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

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

DJ and producer from

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

Early life and education

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 UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick univer ...

Career

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 Grand Central Records was an independent record label based in the Northern Quarter of Manchester, England. It was started in 1995 by DJ Mark Rae (who, along with Steve Christian makes up the duo Rae & Christian). Rae started out working as ...

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- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

. Like Rae, he then worked in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

'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 or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

Central Heating 2 Central Heating 2 (also known as Central Heating Vol. 2) is the fourth compilation from Grand Central Records. The two disc album was originally released on 17 April 2000 and re-released with alternative Cover art, sleeve art on 12 January 2004. ...

'' (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 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...

'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 (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

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 directly ...

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

. Guests have included Headman,

Erol Alkan Erol Alkan (born 30 May 1974) is an English DJ and 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 nightclubs in London. His fir ...

2 Many DJs Soulwax are an electronic band from Ghent, Belgium. Centred around brothers David and Stephen Dewaele, other current members include Igor Cavalera and Stefaan Van Leuven. They were first noticed after the release of their album ''Much Against Eve ...

, 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 arti ...

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 in 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 singl ...

. 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 ''HUMO'' is a popular Dutch-language Belgian weekly radio and television supermarket tabloid. History and profile ''Humoradio'' (meaning a portmanteau of 'humor' and 'radio' in English) was first published in 1936 as a Dutch-language counterpar ...

'' that David and Stephen Dewaele from

Soulwax Soulwax are an electronic band from Ghent, Belgium. Centred around brothers David and Stephen Dewaele, other current members include Igor Cavalera and Stefaan Van Leuven. They were first noticed after the release of their album ''Much Against Eve ...

had formed a

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...

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) is an Australian record label founded in 1998 by Steve Pavlovic that is currently owned by Universal Music Australia. It has released music from local artists such as Eskimo Joe, Ben Lee, The Avala ...

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 hip hop and house music producer and DJ. He was signed to the label Ed Banger Records, founded by his friend Pedro Winter, in ...

. 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. Career 2009: Formation The duo first met in June 2009, when Reid remixed Francis' band My Toys Like Me's trac ...

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 Faridah Seriki, known professionally as Kah-Lo is a Nigerian singer-songwriter, best known for her song ‘Fasta’ and for her work on ' Rinse and Repeat' with British DJ, Riton. The track was nominated for Best Dance Recording at the 59th Gram ...

. 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 ( , ; born ) is an English and Albanian singer and songwriter. Possessing a mezzo-soprano vocal range, she is known for her signature disco- pop sound. Lipa has received numerous accolades, including six Brit Awards, three Gramm ...

and Silk City single ‘Electricity’, a smash that went on to win the GRAMMY for ‘Best Dance Recording’ proving his ability to countlessly reinvent himself in an ever-growing crowded market. 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 Rhymer teamed up with

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

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 musicians 21st-century English musicians Alumni of Newcastle University Club DJs Electroclash English DJs English electronic musicians English record producers Founders Krautrock Modular Recordings artists Musicians from London Musicians from Manchester Musicians from Newcastle upon Tyne Electronic dance music DJs Because Music artists