Peyton’s long musical road to releasing his eponymous self-titled debut album starts in a small town in North Carolina.
Christopher Peyton was born to a travelling evangelist and preacher, Wesley Peyton, and into a life much less ordinary. Peyton Jr grew up in an incredible environment, a young boy with a renowned clerical father, every facet of his life lived to the letter of the Lord. Growing up in the Christian fundamentalist Pentecostal church, it would have been easy for Peyton to have followed in his father’s footsteps and for the first part of his life Peyton lived a very respectful existence, singing in his father’s church – a life of gospel choirs, cassocks and happy clapping hallelujahs!
As part of his studies Peyton had the option of taking a semester out and coming to the UK where he found himself at Cambridge. This was a turning point in his life and Peyton engrossed himself in his studies of English Literature, and as his interest grew he found his Christian beliefs replaced by an understanding of literature and the study of humanism.
Despite Peyton setting up his fairly successful catering and events outfit 2SH (2 Skinny Homos) with his partner, his real passion was music. The first project was Hexdragon – a promising record deal on Nellee Hooper’s label Meanwhile, which introduced Peyton to the UK music industry as an artist in his own right. When the project ended up falling through, due to label/producer politics, Peyton was quickly signed up by agents and found himself with bit-part work in TV, films, video shoots and modelling.
Not long after, though, Peyton’s music career began to take off after he caught the attention of Hed Kandi’s Mark Doyle with his hit single A Higher Place, which blew up on dance floors across the world. Suddenly he was on TV with giant posters on buildings and subways, his catering business 2SH was flourishing (doing parties for designers Alice Temperley and Oswald Boateng, among many others), and he had begun work on his debut album with legendary producer Eric Kupper.
The self-titled album is a collection of uplifting songs that really tell a story; every track breathes layer upon layer of depth, from deep gospel inspired harmonies of tracks such as I’ll Rise, to the stomping anthem A Higher Place. I’ll Rise is based on the beautiful poem And Still I Rise by the celebrated African-American poet and writer Maya Angelou, and is a pure example of Peyton staying close to his roots.
Since his debut album, the man himself has produced and released several astonishing hit singles, showcasing an impressive list of collaborators. Without slowing down, the music industry has seen celebrated Peyton singles such as New Day (ft. ATFC), I Just Want To Be Lonely (ft. Disco Darlings), You Can’t Hide From Yourself (ft. Paul Gardner), Love Is The Answer (ft. Funk Fanatics), Promised Land (ft. Collective) and the two more recent tracks titled Ur The Best Thing (ft. Wayne G) and Love So Strong (ft. John LePage & Paul Goodyear).
Presently on tour in Australia, Peyton hasn’t ceased to release remarkable records such as his current #1 track on Gaydar Radio’s Listener’s Choice Chart titled Let It Go featuring Carlos Gallardo. Equally so How To Love, featuring the Russian superstar duo DJ Kolya & Matuya, has received ravishing reviews.
It seems that this talented producer has only just started, despite his long and enriching musical background, and we should all keep a keen eye on him as he’s bound to break the boundaries.
