childhood

riley st. cloud was born in the middle of a thunderstorm, a cute little tidbit he tells people now with a quick of his lips and a tiny shrug. (most people assume it's the meaning behind his stage name - honestly, he just couldn't think of anything as memorable as his last name.) his parents, jordanna lewis-matthews (a chiropractor) and stone st. cloud (a novelist, lauded as "london's answer to stephen king.") couldn't have gotten a child as easy as riley, much needed after the preciousness of his older sibling (xxxxxxxxxx - yes, that xxxxxxxxx, the one and only). a quiet child even from birth, riley loved to sit at the kitchen table and scribble through his coloring books while his father made dinner, or sit on his mother's lap while she read him his father's novels (at least the ones that wouldn't give him nightmares). he was always well able to occupy himself, never needed much extra attention besides the usual love and affection all children need.

he had a general love of anything artistic from the start, loving art and music more than he ever liked to do math or learn about how the earth spun. his parents never pushed him in one direction or another, content to just let their youngest figure himself out as he went - unlike xxxxxxxxxx, who wanted to blaze a fiery path through everyone's life, and has always seemed to be destined to a life of fame and glory. and that was fine as well, riley was always his sibling's biggest fan, but it just wasn't what riley wanted to pursue in life.

riley was twelve when he decided he wanted to try something out of his comfort zone. due to xxxxxxxxxx's slowly growing fame and their encouragement - he acted in his first tv film at thirteen, followed with two short films, while also putting out his very first album. none of his efforts really panned out to anything, and it wasn't long before riley realized it was not something he wanted to do for his entire life. he decided to return to focusing on just school, and it wasn't until he had graduated from high school that he decided to try music again.

adulthood

music was one of the things riley had always had an interest in, even despite the flop his first lp was considered at. despite not achieving any kind of fame, riley had loved the process - he liked making music, putting words to music, making music to match lyrics; the fame was a side product that he could do without, honestly. in 2014, he released his third album - and everything exploded from there.

the ep was released under "saint cloud" in an effort to distance himself from his sibling, though it didn't work when they spent the first release date tweeting multiple links to his music, much to his embarrassment. but, much to riley's surprise, he gained fans. actually real fans, that liked him separately from his sibling, who squirrled out his old films to watch over and make embarrassing gifs off, who stormed his facebook and skyrocketed his twitter follower count. it was a small fanbase, but a loyal one, and while riley still never became the kind of celebrity his sibling was - it was enough for him.

now riley's on an actual tour with people actually paying money to watch him sing. it's insane, he feels like he's going insane, it's amazing.