Tommy Paxton-Beesley (born 1991), also known as River Tiber, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. His Grammy award-winning contributions include Kendrick LamarâÂÂs Savior and KaytranadaâÂÂs Freefall, plus Grammy nominations for songwriting and production of global hits by Drake (No TellinâÂÂ), Sza (Broken Clocks), Travis Scott (Astrothunder), James Blake (I Keep Calling), Giveon (Like I Want You), Kendrick Lamar (Savior), Charlotte Day Wilson (Cyan Blue), and Kaytranada (Hold On).
Tommy Paxton-Beesley launched River Tiber in 2011. He is embedded in a circle of Canadian musicians including Daniel Caesar, Kaytranada, BADBADNOTGOOD, Charlotte Day Wilson, Frank Dukes, Jazz Cartier, Justin Nozuka, and Sean Leon. Shared compositions and musical conversations including samples, beats, backing vocals and textures have been interwoven and shared between these artists. River TiberâÂÂs voice and instrumentation have formed the cores of work by artists including Travis Scott, James Blake, Giveon, Post Malone, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Freddie Gibbs, Ghostface Killah, Camila Cabello, Kodak Black, Jhene Aiko, Ty Dolla $ign, and Usher.
Paxton-Beesley was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. He also spent a year in Italy as a child, where he lived near the Tiber River. Growing up, he took part in community music programs and attended the Claude Watson School for the Arts. He attended McGill University before graduating from the Berklee School of Music.
He released his debut EP The Star Falls in 2013, and followed up in 2015 with When the Time Is Right. A track from the latter EP, "No Talk", was sampled by producer Boi-1da for "No Tellin'", from the 2015 album If You're Reading This It's Too Late. Paxton-Beesley has also collaborated with BADBADNOTGOOD on their 2015 album Sour Soul, with Kaytranada on his Polaris Music Prize-winning 99.9%, and with Jazz Cartier on a track for Hotel Paranoia.
He released his debut full-length album Indigo in 2016. In 2017, he won a MuchMusic Video Award for "Acid Test", and the song was a shortlisted finalist for the SOCAN Songwriting Prize in 2017. During the end of the decade, he worked with Toronto artists Charlotte Day Wilson and Daniel Caesar.
On December 9, 2022, he released his sophomore record "Dreaming Eyes". The album release was accompanied by a music video for the track "Hypnotized" which was conceptualized and directed by Leo Aguirre. âÂÂHypnotizedâ was also sampled on Kendrick LamarâÂÂs "Savior" from his 2023 Grammy Award-winning album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.
He is the brother of actress Alex Paxton-Beesley. He is the son of visual artist Philip Beesley.
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Albums
Tracks
2024-25
River Tiber (Tommy Paxton-Beesley) vocals, guitar, bass, trombone, keys, drums
John Mavro (John Mavrogiannis) â guitar, piano, drums, backing vocals
Dan Only â keys, synths, bass, backing vocals
Guest performer: Justin Nozuka â keys, background vocals
Projections: Maritza Campos, Leo Aguirre