Chet Faker Australian Singer Born 1988 in Melbourne

Early life

Nicholas James Murphy, who performs as Chet Faker, was born on 23 June 1988 in Melbourne. He grew up in several Melbourne suburbs, among them Glen Iris, Ivanhoe, Burnley and Hawthorn, and attended St Kevin's College, where he sang in the school choir with the singer Vance Joy. He was also a keen runner and served as captain of the school cross-country team and deputy captain of athletics.

Career

Murphy adopted the stage name Chet Faker after people turned up to his shows expecting a different, already established musician named Nick Murphy. The name is a tribute to the trumpeter and singer Chet Baker, whose fragile, intimate vocal style he admired. He has also named Bob Dylan as an influence, along with the Motown albums his mother played and the compilations his father owned.

He first drew attention in May 2011, when his cover of Blackstreet's "No Diggity" spread online and reached number one on the Hype Machine chart. He released his first extended play, Thinking in Textures, on 22 March 2012, with positive reviews, and its second single, "I'm into You", reached number 24 in Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2012. That year he signed to Downtown Records in the United States. His version of "No Diggity" was also used in a Super Bowl commercial in 2013. Around this time he collaborated with the producer Flume, remixed songs by MS MR and The Temper Trap, and sang on "Fool of Me" by Say Lou Lou, which Pitchfork named Best New Track in May 2013.

In August 2013 Murphy released the single "Melt", featuring the American vocalist Kilo Kish, and in November 2013 he and Flume issued the Lockjaw EP. His debut studio album, Built on Glass, was released on 11 April 2014, after the lead single "Talk Is Cheap" and its video in February. The album entered the ARIA chart at number one. He performed at the Boston Calling festival in May 2015, when "Talk Is Cheap" was named the number one song of the 2014 Triple J Hottest 100, with "Gold" and "1998" at numbers seven and eight. In June 2015 he released "Bend", a track originally meant for Built on Glass, and toured Australia that October. On 4 December 2015 he released the EP Work with the London DJ Marcus Marr.

On 8 September 2016 Murphy wrote on Facebook that his next record would appear under his own name, Nick Murphy, adding that Chet Faker would always remain part of the music. He released two singles under his own name later that year, followed by Missing Link in 2017. His second studio album, Run Fast Sleep Naked, came out in April 2019, and in March 2020 he surprise-released an instrumental album, Music for Silence, initially available through the Calm meditation app.

In October 2020 he revived the Chet Faker accounts and released the single "Low", his first under the name in four years and his first release through BMG Australia and New Zealand, with which he had just signed. In October 2025 he announced that a new album, A Love for Strangers, would be released in February 2026.

Recognition

Thinking in Textures won Best Independent Single/EP at the Australian Independent Record Awards in October 2012, and the same awards named him Breakthrough Artist of the Year. At the 2014 ARIA Music Awards he received nine nominations, and he has also been recognised by the AIR Awards, APRA Awards, Music Victoria Awards, J Awards, Australian Music Prize and Helpmann Awards.

His recordings are described as soul and trip hop, and the records list keyboards as his instrument. Releases have appeared through labels including MapleMusic Recordings.