Ren

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

Ren and the Skinner Brothers' song "So the Story Goes" was number 95 on the 23 October 2025 Official Singles Downloads Chart. Their EP Sick Sick Soul - Vol 1 reached number 5 on the 27 November 2025 Official Album Downloads Chart.

2026–present

In May 2026 Ren played 5 sold out shows with The Big Push in the O2 Academy Glasgow, O2 Academy Brixton, O2 Academy Bristol, O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester and Chalk in Brighton.

Solo festival appearances:

Boardmasters Festival: August 5–9, 2026 in Newquay, UK

Boomtown Fair: August 12–16, 2026 in Winchester (Matterley Basin), UK

All Points East Festival: August 28–29, 2026 at Victoria Park in London, UK (with guest appearance of Chinchilla for "Chalk Outlines")

What started out as a vague project idea during the filming of the video for "Baggage" 2024, ended up becoming a 15 track album. It was produced in the course of two shut-ins in 2025 at Webby's residence in Connecticut, USA. Released independently on 22 July 2026. "Asylum, The Documentary" grants a look behind the scenes.

Personal life

Ren studied music at Bath Spa University's Newton Park Campus and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours degree in Commercial Music.

Fundraiser for the Beaumaris RNLI in Anglesey

Ren started a fundraiser to benefit the RNLI crews on Anglesey due to the organisation helping search for Hughes. He let his fans know about the volunteer organisation. They responded, reaching the initial £5,000 target in one day, and they continued to donate. On 27 June 2023, Ren presented a £21,000 cheque to the RNLI team on Beaumaris.

Health issues

Ren has Lyme disease, which went undiagnosed for many years, leaving him with ongoing health problems. 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.

His Lyme disease was misdiagnosed as bipolar disorder, because initially his symptoms would come and go. He was also misdiagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and depression. He was given numerous medications. When conventional treatments didn't work, he tried numerous supplements and turned to alternative health practitioners and spiritual healing practices. As a result, he developed stress-induced psychosis and PTSD.

He was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease after going to Brussels to have testing done by a specialist in chronic fatigue syndrome in October 2015. He went to the US to receive an experimental treatment for Lyme disease using stem cells. His first treatment was in 2016, and his second in March 2017. The treatment helped him to regain some of his health, but he still fatigued easily and had ongoing autoimmune issues, brain damage, and PTSD.

In January 2023, Ren went to Canada to receive treatment for his remaining symptoms in hopes of a full recovery. The first six months of treatment included a minor surgery, daily IVs, and supportive treatments, followed by further testing and treatments. The initial results gave reason to hope for a symptom free life, but the treatments were going to take much longer than they had initially expected. They had to try a variety of medications to be able to find which would work best for Ren. In October 2023, Ren had to start an additional specialised medical treatment plan for the Lyme disease co-infection Bartonella. By June 2024, many of his symptoms had gone into remission, and Ren returned to the U.K in July 2024.

After returning home, several stress inducing events caused him to relapse, and his symptoms returned. He said his health had rapidly declined over the past few weeks, and he would be returning to Canada for further treatment at the end of October. Later that September, Ren was hospitalised "due to complications with his autoimmunity." His team of friends managed his social media accounts while he was in A&E and as he rested and recovered at home.

Discography

Ren has collaborated with several artists, such as Sam Tompkins, Chinchilla, Prof, The Skinner Brothers, Chris Webby, Token, Viktus, and Knox Hill.