Inside Fred Again..’s Famous British Aristocrat Family

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There’s no doubt that Fred Again.. has serious star power (who else could turn Madison Square Garden into a five-hour rave?), but the British DJ’s roots may come as a serious surprise.

Most people know Fred Again (or FRED, or Fred again..) as the multi-talented DJ, producer, singer, and songwriter who’s taking the world by storm metaphorically (and New York City literally, as last week’s antics with Four Tet and Skrillex proved). And while he most certainly is all those things, the 29-year-old was also born as Frederick John Philip Gibson into a powerful British aristocratic family.

Gibson is the son of King’s Counsel barrister Charles Anthony Warneford Gibson and Mary Ann Frances Morgan. Quick British history lesson: A King’s Counsel is typically a senior trial lawyer appointed by the monarch to be the Crown’s counsel in law. This appointment is an office that is recognized by courts across the country. In layman’s terms? The King’s Counsel is a very powerful guy of noble rank with a lot of connections.

But that’s not where Gibson’s hereditary connections stop: He’s also the great-grandson of Shane O’Neill, 3rd Baron O’Neill, a member of the aristocracy and British Army officer who was killed in action in Italy during WWII. Gibson’s great-grandmother, Ann Fleming, was a British socialite with a storied history, first marrying Lord O’Neill, then Lord Rothermere, and finally James Bond author Ian Fleming. 

All this is to say that based on familial history, Gibson himself is a member of the British peerage. Family connections aside (or really, because of them), Gibson also had access to high-power musical experiences growing up. When he was sixteen years old, Gibson was invited by a family friend to join a cappella rehearsal at a neighbor’s studio. That neighbor was the legendary Brian Eno, a ground-breaking musician, composer, record producer, and visual artist.

Eno quickly became a mentor to the young Gibson (with some corners of the Internet speculating that the ties go deeper and that Eno is, in fact, Gibson’s godfather). Regardless of whether the two are bound by blood or water, Eno invited Gibson to co-produce his two 2014 collaboration albums with Underworld’s Karl Hyde. Gibson was only eighteen. 

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From there, the rest is history: Gibson produced many major UK artist tracks such as ‘Shotgun’ by George Ezra, ‘After The Afterparty’ by Charli XCX, and the entirety of Ed Sheeran’s ‘No. 6 Collaborations Project’ EP, to name a few, before releasing his solo ‘Actual Life’ series beginning in 2021. He’s been climbing toward international stardom ever since.

And while there’s no doubt that Gibson is majorly talented, some may wonder if his family connections were able to help him launch his career. Either way, we’re thankful the world brought Fred Again.. to us.

Check out Exron’s picks of their vinyl albums Actual Life 3 album and Quest for Fire for your collection.