CDB (band)

History

CDB were formed in Melbourne in 1991 as a vocal harmony quartet by Andrew De Silva, Brad Pinto and his brother Gary Pinto, and Danny Williams. According to musicologist, Ian McFarlane, their "sound combined elements of R&B, soul and New Jack Swing tied to dexterous vocal harmonies and arrangements." They performed local gigs for three years before signing to Sony in 1994. Previously they had provided backing vocals for Peter Andre, when he toured Australia as support for Madonna.

CDB's debut studio album, Glide with Me, was issued in November 1995, which peaked at number six on the ARIA Albums Chart and number 12 on the New Zealand Albums Chart (in April 1996). Its first two singles "Hook Me Up" (November 1994) and "Hey Girl (This Is Our Time)" (March 1995), both reached the ARIA Singles Chart top 20. "Hey Girl" was a number-one hit in New Zealand.

In Australia, their highest charting single was a cover version of "Let's Groove" (October 1995), originally by Earth, Wind & Fire, which reached number two and was certified platinum for shipment of over 70,000 units. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1996 "Let's Groove" won the Highest Selling Single category. In New Zealand it was their second number-one hit. Glide With Me provided another charting single, "Don't Stop", which reached the top 30 in both Australia and New Zealand. The album was also certified platinum.

To promote the album CDB toured South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Fiji. In 1996, with John Denver, they performed a concert celebrating the South Korean bid to host the 2002 FIFA World Cup. CDB's second album, Lifted, was released in November 1997. Jude Nicholas joined the group replacing Andrew De Silva, who needed to receive cancer treatment. Several tracks were re-recorded to replace De Silva's vocals with Nicholas'. The album had a more pop-oriented sound and reached the ARIA top 50. It provided three singles, "Good Times" (August 1997), "Back Then" (January 1998) and "Let it Whip" (April). CDB then collaborated with Tommy Emmanuel and Renee Geyer. They disbanded in 1999.

In 2006 CDB were asked to reunite to play some charity shows, after which they reportedly reformed. The band went on to record songs for Myer shopping centre in the 2006 Spirit of Christmas album and for the ABC's Anthems of Australia initiative.

After break-up

In 1999 the band broke up reportedly to concentrate on solo efforts. Since then Gary Pinto [1] has worked as a vocal coach on several series of Australian Idol and The X Factor and has worked extensively with Guy Sebastian, co-writing the hit "Taller, Stronger, Better" among other songs. Gary co-wrote the theme for World Youth Day 2008, "Receive the Power" with Guy and penned "Behold the Cross", which features on the WYD08 Official Soundtrack. Gary co-wrote and recorded the song "Saint Mary MacKillop" for the canonisation of Australia's first Saint, Mary MacKillop in 2010. He has toured extensively with Jimmy Barnes who recorded one of Pinto's tunes, originally written for his own album. Gary has recorded two further albums, one for his Music Ministry in schools—As-U-R Volume 1 (2010) and also his solo album Take Back Our World (2010).

Brad Pinto was nominated as a writer for Song of the Year at the 2012 Australian ARIA Awards for the four-times platinum hit "Boys like You", performed by Australian hip hop artist 360, who also performed on the night.

Andrew De Silva [2] reached the top 40 with his solo single "Just Like Good Music" in 2005, but no album release eventuated. He entered himself into the sixth series of Australia's Got Talent, and his audition was seen on Australian TV on Wednesday, 28 April 2012, where he received an enthusiastic "yes" from all three judges. He went all the way to the grand finale on 25 July 2012, which he won.

A best-of compilation, The Essential CDB was released on Sony Music on 5 November 2010.

Singles

Andrew De Silva (solo):

Gary Pinto (solo):