Example (born 20 June 1982 as Elliot John Gleave) is a British rapper formerly signed to The Beats record label. His pseudonym arose due to his initials forming e.g. which is a common abbreviation for "for example".
After releasing three singles through his own label "All The Chats", including the original 7" version of "I Dont Want To" in January 2006, Example received attention from Pete Tong, Zane Lowe and others at Radio 1. Example also caught the attention of people at four major record labels - perhaps most significantly Mike Skinner (of The Streets), owner of The Beats label.
After signing a deal in April 2006 with The Beats, Example put out a response to Lily Allen's No.1 hit "Smile" entitled "Vile" and received Radio 1 airplay from Zane Lowe, Jo Whiley and Chris Moyles. His first 'proper' release on The Beats was "What We Made" in November 2006, the video for which was filmed in Chernobyl, Ukraine.
Example's second official Beats single entitled "You Can't Rap" was released in March 2007, followed by a re-release of "I Don't Want To" on 11 June 2007. "I Don't Want To" was followed by the single "So Many Roads" (famously sampling The Carpenters "We've Only Just Begun") which eventually turned out to be the opening track on Example's full-length studio debut. After the demise of The Beats label at the end of 2007 Example self-released his next single "Me + Mandy" on 10 March 2008 through his original imprint All The Chats. The video for "Me + Mandy" was shot over 4 days and nights in London, in over 30 locations with over 40 extras. Impressively all this was done at a cost of just £1000. It was directed by Example's friend Henry Scholfield who also made the promos for "Who Needs Sunshine?", "Vile", "You Can't Rap" and "I Don't Want To" and the video went on to win "Best Low-Budget Video" at the VMA's that year.
In February 2008 Example also tried his hand at stand-up comedy as part of BBC2's The Culture Show. Mentored by English comic Richard Herring, Example spent six weeks writing and practicing his own stand-up routine which culminated in his first ever stand-up show in front of 60 paying customers in a Covent Garden pub. A week later he appeared on the bill under Richard Herring, Phil Jupitus and Harry Hill at the Lyric Hammersmith - interestingly Example had performed in the same venue ten years earlier whilst a student at ADT College. The full 13 minute routine can be found on youtube under the title "Example Does Standup"
