Ren
Birth nameRen Erin Gill
Also known asRen
Born (1990-03-29) 29 March 1990
Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales
OriginDwyran, Anglesey (Ynys Môn), Wales
Occupation(s)songwriter, musician, rapper, producer, director
Instrument(s)Guitar, piano, vocals
Years active2009–present
LabelsIndependent
Formerly of
  • Trick The Fox
  • The Big Push
Websitewww.sickboi.co.uk

Ren Eryn Gill[1][2] (born Ren Erin Gill, 29 March 1990),[3] known professionally as Ren,[4] is a Welsh[5] songwriter, musician, rapper,[6] producer,[7] and director.[8] He was a member of the indie hip-hop band Trick The Fox [6] and The Big Push, a British busking band based in Brighton.[9]

In 2022, Ren released "Hi Ren". The video went viral and appeared in both the United Kingdom and Worldwide Trending Music Video Charts on YouTube, and had 6.8 million views in two months.[5] The next six songs Ren released, "Sick Boi", "Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve Retake)", "Illest of Our Time", "Animal Flow", and "Suicide" also appeared in the United Kingdom's Trending Music Video Chart on YouTube.[10] Ren was invited to play at Glastonbury 2023 and other major UK summer music festivals.[5] Alongside several EPs and singles, he has released two albums to date, Freckled Angels (2016) and Sick Boi (2023). Sick Boi reached the number one spot on the UK charts on October 20, 2023. In the US, it debuted at No. 137 on the Billboard 200.[11] Ren debuted at No. 4 on Billboard's Emerging Artists chart[11] and No. 54 on the Billboard 100 Artists chart, in the US.[12]

Ren has spent years battling health problems[5] and often uses his public persona to raise awareness of mental health issues.[13]

Life and career

Ren was born on 29 March 1990, in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales, and was raised in Dwyran,[14] on the island of Anglesey.[5] He taught himself to play guitar by slowing down tracks by Jimi Hendrix and John Frusciante.[15]: 20:11  He dreamed of being a musician and sold CDs of beats he made at home on his PC[5] using Reason[16]: 01:33  when he was 12.[5] When he was 13, he performed live for the first time with a rendition of the AFI song "Morningstar".[15]: 11:02 

Ren moved to Bath to study music performance at Bath Spa University.[17] While there, he started a band called Trick The Fox.[16]: 01:45  In 2009 Ren was discovered by Eric Appapoulay while busking one of his own songs.[15]: 34:23  In 2010 he signed a recording contract with Sony Records.[17] Ren went to London with Eric[15]: 35:00  and started working on his debut album with Charlie Fowler, another member of Trick the Fox, at Sanctuary studio in South London. They started writing tracks, touring, and recording. They also posted some tracks and videos to the band's Facebook and YouTube accounts,[18] and Tom Frampton joined the band.[19]

Ren became too sick to finish the album and had to move home to Wales.[15]: 2:30  He was bedridden for up to 23 hrs a day.[17] In 2013 Ren moved to Brighton.[20] Ren has spent many years dealing with health issues.[5] In the video to Hi Ren, he mentions dealing with autoimmunity, illness, and psychosis. He was misdiagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder, and chronic fatigue syndrome and later was diagnosed with Lyme disease in Belgium.[21][5][22]

While in his bedroom, Ren wrote songs and recorded music.[23] On 2 January 2016, Ren's debut solo album Freckled Angels was released. The self-released album contained 16 tracks, including around half of the tracks recorded for the Trick The Fox album. Eric Appapoulay gave Ren permission to use them.[24][15]: 38:08  Ren dedicated the album and the title track to one of his best friends, Joe Hughes, who died by suicide in 2010.[21][5] A restaurant in Menai Bridge, Anglesey is named after this album.[25] On 15 February 2016, Ren released his first official single, "Jessica".[26]

Ren was featured in the 2017 movie Unrest, and his song "Patience" was part of the soundtrack.[27] He continued to record and release music and music videos over the next several years, both solo and in collaboration with other UK-based independent artists, mostly on his personal YouTube channel.

On 15 December, 2022, he self-released a music video for his song "Hi Ren", which became a viral hit, receiving 6.8 million YouTube views in two months.[5] The video for "Hi Ren" received an honourable mention in the best European music video category at the Prague music video awards in April 2023[28] and in October 2023 it was nominated for the Camerimage 2023 Best Music video award. Ren was listed as the director and Samuel Perry-Falvey the cinematographer.[8] In February 2023, Ren released a "retake" of the Verve song "Bitter Sweet Symphony". Verve bassist Simon Jones voiced his appreciation and presented Ren with a guitar as a gift.[5]

In addition to his solo career, Ren was a member of The Big Push, a Brighton-based busking band. Glenn Chambers was the drummer and Ren, Romain Axisa, Gorran Kendall were the front men.[29][30] Their 2021 UK Tour sold out.[29] The Big Push played their last gig and broke up in 2022 due in part to Ren's health issues. [6]

Ren was named as one of Atwood Magazine's 2023 Artists to Watch,[31] Société Magazine listed him as one of the "Top Artists To Look Out For In Sussex",[32] and the music critic Gareth Branwyn called his music "intense," and "refreshingly unique"[33] and his rapping as "impressive".[34]

In May 2023, Ren was interviewed by Justin Hawkins of The Darkness on Hawkins' YouTube channel.[15]: 0.00:00  Since becoming sick, Ren has said that his life's work has been closely related to looking for better ways to deal with mental health issues.[35] Since January 2023, he has been in Canada receiving specialised medical treatment for his illness.[36][37] In June 2023, Ren presented a cheque for £21,000 to the RNLI crew on Beaumaris, Anglesey.[14] He had used his status as a musician to get his fans to raise the money, in recognition of the RNLI great work in saving peoples lives and the effort they put in trying to find his friend Joe Hughes, who jumped from the Menai Suspension Bridge in 2010.[38]

In a Q&A video that premiered on YouTube on 28 September 2023, Ren spoke about, among other things, his middle name. When asked this question, he answered "My middle name is Eryn. Like Eryn, E–R–Y–N. Eryn."[2]

His second album Sick Boi was released on 13 October 2023.[39] Over the course of the year prior to the album's release, many tracks from the album were released as singles to major streaming services, with accompanying videos published on Ren's YouTube channel. Two of the singles, "Suicide" and "Murderer", both placed in the Top 100 of the UK Singles Sales Chart during the week after their release.[40] Upon release, the Sick Boi album was in a "heated battle for UK's no 1 album," with fewer than 400 chart units separating it and Rick Astley's new release Are We There Yet?.[41] Sick Boi went on to secure number one by almost 6,000 units.[42] Ren was unable to perform to promote his album due to his ongoing treatment in Calgary[43][44] and attributed the level of its success to his fan base's promotion of it.[45]

In the US, Ren debuted at No. 4 on the Emerging Artists chart[11] and No. 54 on the Billboard 100 Artists chart.[12] His album, Sick Boi, debuted "at No. 137 on the Billboard 200 with 9,000 equivalent album units earned in its opening week. It also starts at No. 2 on Heatseekers Albums, No. 11 on Top Current Album Sales and No. 13 on Top Album Sales."[11]

On 1 November 2023, Rolling Stone UK announced that Ren was one of five acts that had made "their own formidable stamp on British music throughout the year." and were nominees for the Breakthrough Award at the Rolling Stone UK Awards 2023.[46]

In January 2024, Ren and Samuel Perry-Falvey won Best Music Video, Best Director Music Video, and an Honourable Mention for Best Cinematography for the music video Money Game part 3, from the Sick Boi album, at the International Music Video Awards.[47]

Discography

Studio albums

List of studio albums, with selected details and chart positions
Title Album details Peak chart positions
UK
[48]		 UK
HH/R&B
[48]		 AUS
[49]		 SCO
[48]		 US
[50][51]
Freckled Angels —————
Sick Boi
  • Released: 13 October 2023
  • Label: Self-released
  • Formats: Digital download, CD, LP, cassette
 11281137

Extended plays

Title EP details
The Tale of Jenny & Screech
  • Released: 15 September 2019
  • Label: Self-released
  • Formats: Digital download, CD, EP
Demos (Do Not Share), Vol 1
  • Released: 29 April 2020
  • Label: Self-released
  • Formats: Digital download, CD, EP
Demos (Do Not Share), Vol 2
  • Released: 14 October 2020
  • Label: Self-released
  • Formats: Digital download, CD, EP
Violet's Tale
  • Released: 29 July 2022
  • Label: Self-released
  • Formats: Digital download, CD, EP

Singles

Year Title UK Sales
[40]		 Album/EP
2018 "Jessica"
(featuring Orlean)		 — Non-album singles
"Girls!" —
"Blind Eyed"
(with Sam Tompkins)		 —
"Children of the Moon" —
2019 "Humble"
(with Eden Nash)		 —
"Money Game" —
"How to Be Me"
(with Chinchilla)		 —
2021 "Chalk Outlines"
(with Chinchilla)		 —
2022 "Power" —
"Violet's Tale" — Violet's Tale
"The Hunger" — Sick Boi
"Genesis" —
"What You Want" —
"Hi Ren" 81 Non-album single
2023 "Sick Boi" — Sick Boi
"Illest of Our Time" —
"Animal Flow" —
"Suicide" 94
"Murderer" 95
"Love Music, Pt. 4" —
"Down on the Beat"
(featuring Viktus)		 —
"Masochist" —
"Lost All Faith" —
"Money Game, Pt. 3" —

References

  1. ↑ Owens, David (1 November 2023). "Watch: Newly unearthed footage of a teenage Ren performing". Nation.Cymru. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  2. 1 2 Ren ~ "1 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS" Full Livestream (July 20th 2023). Event occurs at 17:52. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  3. ↑ "Ren Erin Gill - Births & Baptisms [1] - Genes Reunited". Genes Reunited. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  4. ↑ "Singer-Songwriter Ren's Raw Depictions of Mental Health Strike a Chord". Psychiatrist.com. 20 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Llywelyn, Lowri (8 March 2023). "Ren - the Welsh musician attracting millions to his extraordinary music". Nation.Cymru. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 "Ren Gill, the musician who has defied all odds". Fahrenheit Magazine. 22 May 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  7. ↑ "Ren gives us a track-by-track rundown of his new album 'Sick Boi'". Rolling Stone UK. 13 October 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  8. 1 2 Williams, Tom (23 October 2023). "EnergaCAMERIMAGE announce 2023 Music Videos Competition line-up". British Cinematographer. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  9. ↑ Conway-Flood, Katie. "The Big Push - Brighton's Biggest Busking Band". Discovered Magazine. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  10. ↑ Songstats. "Songstats - Music Data Analytics for Artists & Labels - Feed". Songstats. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Zellner, Xander (25 October 2023). "10 First-Timers on Billboard's Charts This Week: Marc Rebillet, Aliyah's Interlude, Brigitte Calls Me Baby & More". Billboard. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  12. 1 2 tolsen (10 July 2014). "Billboard Artist 100". Billboard. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  13. ↑ "Star raises thousands for RNLI team who tried to find his missing friend". MSN. 26 June 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  14. 1 2 Herddate, George (28 June 2023). "New music star wants mental health conversations". BBC. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hawkins, Justin. "The Ren Interview". YouTube. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  16. 1 2 "Catching Coffee with Ren | Busking, Screaming Fans & Being Blocked by Calvin Harris!". YouTube. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  17. 1 2 3 Winchell, Bryan (28 February 2023). ""Hi, Ren" (The Full Series)". Medium. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  18. ↑ "TRICK THE FOX | The Sanctuary Studio". The Sanctuary Recording Studio. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
  19. ↑ "Ren – Hi Ren Featured Video". REZONATZ. 27 December 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  20. ↑ "Life update". Twitter. 2 February 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  21. 1 2 Reilly, Nick (9 June 2023). "Meet Ren, the viral songwriter who finds beauty in the bleakest of situations". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  22. ↑ Simpson, Dave (17 March 2023). "The Darkness's Justin Hawkins on his YouTuber second act: 'I can say anything I want!'". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  23. ↑ Smith, Bob (6 January 2023). "Ren's Poignant, Disturbing & Brilliant 'Hi Ren' - The Static Dive". The Static Dive. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  24. ↑ "Freckled Angels, by Ren Gill". Bandcamp. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  25. ↑ Julie, Richards-Williams (16 December 2017). "North Wales restaurant review: Freckled Angel, Menai Bridge". North Wales Live. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  26. ↑ Szwarc, Bea (16 May 2016). "New Secret: Ren - Jessica (feat. Orleans) - Where the Music Meets". www.wherethemusicmeets.com. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  27. ↑ "'Unrest' - UK Screenings". Lyme Disease UK. 1 October 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  28. ↑ "WINNERS". Prague Music Awards. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  29. 1 2 Clay, William (6 July 2021). "The Big Push – interview". BN1 Magazine. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  30. ↑ Olivia, Reese (30 June 2021). "The Big Push – Can Do, Will Do". Highwire Magazine. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  31. ↑ "2023's Top 50 Artists to Watch". Atwood Magazine. 30 January 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  32. ↑ Staff. "Best Artists In Brighton". Société Magazine. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  33. ↑ Branwyn, Gareth (30 January 2023). "Discovering the intense, refreshingly unique music of Ren". Boing Boing. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  34. ↑ Branwyn, Gareth (1 April 2023). "UK rapper Ren releases video for "Illest of Our Time"". Boing Boing. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  35. ↑ "After pushing back on the misrepresentation by @CNN they updated their video". Twitter. 30 April 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  36. ↑ Stewart, Peter (14 February 2023). "Ren Gill A Dynamic Singer, Guitarist And Songwriter From The UK". The Music Man. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  37. ↑ Gottschalk, Kurt (11 March 2023). "Music: Wiggly Air, by Kurt Gottschalk". Red Hook Star-Revue. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  38. ↑ "Anglesey singer raises £21,000 for voluntary RNLI crews who searched for his best friend". ITV News. 28 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  39. ↑ Murray, Robin (18 August 2023). "Ren Announces New Album 'Sick Boi' | News". Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  40. 1 2 "Ren Official Charts". Official Chart Company. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
  41. ↑ Griffiths, George (16 October 2023). "Rick Astley and newcomer Ren in heated battle for UK's Number 1 album". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  42. ↑ Smith, Carl (20 October 2023). "Ren's Sick Boi beats Rick Astley's Are We There Yet? to claim Number 1 album". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  43. ↑ "Ren: Welsh rapper's album Sick Boi is surprise number one". BBC News. 20 October 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  44. ↑ Owens, David (3 July 2023). "The heartbreaking story behind Ren raising thousands for the RNLI". Nation.Cymru. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  45. ↑ Wilkes, Emma (20 October 2023). "Watch Ren's epic reaction to scoring this week's Number One album". NME. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  46. ↑ Reilly, Nick (1 November 2023). "Here's the nominees for the Rolling Stone UK Breakthrough Award". Rolling Stone UK. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  47. ↑ "Winners Season January 2024 | Imvawards". International Music Video Awards. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  48. 1 2 3 "Ren songs and albums | full Official Chart history". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  49. ↑ "ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart". Australian Recording Industry Association. 4 December 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  50. ↑ @billboardcharts (23 October 2023). "Debuts on this week's #Billboard200..." (Tweet). Retrieved 24 October 2023 – via Twitter.
  51. ↑ "Billboard 200: Week of October 28, 2023". Billboard. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
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