With a keen sense of humor and seemingly innate songwriting ability, 20-year-old British soul singer Craig David [ tickets ] has the ability to mold words into contemporary love songs that stress commitment. That’s a rarity within today’s R&B and soul genres.

He chalks it up to being a good old-fashioned man who’s respectful of his mother.

“I was living with my mom, and I think it’s just kind of a respect factor for women," David explained. "When I was writing songs, I didn’t feel the need to be vulgar and describe things you may want to do with a girl.”

On his debut, “Born to Do It” (Atlantic), David uses a melodic, modern approach to his music. He introduced U.S. music listeners to “two-step,” a form of music that blends R&B elements with drum and bass beats.

U.S. music fans can get a glimpse of David this month and next, when he kicks off his debut North American tour on Jan. 29 in Miami.

While rehearsing for the tour, David talked with liveDaily about his ideal love affair, the comparisons to Marvin Gaye [ tickets ], and the art of two-step.

LiveDaily: You’re getting ready for your first proper tour of the United States. In December, you played a series of acoustic sets during radio station holiday concerts.

I feel I can break down the whole album so easy with me and an acoustic [guitar]. Hopefully, people can get it. They don’t stereotype it as, “This is R&B or this is pop.” You kind of just break it down.

Your acoustic sets showed off your sense of humor, especially when you performed “Walking Away,” during which you broke into U2’s “One.” Is that an acknowledgment that the guitars in both are very similar?

I know. [laughs] U2 have been real cool. At a few of the shows, they performed “One” and then went into “Walking Away” at the end. I wanted to do the opposite to say, "Thank you for doing that." I did it on MTV, too. I thought it would be a good platform to do it on. One that Bono would be able to see on MTV. That was real cool. He was a big support, which has been great.

Are you looking forward to headlining over here?

Very much so. I never thought in a million years I’d be coming over here to promote my music and have the opportunity to have my album embraced by American people. With me up on stage doing my thing, it’s allowing people to see what it’s all about. I couldn’t release the energy that I have in the recording studio when I was doing the album. It’s a different atmosphere when I’m on stage and there’s a crowd in front of me. I just go for it. Also, it’s more exclusive for each event I do. If the crowd is really feeling a song, I’ll add this impromptu freestyle thing. That gives it a little more exclusivity to that crowd in that city.

Your album stresses monogamy and commitment. Are those things that important in your own life?

Oh, yes. I think it’s because my mom and dad split when I was about 8. Even though they split, they kept it really cool for me. My dad would come around a lot. They were friends.

In your life, you meet lots of different people but deep down you--at least I do--want to find the special one; a girl that when you see her for the first time she lights the room just with her presence. The smallest things make the biggest impression. That’s what I’m searching for in my life. You get to meet a lot of different people, beautiful girls. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be the right person. A girl has got to have integrity, and you have to click on a personal level. I think the album goes through some of the relationships I’ve been in. It isn’t like there’s loads of them. It’s different stories from a bunch of relationships.

You meet a girl in a club and you want to tell your friends you met a girl last night. That’s “Fill Me In.” Then you follow me to my bedroom (“Follow Me”). Again, you don’t even need to be descriptive. You could be playing PlayStation 2, for all anyone knows. [laughs] Then I’m walking away (“Walking Away”) from her because it hasn’t turned out so well. You can sum up a lot of the songs on the album within a few relationships.

A lot of R&B that I heard prior was a bit too racy and a bit too obvious. There’s a bit more storytelling involved [in not being racy].

I recently heard someone call you the next Marvin Gaye, because your album was so seductive. How do you react to that?

It’s very flattering, personally. It’s funny, because Marvin Gaye’s stuff has an influence in what I’ve been doing in my writing, as well as Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. It does motivate me to keep doing what I do best. I would love to hear, “Hey, you know what? That Craig David guy, I like his stuff and he’s still, like, cool. I like his vibe.” I guess, because I’m only 20, and I’m only on my first album, I’m so far away from being a status like he is--long-term, and someone who has made a benchmark and someone who contributed to music. I’ve been embraced by a lot of people, and I’m blessed and grateful for everyone’s support. But being so young, I have so much to prove, as much as I’ve had early success, which is phenomenal.

Growing up as a DJ, I’ve seen artists go so quickly. Playing a record on a deck, I’ve seen people go mad, and then, boom, you’ve never heard of them. I’d like to stay around. But I wouldn’t want to have the same death [Marvin Gaye] went through. [laughs] [Marvin Gaye was killed by his father in 1984.]

“Two-step” is a relatively new type of music to mainstream pop fans in the United States. How would you explain it to the average person who doesn’t know a lot about electronic music.

If you take house music and kind of take out a few of the beats and make it a little more breakbeat, this sound you’ve got something that’s a hybrid of R&B in the sense that it’s simplistic in the way it progresses. Yet, it has the energy from dance music. For example, in “Fill Me In,” you’ll be able to hear, within the same song, R&B in the verse where it’s very kind of laid back. By the time it hits the chorus, the drum patterns slightly change and now you’ve got that energy that you’ve never had before. But the actual speed of the track is the same. It has a slightly different drum pattern in the swing.

Describe to me your songwriting process. Do you sit down and say, “OK, I’m going to write a song.” Or do you write when the inspiration hits?

Melodies and different kinds of catchy things just kind of come to me out of the blue. But if I want to write a song, I have to say, “Craig, we’re gonna write a song now. We’re going to sit down and we’re going to do this.” I have to know that I’ve got time to do it. When you start to write a song and something else happens--if an obstacle comes in the way--it kills the whole vibe. A vibe is one of those things that once you’re in it, you have to keep going. If it even means I get in the studio at 12 midday and at 12 midday the next day, I’m still there. As soon as you kill it, the vibe’s gone.

So, I kind of go through this stage of singing a melody that makes sense, but with lyrics that don’t really form and make a proper sentence. I go through the lyrics, then, and make them sound a bit better. John Lennon got away with some of his songs not necessarily having any sense. I wish I could do that. “Come Together,” as much as you think the title would be about coming together as people, there’s "toe jam football," and he made crazy words. I see that and think, “Man, this guy must have just been in a vibe.” He’s a genius. He talks about toe jam football and people were probably looking on TV for toe jam football.

What song did you do on the televised John Lennon special?

“Come Together,” which is why I’m the toe jam football king. [laughs]. That concert was a great thing, to have it just as the World Trade Center [attacks of Sept. 11] happened. As much as it was a John Lennon tribute, it was the time when all the performers were going out [to help victims]. It was all relevant to Sept. 11.

In the wake of Sept. 11, are you nervous about coming over to America?

Not really. I look at things in the sense that you have to live life to the fullest. If it means that I can’t conduct life the way I live my life fully, the terrorists have succeeded in what they wanted to do. In New York, the way in which people did come together, and the unity that was there, the whole scale of America, it has an effect on everyone in America and around the world. Americans dealt with that. It was amazing. They did come together and looked at things. We looked at the trivial things that we do. We fixed ourselves up and put it into the bigger picture to see what’s actually going on. That’s human. With time, we fall back to bad habits. One minute, you have the news with Sept. 11, Sept. 11, Sept. 11, and the whole coverage just multiplying every time you see it. Then there’s the papers that are, like, headline, headline, headline. Now, creeping back in is who’s wearing what in Hollywood. We tend to slip into bad habits. This time around, it was on such a gigantic level that it’s had an effect on everyone. Hopefully, people will do the right thing in life and help.

I understand you’ve started working on your next record. How does it compare to “Born to Do It”?

Lyrically, I have a lot more to talk about. I’ve experienced so many more things than being in a constant state of a couple relationships. Vocally, I feel strong. This album is definitely a progression. The melody and all the hooks are still there. The production is a little more club.

When will it be released?

I’m not 100 percent sure. We’re kind of in flux. In the U.K. and Europe, ["Born to Do It"] has been out for a long time. In August, it was two years. In the U.S. it’s very new, [released in July of 2001]. We’re trying to sync it all up.