Pink Floyd's David Gilmour celebrates 75th birthday

David Gilmour is widely regarded as one of the world’s top living rock musicians for his career playing in Pink Floyd and his solo work.

The rock star, who lives in a multi-million-pound new home on Hove seafront with his wife Polly Samson, 58, has been making ground-breaking music for more than five decades.

Pink Floyd, although no longer active, still sell millions of albums per year and Dark Side of the Moon is consistently rated as one of the greatest albums ever made.

David Gilmour's new home on Hove seafront

In this week's vinyl album top 40 chart, the Floyd record has moved back up the charts to number 19 almost 50 years after its initial release.

The Final Cut, which was released in 1983, was the group’s final studio album and the last they would release with main songwriter Roger Waters still as a member.

The years that followed were marked by turmoil, a lawsuit with Waters, battles over song rights and doubts as to whether the band could legally continue to exist without him.

David Gilmour with his wife Polly Samson

After eventually regrouping under the leadership of Gilmour, plus drummer Nick Mason and keyboardist Rick Wright, the band released new material and embarked on a world tour.

But David is also a revered musician in his own right, having released four successful solo albums and winning an Ivor Novello Award Lifetime Contribution Award in 2008.

In a recent interview with the BBC, Gilmour told radio presenter Matt Everitt that the first single he ever bought was Rock Around Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets.

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He said hearing the 1954 classic was the first time he had heard something “new and original” and led him to discover the music of Elvis Presley.

David said: “It was superseded not very long after by ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ by Elvis Presley which was a step up again, but that first moment with ‘Rock Around The Clock,’ it is very hard to describe how new and revolutionary that sounded to me at the time.”

The musician said while he soon turned his attention to The Beatles, Rock Around the Clock still remains a firm favourite and “stirred something” which set him on the path to musical success.