Elliot John Gleave (born 20 June 1982), better known by his stage name Example, is an English singer and rapper signed to Data Records. His name arose due to his initials being E.G., which is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase exempli gratia ("for example"). Elliot Gleave was born at a West London hospital in Hammersmith, the elder of two children, and attended All Saints Primary School in Fulham. He later went on to attend ADT College (now Ashcroft Technology Academy) in Wandsworth. Gleave has claimed in interviews that the main reason he started rapping was due to his introduction to hip-hop through albums by Wu-Tang Clan and Snoop Dogg – the latter's album purchased primarily for "the cool cover art".
