Today we’d like to introduce you to Sidney Riley
Hi Sidney, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Abu Dhabi originally, and from there my family and I moved to Maryland in the States where my mother’s family resided. My love for the arts began at age 9 when I first discovered the piano while tagging along my older sister’s piano lesson, and it evolved into a passion once I discovered my voice as a cast member on the British children’s TV show *Children’s Choice*.
As soon as I entered high school, I joined the choir, formed an a cappella group, and started writing my own original music. After developing a reputation within my high school as a kid who sings and write songs, I got the opportunity to perform at The Kennedy Center Honors alongside the Eastern High School choir alongside Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, where Quincy Jones was the honoree. Both iconic artists have been an inspiration ever since.
Shortly after, I faced a life-threatening battle with Meningoencephalitis, leaving me paralyzed from the neck down. Defying the odds, I made a full recovery over the following months, and a lot of the credit stems from my evolved passion for music. Music played a crucial role in my recovery, motivating me through difficult times and giving me a sense of purpose in a way like nothing else or no one else could. After high school, I fully recovered and moved to New York City to continue to pursue my passion. After a few years performing, I decided to focus on songwriting, moved back closer to Maryland in Washington DC, and signed my first publishing deal. After having written dozens of songs for television and other licensing opportunities, including writing songs for Christmas Movies on the Lifetime channel, and cowriting songs for DC based artists, I decided to move to Los Angeles to expand my career further, and I have been here for the last 3 years and LOVE LA!
Today, I focus on Sidney Riley the artist and songwriter, cowriting for artists from major acts to up and coming artists and songwriters, and cowriting and performing my own releases. I have two exciting upcoming releases: an a cappella project titled “Sidney Riley Presents: Sidney Bizarre: Overdressed & Underqualified,” entirely written, produced, and performed by me under the alias ‘Sidney Bizarre,’ and a new band called “SILVERADOS.” Both projects promise fresh music. The release date for my next song is going to be November 15th.
My future plans also include my work on the theme song for the upcoming Television series “Keep Em Up,” a drama blending elements of “Rocky” and “Cheers.” The song, also titled “Keep Em Up,” is cowritten, produced, and performed by me. The “Keep Em Up” original series theme song is out now, available for streaming and download, with the series set to debut on Amazon Prime in the coming months. In addition, I’ve continued writing dozens of songs for television and other licensing opportunities, as well as songs for national and international major label recording artists. More to come!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Definitely not, especially the life-threatening battle with Meningoencephalitis leaving me paralyzed from the neck down. Other than the near death experience, a lot of the struggles dealt with pushing through the bullshit of unserious people to actively seek out talented, likeminded people, especially people who were better than me at something so I could learn as much as I possibly could.
That, and the sea of No’s that come with this industry as well, and acknowledging the difference between criticism and constructive criticism, if someone is just an asshole or if someone actually has a good point. If the criticism is constructive, I am all here for it because I love taking genuine constructive criticism and applying it as I continue moving forward and improving. Gaining perspective and checking your ego is something I am all about as well.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I initially specialized in top line, melody driven songwriting, and have evolved from there to include instrumentation/composition. I am most known for being a songwriter, and second as an artist after I got some great feedback for my song “Exposure.” So far, I am most proud of the connection people had to that song, the song “It’s Always Been You” that I wrote for my partner and surprised her with at our wedding, and for writing the theme song for Keep Em Up television series. I am really looking forward to the upcoming releases with my band SILVERADOS because I am so proud of what my bandmate Lucas and I have accomplished together creatively, and I am also super excited for the pending feedback for my upcoming Sidney Bizarre project because it is so out of the box and different than anything I have ever done that I don’t think people will ever expect it or see it coming.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Stay super proactive…look for ways to be creative, and be nice to yourself along the way. Don’t hold back or define yourself to being just one thing because we humans are way more complex than we allow ourselves to be. We all are creative in our own way, and I found that exploring creativity can be a gateway to rediscovering and redefining yourself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.iamsidneyriley.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamsidneyriley
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamsidneyriley
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpMPGsAOTvtwtmk6m590exQ
