John Gibbons

Irishman John Gibbons launched his professional path spinning records on the radio before shifting into dance music production, where he achieved major success via the 2016 single "Would I Lie to You," an upbeat reinterpretation of the 1992 Charles & Eddie classic. Growing up during the 1990s, he started performing as a DJ at age 15 and quickly established a reputation across Dublin's emerging club circuit as well as on the Irish pirate stations Kiss and Nova. He later advanced into commercial broadcasting, securing a long-running position at the popular Dublin outlet Spin 103.8 while simultaneously developing an international touring schedule behind the decks.

Assessing his prospects and concluding that depending exclusively on live performances would prove unsustainable, Gibbons redirected his energies toward studio work in hopes of connecting with a broader worldwide audience. His initial releases appeared in 2007, followed the next year by a collaboration with fellow Irishman Scimon Tist (né Colin Hanley) on the proper debut single "Beautiful Filth," which reached number 22 on the Irish singles chart. In 2010 he founded his own digital imprint, Club Educate, issuing additional tracks through it while steadily refining his craft; he also placed material on Nervous ("Anello," with DJ Mog), Full Tilt ("1984"), and Get Down ("Loud out There"), and delivered remixes for Professor Green, Sander van Doorn, and Mark Ronson.

The year 2015 brought a publishing agreement with the London-based Good Soldier Songs, whose roster includes Biffy Clyro, Birdy, the 1975, and Gavin James—an astute step that elevated him into the upper tier. That same year's solo outing "Your Love" marked his first genuine breakthrough, earning substantial airplay across the U.K. and Ireland, appearing in an episode of the hit U.S. series Pretty Little Liars, and accumulating more than a million streams. For the 2016 successor, Gibbons elected to draw from one of his personal favorites, the smooth 1992 pop-R&B chart-topper "Would I Lie to You" by Charles & Eddie. Teaming with Nick Bennett and Wez Clarke—the team responsible for work by Sigala, Gorgon City, and Sam Smith—he produced a high-energy electro-house rendition that surpassed its predecessor, surpassing five million streams.