Chet Faker Biography

Biography

Nicholas James Murphy, known professionally as Chet Faker, is an Australian singer and songwriter. As Chet Faker, he issued an extended play titled “Thinking In Textures” in 2012. He also signed to Downtown Records in the United States. In October of the same year, he won Breakthrough Artist of the Year, and Thinking in Textures won Best Independent Single/EP at the Australian Independent Records Awards. He also won Best Independent Release at the Rolling Stone Australia Awards in 2012.

Career

Although he is also known as Nick Murphy, he began releasing music as Chet Faker in 2011. This was because people constantly came to his shows thinking he was already an established musician named Nick Murphy. The new name paged homage to Chet Baker.

He said, “I listened to a lot of jazz, and I was a big fan of … the way he sang, when he moved into mainstream singing. He had this really fragile vocal style—this really, broken, close-up and intimate style. The name is kind of just an ode to Chet Baker and the mood of music he used to play—something I would like to at least pay homage to in my own music.” He has been inspired by Bob Dylan, his mother’s Motown albums, and his father’s Ibiza CDs.

Faker gained prominence after his cover of Blackstreet’s “No Diggity” went viral online. In May 2011, the cover reached number one on the Hypemachine chart. His debut EP gained positive reviews and became popular among fans. The EP’s second single, “I’m Into You,” was featured at number 24 on Triple J’s Hottest 100 of 2012. His feature on “Fool of Me” by Say Lou Lou was named Best New Track by Pitchfork in May 2013.

He returned to using Nick Murphy in 2016 and later revived Chet Faker in 2020. He revived the Chet Faker social media accounts and released the song “Low.” It was his first release via BMG Australia & New Zealand.