Henry Smithson (born 13 September 1978), best known by his stage name Riton ( ), is an English

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

DJ and producer from

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

Biography

Smithson was born in

. The name ''Riton'' is French slang for "Henry". He graduated from the

University of Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick un ...

. After finishing university, Smithson started the Switch Recordings label, upon which he released his first two 12" singles. He began DJing at Newcastle's "Shindig" nightclub. There, he was discovered by Mark Rae and signed to Grand Central Records

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

. Like Rae, he then worked in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

's Fat City Records label/distribution/retail outlet. His first release on Grand Central, the song "Communicated", featured on the

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

'' Central Heating 2'' (2000) and was followed by his mostly instrumental debut album, ''Beats du Jour'' (2001). Riton's second album, ''Homies And Homos'' (2004) was a much more vocal affair, and featured amongst others, Lee Jones of Howdi and Luca Santucci. It includes a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...

's song " Killing an Arab". In 2005, Riton and Ben Rymer formed the Gucci Sound System. The pair have a monthly residency at the 333 Club in London and have their own

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

named Druzzi's Baltimore Rave Club at Nightmoves on

Shoreditch High Street Shoreditch High Street is the old main street of Shoreditch, London. It is part of the A10 road and connects Norton Folgate to the south with Kingsland Road to the north. It constitutes a segment of the Roman Ermine Street, which ran direct ...

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

. Guests have included Headman,

Erol Alkan Erol Alkan (born 30 May 1974) is an English DJ and Record producer, producer of Turkish Cypriot descent. He grew up in Archway in North London. Career DJ and club promoter In 1993, Erol Alkan started DJing in various Indie (music), indie n ...

, 2 Many DJs, The Rapture,

Richard X Richard Philips, better known by his stage name Richard X, is a British songwriter and music producer. Gaining attention as a pioneer of the bootleg craze, Richard X has earned success as a producer and remixer. He has helmed hit singles for art ...

Mylo Myles MacInnes (born 10 May 1978), better known by his stage name Mylo, is a Scottish electronic musician and record producer. His 2004 album '' Destroy Rock & Roll'' peaked at number 26 on the UK Albums Chart. He is best known for his 2005 si ...

and

FC Kahuna FC Kahuna (also known as FC/Kahuna) was a British DJ and electronic music production duo, consisting of Jon Nowell and Daniel Ormondroyd. The group released only one album, '' Machine Says Yes'', in the spring of 2002. It had a number of sin ...

. Since the demise of Grand Central Records in 2006, Riton has released 12" singles on several European labels, including Linxfarren in the UK. In late 2006, it was announced in the Belgian magazine '' HUMO'' that David and Stephen Dewaele from

Soulwax Soulwax are a Belgian electronic band and DJ/production collective from Ghent, who formed in 1995. Centred around brothers David and Stephen Dewaele, other current members include Igor and Laima Cavalera, and Stefaan Van Leuven. The group first ...

had formed a

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electron ...

band with Riton called . An album was expected late 2007, but to date there has been no further information on the project. Instead, Riton released an album under the pseudonym on the label

Modular Records Modular Recordings (known simply as Modular) was an Australian record label founded in 1998 by Steve Pavlovic that by 2015 was owned by Universal Music Australia. It has released music from local artists such as Eskimo Joe, Ben Lee, The Ava ...

in July 2008. In 2010, he launched a project called "" with

DJ Mehdi Mehdi Favéris-Essadi (20 January 1977 – 13 September 2011), better known by his stage name DJ Mehdi, was a French-Tunisian hip hop and house music producer and DJ. He was signed to the label Ed Banger Records, founded by his friend Pedro W ...

. Riton was to release new music in November 2011 ('Dark Place' and 'A.C.P) and was also working on music for his album, collaborating with artists and producers such as Surkin and

AlunaGeorge AlunaGeorge are an English electronic music duo from London, consisting of singer-songwriter Aluna Francis and producer George Reid. Since 2020, the duo has been on indefinite hiatus, allowing both members to pursue solo projects. Career 2009 ...

due for release in summer 2012. At the start of 2016, Riton hit chart success with the track "Rinse & Repeat"; the track featured vocals from Kah-Lo. The track was released via Riton's own Riton Time record label. He then released a collaborative album, ''Foreign Ororo'' with Kah-Lo, in October 2018 producing fan-favourite hits including GRAMMY nominated 'Rinse & Repeat', 'Fake ID', 'Up & Down' and 'Ginger' – anthems that received a wealth of radio support from tastemakers around the world including the likes of Annie Mac at BBC Radio 1. He also co-produced on the

Dua Lipa Dua Lipa ( ; born22 August 1995) is an English and Albanian singer, songwriter and actress. List of awards and nominations received by Dua Lipa, Her accolades include seven Brit Awards and three Grammy Awards. Lipa worked as a model before v ...

and Silk City single 'Electricity', winning a Grammy for "Best Dance Recording". In 2021, the MK remix of Nightcrawlers' "Push the Feeling On" was sampled by Riton, to record a track called "Friday". Credited to Riton X Nightcrawlers featuring Mufasa and Hypeman, the record featured a couple of social media stars and was issued by Sony's Ministry of Sound Recordings. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 60 on 22 January 2021 and eventually reached the top 5 on the Official Chart Company's chart of 5 to 11 March 2021. In November, his Gucci Soundsystem project with Ben Rymer teamed up with

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp (band), Pulp, he became a reluctant figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Cocker h ...

to release the climate change-inspired "Let's Stick Around", which came with a video filmed in Glasgow around the time of the COP26 conference.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Production credits

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Riton Living people 1978 births 20th-century English male musicians 21st-century English male musicians Alumni of Newcastle University English club DJs Electroclash English DJs English electronic musicians English record producers English founders Krautrock Modular Recordings artists Musicians from London Musicians from Manchester Musicians from Newcastle upon Tyne English electronic dance music DJs Because Music artists