the time you've jumped out of there at 3am, you're either ready for home or you find yourself in Maroush in Beauchamp Place, that's always good. A little chicken shawarma, one of those chicken wraps, and you're good to go. Then Saturday, you've had a good sleep in so rather than doing all that craziness, I'd find a nice bar, somewhere a bit more local... and that'll probably transcend into going to another club, of course. Then Sunday, it's cinema. Cinema's always a good option for a Sunday. So nothing too extravagant, just some good people around me, having some fun. Living... On A Prayer I'm more spiritual than religious. My mother's side is Jewish, my dad's family is Christian, so I was in the mix but it wasn't like I was going to synagogue and/or church. Christmas was always Christmas, Easter was still Easter. For me, it's more about doing the right thing. You know which is right or wrong regardless of being fixated on one religion or another. I've seen so many people who profess to be so religious but commit more sins than I would just trying to do the right thing! And we're living in this very cosmopolitan city, in this cosmopolitan country, so you need to be able to identify the differences and the similarities and work out how they relate to you and how we can all mesh together. The... Living Years I saw my friends in Southampton recently, we did a gig down there, and it made me remember just how great school days were. And I thought I sound just like my parents! They kept telling me that when I got older, I'd appreciate my schooldays more, and I was just going "what are you talking about?!" When that bell went at 3.30, I was good to go. But now I appreciate it – and I hear myself saying it to people. And they're looking at me, saying "what?"! But these are great days. I feel wiser about where I'm at, I'm not this headless chicken just running around not knowing what I want. When you start in the industry, you don't really understand what your place is, so you're chasing your tail, and you feel you have to do everything, to make sure that everyone believes you've got the talent – and to prove it to yourself, most importantly. Then you can think ok, I can focus more now, I can concentrate on what's important. I'm four albums in, ready to drop a Greatest Hits... I never thought in a million years that I would stand the test of time. I never knew how that first album was going to do and when that blew up, it was incredible. It was amazing how it was received. I feel I'm in a very priviliged position. Living... In A Box Best present I've received? It was at the time EVERYONE wanted one and when I got it and plugged it into my TV, I was thinking this is the best thing ever. And that was the Sega Megadrive with Sonic The Hedgehog. Plug in the cartridge, plug it into the TV and that was me done. The best present I've given was probably for my manager, I did this whole surprise thing. We'd been together from when I was trying to get a record deal, so we've been working together for 10, 11 years now. On his birthday, I sent him this small model Aston Martin and inside that were some keys. And he ended up putting the package to the side saying "oh, that's the clippers I ordered from America". His wife's saying "no, I really think you should open that one!" So he opens it, he sees the keys and he doesn't really understand, it's early in the morning. He comes downstairs, and I'd arranged for this Aston Martin to be outside. Then he thought he just had it for the weekend or something. It was only when he saw the number plate and realised it had his initials on there that it slowly dawned on him. That was the best present. Not because of the materialistic thing, because it was marking that we'd been together a long time. It was the surprise, it was him wanting one for a long time. It was solidifying the fact that we'd come such a long way together. The Living... Daylights Goldfinger. And the theme to that as well. Sean Connery was really the Bond of all Bonds for me. It's difficult to fill those shoes, but Goldfinger was just classic. It's a shame that Amy Winehouse isn't doing the new theme. With her sound she'd have caught it perfectly. But hey, Beyonce – or Leona Lewis, whoever they get – isn't a bad second option is she? Living... TV The last time I had a really good night in, I had a load of friends over and we ordered from Room Service, this takeaway system where you can get food from all over the place. My friends didn't quite get the idea of picking one restaurant and we'll all get the food from that one place, so they picked stuff from every restaurant, so this van has to go round and get food from all over the place! So we ended up with Chinese, Thai, pizza... all sorts of things. I'd set up this projector and screen, and I'd got this film, Ghost Ship, which didn't go down too well! Halfway through, they're all falling asleep, while I'm going "this is great!" Then again, it could have been the sugar rush from all the Ben & Jerry's ice cream I'd eaten... Craig David's new single, Officially Yours, is released on 23 June.