Ren (British musician)

Ren Erin Gill was born on 29 March 1990 in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales.[7]

Ren started producing CD's of beats at home on his PC when he was 12 [1]. He moved from Wales to Bath when he was 18 [8] and while studying music performance at Bath Spa University, Ren started a duo called Trick The Fox. He was discovered by a talent scout in 2009, when the two were busking.[4] and in 2010, he signed a record deal with Sony Records.[9] Tom Frampton joined the band.[10] In 2013, Trick The Fox was listed as one of the acts performing at Beach Break Live 2013[11] and their music began to receive airplay. The first time they heard one of their songs on the radio was 2 December 2013, when BBC Radio 1xtra played their song Twista.[12]. In 2013 he made an announcement on the band's Facebook and Twitter account announcing Trick the Fox would be disbanding.[13] He was misdiagnosed with M.E. and later was diagnosed with Lyme disease.[1][14].

Sony Records later dropped Ren when he was diagnosed with an illness that affected his ability to perform.[9][15][16]

Ren decided to call his debut album, Freckled Angels. The album and the title track are dedicated to one of Ren's best friends, Joe Hughes, who died in 2010.[1] It was officially released on 2 January 2016. It contained 16 tracks and was self released.[17] A restaurant in Menai Bridge, Anglesey named itself for this album.[18] On 15 February 2016 Ren released his first official single, Jessica.[19]

Ren was featured in the 2017 movie Unrest and his song Patience was part of the soundtrack.[20] He became widely acclaimed after his self released video for his song "Hi Ren" received 6.8 million views in two months.[1]. He was named as one Atwood Magazine's 2023 Artists to Watch[21] and the music critic, Gareth Branwyn, called the music "intense," and "refreshingly unique"[22] and his rapping as "impressive".[23]

In addition to his solo career, Ren is a member of The Big Push, a Brighton based busking band. Glenn Chambers is the drummer and Ren, Romain Axisa, Gorran Kendall are the frontmen. They each take turns singing, and play different roles when performing. They write their own material in addition to playing cover tunes and enjoy that busking gives them instant feedback on their songs. The group records their live performances and uploads them to YouTube. Some of their videos have gone viral and by September of 2022 their channel had over 50 million views. Their 2021 UK Tour sold out.[24][25]

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