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Childhood and youth
David Jordan was born and raised in Barnet, London. His mother is from Montserrat (a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean Sea) and his father is from Calcutta (the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal). Jordan's parents split up when he was 10-years-old. He later said of the time, "I remember [because] the head teacher of my school tapped me on my shoulder and was like, 'Divorce can be a really hard thing' and I was just like, 'What's he talking about?'" He added that the experience of his mother and father separating did not affect him as much as it could other children, as he was still able to see both of his parents.

From a young age, Jordan showed an interest in music. His early influences included Prince, James Brown and Frank Sinatra. At school he was considered an "outsider" and had few friends because of his strong drive to be involved in songwriting. He recalled of his early experiences with music, "I'd record a new track every day on my old keyboard... I discovered that I couldn't be my heroes like James Brown and Frank Sinatra so I made a conscious decision to be myself and write my own material." He added, "I don't know how music got into my bloodstream, but it's there and I'll never be able to escape it."

Until he was 16-years-old, Jordan stayed with his grandmother in Barnet. He moved out after he "blagged" a council flat in nearby Finchley. The teenager thereafter embarked upon what he later reflected were his "wild years". Jordan was determind to become a professional singer-songwriter and to sign a record deal. He studied drama at college during the daytime, worked at a Starbucks coffehouse in New Oxford Street in the evening, and then went to Fortress Studios in Old Street, where he worked on songs with his friend Jack Freegard, a music producer. As a teenager, he would also spend some of his time with Amy Winehouse, who he would play computer games with. Jordan stated that he and Winehouse were "really good mates when we were growing up". His other friends included a group of inspiring pop artists, who were all later signed to Simon Fuller's management company 19 Entertainment.