Gibson is the second son of barrister Charles Anthony Warneford Gibson KC (born 1960),[4] and Mary Ann Frances née Morgan. His mother is the eldest daughter of Sir John Morgan KCMG and the Hon. Fionn O'Neill, who was the only daughter of British socialite Ann née Charteris's[5] first marriage to the Anglo-Irish aristocrat and financier Shane, 3rd Baron O'Neill (Charteris's second marriage was to Viscount Rothermere and her third and final was to James Bond creator Ian Fleming).[5]
Aged 16, Gibson joined an a cappella group at the London studio of Brian Eno, who was his family's neighbour at the time.[2][7][8] In 2014, he collaborated as co-producer and songwriter with Eno and Karl Hyde on their two project albums Someday World and High Life (songwriter only). Also in 2014, Gibson participated in that year's Red Bull Music Academy, held in Tokyo, Japan.[9]
In June 2018, George Ezra's song "Shotgun", co-written by Gibson, reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart,[10] remaining in the top 3 for 12 consecutive weeks from 22 June[11] to 7 September.[12] Later, in the same year, Gibson was also credited with co-writing "Solo" by Clean Bandit featuring Demi Lovato, and gained further success with Rita Ora's song "Let You Love Me".[13] Gibson is credited with writing and/or producing 12 of 15 of Ed Sheeran's 2019 No.6 Collaborations Project, with credited songs featuring for a total of 14 weeks at No. 1 in the charts.[13]
Gibson won Producer of the Year at the Brit Awards 2020.[14] He is the youngest producer to ever win the title. The win was voted for by a group of industry-wide A&R executives and was then selected by the Music Producers' Guild.[15][16]
Actual Life and other various projects
In 2019, Gibson began a project titled Actual Life, in which he collects samples from various sources – such as voice memos, clips from social media, and music by other artists – and incorporates them into original tracks.[17] Gibson released the first of these albums, titled Actual Life (April 14 – December 17 2020), in April 2021, which he described as a "collaborative diary" reflecting his life experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.[18] He released a follow-up, Actual Life 2 (February 2 – October 15 2021), later that year in November.[19][20]
In July 2022, Gibson performed a set for Boiler Room in London, the third most-watched set on Boiler Room's YouTube Channel.[21] The same week, he released the single "Turn On the Lights again.." with Swedish House Mafia, which samples Future's 2012 single "Turn On the Lights".[22][23][24]
Gibson's third solo studio album, Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2022), was released on 28 October 2022.[26] It was preceded by five singles: "Danielle (Smile on My Face)", "Bleu (Better with Time)", "Kammy (Like I Do)", "Delilah (Pull Me Out of This)" and "Clara (The Night Is Dark)".
Gibson's debut tour, which ran between October 2022 and February 2023 stopped in Europe, America,[27] New Zealand and Australia.[28] Prior to this tour, he had done sporadic pop-up shows and festivals starting in late 2021,[29] such as the above-mentioned Boiler Room and going B2B with Swedish House Mafia.[30]
In a TikTok stitch on 31 January 2023 with user "@maddysb99", Gibson confirmed that the moniker Fred again.. stemmed from a line in the 2002 film Scooby-Doo where the character of Fred Jones, in the voice of Daphne Blake, says "I'm Fred again!" following a supernatural body swap scene.[31]
On 4 January 2023, Gibson and Skrillex released their collaboration "Rumble" featuring Flowdan.[32] Following this, Fred, Skrillex, and Four Tet played three more shows from 5–7 January across different London venues.[33]
On 18 February 2023, Gibson played at a sold-out Skrillex show alongside Four Tet at New York City's Madison Square Garden. Having announced the performance in the same week as the show, the trio played a warmup set in Times Square the day before.[34]
On 24 April 2023, he, alongside Skrillex and Four Tet, played the final set of Coachella after being listed on the lineup as "TBA", a last-minute addition following the departure of Frank Ocean.[36]
