British R&B star Craig David has signed a global publishing deal with Round Hill Music.
The new arrangement, announced Wednesday (Sept. 9), includes all of David’s catalog, including his U.K. chart-topping debut album Born to Do It, and a futures agreement that will see all his new music administered by the independent music publisher.
The 39-year-old singer is one of Britain’s most successful male solo artists of the millennium, with 23 U.K. top 40 singles, including two No. 1s (“Fill Me In” and “7 Days”), and a pair of No. 1 albums.
In the U.S., David has twice cracked the Top 40 on the Billboard 200 and he has landed three songs on the Hot 100 chart, including a career-best No. 10 with “7 Days”.
His trophy cabinet includes three Ivor Novello Awards and a brace of MTV Europe Music Awards.
“After 20 years as a performer and songwriter this feels like a fresh start,” David says in a statement. Josh Gruss, founder and CEO of Round Hill Music, managing director Robin Godfrey-Cass, and the Round Hill Music team “are obviously real music fans as well as talented and proven music publishers – I couldn’t be happier that my music has found a new home with them.”
Commenting on the new deal, Godfrey-Cass says David is “quite frankly, a national treasure and we are proud to be the global custodians of his music. I and the whole Round Hill Music team are excited about Craig’s future plans and look forward to adding our passion and expertise to his already brilliant team. Craig is a total professional and one of the most dedicated, talented and nicest human beings around.”
Founded in 2010 by Gruss along with Richard Rowe and Neil Gillis, Round Hill Music now owns the publishing rights to over 100,000 songs recorded by the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, Bruno Mars, Meatloaf and Ronnie James Dio, in addition to the master catalogs of The Offspring, Triumph and Bush.
In late 2017, Round Hill added the likes of Elvis Presley, AC/DC, Bobby Darin, Billie Holiday and George Jones, as well as Broadway scores to Cabaret and Godspell, to the family when it finalized its acquisition of Carlin Music, its biggest deal to date. In 2018, the firm muscled-up its metal bonafides with a sizable stake in the Judas Priest catalog.
