Aussie DJ Cyril opens up on rise to international fame following smash house hit Stumblin’In

The Aussie earned $400 a week while living in a sketchy share house, but now the world is talking about him for one other major reason.

Aussie music producer to the stars, Cyril. Picture: Supplied

“You’re the one that nicked my song!”

Suzi Quatro was joking. But Aussie music sensation Cyril was momentarily shocked by her mock accusation when they met in Perth during her March tour.

The 27-year-old producer and DJ based in Darwin was already on his way to becoming Australia’s biggest viral star of 2024 when he came face-to-face with the rock icon.

His house music remake of the 1979 smash hit Stumblin’ In featuring Quatro with Smokie singer Chris Norman had exploded on TikTok and then followed the same stratospheric rise when it jumped over to Spotify; the song now has more than 300 million streams on that one platform.

So Quatro would make some nice coin from this young Aussie’s reinvention of her track via his sampling of the track.

That meeting came just a couple of days after he’d connected with American heavy metal band Disturb in Adelaide. His remix of their 2015 remake of the 1965 Simon and Garfunkel classic The Sound of Silence was also spinning dreams and realising his dream of being a hit house music producer and artist.

Cyril is taking on the world after coming from a town of just 100 people in central west NSW

“So that was the start of travelling a lot and meeting the people who have made my career what it is,” he said from Amsterdam.

Cyril Riley, as is he is known on his now well-worn passport, credits growing up in a tiny town in the central west of NSW on a diet of country and rock classics for unlocking the formula that would make him one of the biggest hatmakers of 2024.

“I grew up in a town of 100 people and we didn’t listen to pop, we listened to old music like Suzi Quatro, Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, John Mellencamp, all these really good artists from the 60s to the 90s,” Riley said.

“When I started producing and fell in love with house music, I still listened to all that old music because I loved it, so I wanted to combine the two. With Stumblin’ In, that was such an easy project because I felt like I was in the right headspace for it and it felt so nostalgic for me because I loved this song.”

Before Riley got in the right headspace, he took some wrong detours on his quest to do music.

Hustling for DJ jobs anywhere he could find them and learning how to produce music on the trusty laptop that went everywhere with him, he found himself in Orange.

The Aussie music producer started out just earning $400 a week as an apprentice baker.

Earning $400 a week as an apprentice baker and DJ, the then 19-year-old ended up living in a share house that was also a drug den. He was soon introduced to drugs and descended into a spiral of addiction an homelessness, waking up on park benches after suffering a blackout.

“I found myself pretty depressed and just ended up on a really bad path for about two years; I was staying up for two weeks straight without sleep,” Riley said.

“I couldn’t charge my laptop, couldn’t afford to get home to my hometown of Euabalong.”

He finally made his way back home, finished his high school certificate while working on a farm and then secured an Indigenous scholarship to study at Charles Darwin University in Darwin.

“I wanted to get as far away from anything that could (tempt) me. I still drink alcohol and I vape but I don’t do bad drugs,” he said.

“I realised DJing and the industry wasn’t the problem, I was the problem, the environment I was in was the problem.”

His house music remake of the 1979 smash hit Stumblin’ now has more than 300 million streams on Spotify.

A driven self-starter, he was managing clubs, DJing, proving to be an astute marketer, so he dropped out and dedicated himself to making music.

His idea was simple. Trawl through Spotify to find the old stuff he loved and turn it into new stuff. Anyone who has fallen down the online rabbit hole of “reaction videos” is well aware discovering retro hits from revered heritage artists is a thing for Zoomers.

He started playing with “classics” from Celine Dion’s Power of Love, Bryan Adams’ Summer of 69 and Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler and uploading his house music reimaginings, while wearing his signature bucket hat and sipping from his Harry Potter goblet, on TikTok. And they went nuts.

“I have a certain sound so I knew what I wanted these songs to sound like – melodic house in a commercial, cool Cyril way,” he said.

“With Stumblin’ In, the vocals were kind of mellow and really pretty so I wanted my version to sound like floating on water.”

The prolific creator has two new songs out, enlisting Dean Lewis to sing on a 2024 version of Crowded House’s Fall At Your Feet and a reworking of Spandau Ballet’s 1983 global smash True, with local artist Kita Alexander.

While a broken ankle has slowed down his touring plans for now, Riley said he is looking down the barrel of a jam-packed 12 months chasing his success around the world as his house music remakes propel him towards one billion streams and a spot on every electronic dance music festival in the world.

Superstars are sliding into his DMs, keen to work with the Aussie hit maker, and while he’s not revealing who just yet, expect some future releases featuring household names.

“Five years ago if you told me I’d be working with Dean Lewis or Kita, I would have said ‘get out of here!’ Being able to work with people whose music have made me feel something, that’s what I wanted to accomplish when I started out as a producer.”

AUSSIE PRODUCERS, DJS THE NEW GLOBAL ROCK STARS

“We are killing it, and I’m not talking about me, I’m talking about Dom Dolla, Timmy Trumpet, Fisher. Some of our other good ones are Peking Duk, Will Sparks, Flume, Luude,” Cyril said.

“I see these guys at every festival (overseas). It’s insane. Australian musicians kill it because of the work ethic compared to Europe where they actually have three to four day work weeks.

“The Europeans always ask the Australians ‘When do you sleep?’ The other thing about us is we are every energetic people and being a performer, that’s what you need.”

THE AUSSIE HIT PARADE

Dom Dolla slayed at the seminal Tomorrowland festival in Belgium this year.

Dom Dolla – more than one billion streams. Absolutely slayed the seminal Tomorrowland festival in Belgium last month and heads home for his biggest Australian tour in November and December.

DJ Fisher is headlining all of the best New Year’s Eve festivals in Australia.

Fisher – more than two billion Spotify streams. The DJ is a global phenomenon and will be headlining all of the best New Year’s Eve festivals back home including Lost paradise and Beyond the Valley.

Australian artist and DJ Timmy Trumpet has more than three billion Spotify streams.

Timmy Trumpet – more than three billion Spotify streams. The Aussie DJ and live instrumentalist is one of the most sought-after collaborators on the planet right now and a global festival king.

Originally published as Aussie DJ Cyril opens up on rise to international fame following smash house hit Stumblin’In