Ren Eryn Gill (born 29 March 1990) is a Welsh singer-songwriter, rapper, producer, actor, and director. Ren has been a member of Trick the Fox and the Brighton-based band The Big Push, and has independently released the studio albums Freckled Angels (2016) and Sick Boi (2023).
Ren gained wide attention with the 2022 music video "Hi Ren", which addresses illness and mental health. The video was nominated in the Best Music Video category at Camerimage in 2023.<ref name="Camerimage2023"></ref>
Sick Boi reached number one on the UK Albums Chart on 20 October 2023. In the United States, the album debuted at number 137 on the Billboard 200, and Ren reached number four on the Billboard Emerging Artists chart.
Ren has spoken publicly about living with Lyme disease and related chronic health problems. He has said that before receiving a Lyme disease diagnosis in 2015, he was treated for depression and was also misdiagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and bipolar disorder.
Early life and influences Ren was born on 29 March 1990 in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. At age four, his family moved to Anglesey, where he grew up in the village of Dwyran. He began playing guitar at age 10 after his father gave him his first instrument; he later taught himself by slowing down recordings by Jimi Hendrix and John Frusciante.<ref name=Hawkins/>
His early musical influences included music his parents listened to, such as Shy FX, Mickey Finn, Aphrodite, early Eminem, Kurt Cobain, and Bob Marley. In 2024, Ren said his writing is influenced by the stories of filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, Stanley Kubrick, and Martin McDonagh.
Career 2008–2012: Early career While studying music at Bath Spa University, Ren began busking and formed the band Trick the Fox with a classmate. In 2010, producer Eric Appapoulay heard Ren performing while busking and signed him to a development deal as a representative of Sony. The development deal required Ren to play a certain number of showcase performances for Sony in order for execs to monitor Ren's progress. During this time Appapoulay and Ren also started writing and recording music together.
On December 27, 2010, Ren's childhood friend Joe Hughes died by suicide. Hughes's death influenced Ren's later songwriting about mental health and chronic illness. Ren later wrote "Freckled Angels" as a tribute to Hughes; the song became the title track of his debut album. The songs "For Joe" and the final verse of "Suicide" are also tributes to Hughes.
Ren began recording his debut album with Fowler at Sanctuary Studio in South London. Trick the Fox began touring and added drummer Tom Frampton in 2012. The group received radio airplay on BBC Radio 1Xtra.
During the recording process, Ren became ill, experiencing dissociation, physical pain, and fatigue that affected his ability to perform. He returned to his mother's home in Wales to recuperate and was later bedridden for up to 23 hours a day. His worsening health interrupted his music career.
2013–2016: Isolation and Freckled Angels Ren left his mother's home in Wales and moved to Brighton in 2013. His health issues kept him homebound. When he had enough energy, Ren wrote songs and recorded his music in his bedroom. He tried to find out why he was so sick, but he was misdiagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder, and chronic fatigue syndrome by multiple doctors and therapists. He developed stress induced psychosis. In October 2015, Ren met with a doctor who correctly diagnosed him with Lyme Disease
Ren finished his debut album, Freckled Angels, to try to raise money for treatment. The album contained 16 tracks, half of which were recorded for the Trick The Fox album. Eric Appapoulay permitted him to use them. The title track "Freckled Angels" was written about one of his best friends, Hughes. Ren dedicated it and the album to Hughes and self-released the album on 28 December 2015, the five year anniversary of Hughes's death.
He released his first official single, "Jessica", on 15 February 2016. Not long after, he went to the United States to undergo an experimental treatment for Lyme disease that included stem cell transplantation.
2017–2022: Return to performing Ren was featured in the 2017 movie Unrest, and his song "Patience" was part of the soundtrack. He was a spokesperson for Lyme Disease UK at the time.
Ren's health improved after being treated with stem cells, but he had ongoing autoimmune issues, brain damage, and PTSD. Despite this, he "started busking on the streets of Brighton," both on his own and with other independent artists. Ren started releasing songs regularly and uploading videos to his YouTube channel. He attracted a group of dedicated fans through the art of storytelling and his ability to connect emotionally with his audience. From 2018 onwards, videos of Ren and Sam Tompkins performing the songs Blind Eyed, Earned It, Man's World and Falling as street musicians also become successful. As his fan base grew, many of his videos were viewed over a million times. Jenny's tale, part of a trilogy of videos, had 3.3 million views by April 2020, a little over a year after its release. He also released several EPs and began working on his second album.
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, and Gorran Kendall were the frontmen. They self-released an EP, and their 2021 UK Tour sold out. The Big Push played their last gig and broke up in 2022 due in part to Ren's health issues.
"Hi Ren" On 15 December 2022, Ren self-released the music video "Hi Ren". This was a breakthrough moment for him. "Hi Ren" is an expression of Ren's journey with mental health, autoimmunity, illness, psychosis, and the medical system. It brings a message of hope and positivity, and has helped people open up and talk about their own struggles, promoting open public discussions about mental health.
The video became a viral hit. In two months, it received 6.8 million views on YouTube, and charted worldwide on YouTube's trending music video chart, and reached No. 62 on the UK Video Streaming Chart. A clip of the video received over 12 million views on TikTok in January 2023. For many, this video was an introduction to Ren's unique writing style and his ability to combine multiple genres seamlessly in a song.
The video received an honourable mention in the Best European Music Video category at the Prague Music Video Awards in April 2023, and was nominated for the Camerimage 2023 Best Music Video award in October 2023. Ren was the director, and Samuel Perry-Falvey was the cinematographer.
2023–2025 In January 2023, Ren went to Canada to receive further treatment for Lyme disease. He had recorded multiple songs and several videos, including most of his upcoming album, before leaving.
He was invited to play at Glastonbury 2023 and other major UK summer music festivals, but was unable to attend due to his health and ongoing treatment in Canada.
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.
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.
Ren was chosen to perform live at the 2024 Sky Arts Awards along with The Darkness, Slash and Brian Johnson, The Three Sopranos, The Kanneh-Masons and Aleighcia Scott.
Sick Boi
Over the year before the release of his second album, Sick Boi, many tracks 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.
The album was released on 13 October 2023. The style has been described as kaleidoscopic hip-hop. It chronicles Ren's health journey over the past decade. The lyrics in several of the songs describe how he felt and what he went through as he battled chronic illness. His openness and honesty about his struggles with his mental and physical health is what has drawn people worldwide to his music.
Upon release, Sick Boi 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?. Sick Boi went on to secure number one by almost 6,000 units, surpassing artists like Drake and Troye Sivan on his way to the top. After Ren secured the number one spot Rick Astley congratulated Ren and went on to say "He’s been at this for a while. This is not something new to him, he’s been making music for a long time, so it’s a well deserved number one. Check out some of his videos on YouTube - amazing stuff." Huw Stephens included Sick Boi in his book Wales: 100 Records, calling it an "impressive record" and Ren's style of rapping "mesmerizing". "The book analyses the very best works by some of the most important artists to come out of Wales".
In the US, Ren debuted at No. 4 on the Emerging Artists chart and No. 54 on the Billboard 100 Artists chart. 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." He was unable to perform to promote his album due to his ongoing treatment in Calgary and attributed the level of its success to his friends and his fan base's promotion of it.
"Money Game Part 3" The song "Money Game Part 3", from Sick Boi, was the London Music Video Awards' (LMVA) choice for Music Video of the Month in December 2023. It also won Best Music Video, Best Director, and Best Concept, and was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Narrative at the LMVAs 2024 competition. And, the album won Best Music Video, Best Director Music Video, and an Honourable Mention for Best Cinematography at the 2024 International Music Video Awards, and won Best Music Video in 2024 at the ÉCU The European Independent Film Festival. It was also chosen for the British Arrows Y24 Shortlist in the categories of Music Video Director and Music Video Producer. "Money Game Part 3" was written, composed, arranged, and performed by Ren, and the video, a one-shot, was produced by Connor Hunnisett, Samuel Perry-Falvey & Amy Ellery. and directed by Ren Gill and Samuel Perry-Falvey. Ren and Samuel met when they were teenagers and have been working together professionally for quite some time. Ren chose to work with him when creating some of his earliest videos.
Return to the stage
Ren appeared centre stage at the 2024 Secret Garden Party with a two-part, two-hour show called "Asylum". Produced and created by Ren Gill & Secret Garden Party, his first solo show in five years included collaborations with Chinchilla, Eden Nash and Romain Axisa, theatrical performances, and live strings. Just like the Sick Boi album, it showcased the asylum Ren experienced as he looked for answers from the healthcare system as to why he was ill. Also showcased was the asylum (safe haven) that others have found because of Ren and his music.
2025 During February 2025, Ren made an appearance in Fire in the Booth on YouTube, hosted by Charlie Sloth.
During New York Fashion Week 2025, Ren, along with other celebrities, doctors, researchers, and Lyme disease advocates, walked the runway for Project Lab Coat, a production by Runway 7. The three largest US based Lyme organisations, Project Lyme, the Global Lyme Alliance, and the LymeLight Foundation, joined forces with Runway 7 for the event. Funds raised will go towards increasing awareness of Lyme disease, advocacy, research, and treatment.