Brenner Ayton was born in the spring of 1988 in Johannesburg, South Africa to parents Lawrence and Elise. They already had one child, Gemma, when he came into the world and she couldn't have been happier about being a big sister. The family lived in the Sandhurst neighbourhood and occupied a large house down a private road, with enough room for the growing family to sprawl out. Lawrence held the position of Managing Director for the Diamond Trading Company's operations in South Africa, a job which enabled the Ayton family to live opulently. He flew to and from Kimberley four hours each way on the company's jet in order to be with his family on weekends or for holidays. Elise spent her time doing extensive charity work and helping her husband with his company's social events, as well as caring for the children. They had a nanny, but Elise was a very hands-on mother and preferred to do most things herself. When Brenner was fourteen, his mother unexpectedly announced that she was pregnant and later that year his little sister Lisbeth was born.
Both Brenner and Gemma went to prep schools in Sandton proper, though they had entirely different experiences there. Gemma loved school and she was a voracious reader as well as being involved in equestrian events and her mother's charity work. She had all the makings of a proper socialite from a young age and she genuinely enjoyed that life, but her younger brother definitely did not. The only thing they truly shared as a passion was music - Brenner was obsessed with learning new instruments and he took to guitar (and stringed instruments in general) like a natural while his sister took piano lessons and was fairly good at it. Their parents were both musically inclined as well so some of Brenner's fondest memories were of the four of them singing in the car or at the piano at Christmas. As he got older Brenner started asking for and receiving different guitars for his collection, most of which he still has.
As university age approached, however, the two siblings were once again split and Gemma left after graduation to attend Cambridge, in the UK. That left Brenner at the center of his parent's attention because they wanted to follow in her footsteps or at the very least make a decision about where he wanted to attend. For awhile he thought about going and studying music, but in the end he knew he'd never really stay interested in it since he had no intentions on studying classical guitar. Besides, he'd been spending his free time playing in bands with people he'd met around the neighbourhood and he didn't want to give that up. Truthfully, he wanted to make a career of music and not do it the scholarly route.
His last year of school, change came about for Brenner and his family. His father was asked to take over as the Vice President of the large parent company that he'd been working for - a big step up and it necessitated a move to London. Brenner wasn't happy about moving to the UK, but since he wasn't finished with school yet and he relied on his parents to provide for him, he went along with the plan. He also couldn't imagine leaving Lisbeth as the only kid, since he was extremely attached to the precocious toddler. The family moved to South Kensington and into an enormous house, big enough for them and also for Brenner's maternal grandmother who had come along with them to be cared for by the family.
With college finished the next year, Brenner had to make some sort of decision about his future and he decided to take a year off to figure that out. He had always been an obedient and well-behaved son, so his parents had no problem funding his self-exploration because they were always very big on doing what you were meant to rather than what other people wanted you to. The support helped immensely and Brenner spent most of that year involved in one band or another - he played guitar or piano and sometimes both while also doing lead vocals. That year stretched into two and Brenner decided at the age of twenty that he wasn't interested in being in someone else's band. There were too many artistic differences to collaborate at length and though he obviously did have a backing band, he wanted it to be his show. He spent a lot of time going to other people's shows and making friends with other musicians, before starting to piece together people to play with him. He also spent a lot of time writing songs before he moved out into his own career.
His parents funded the release of two EPs, which only increased his reputation and got people interested in his music, leading to more and more gigs. In 2011, after a month of sold-out shows, he was signed to Island Records, who had a history of signing UK folk singers. Then the real work began and Brenner started working on his first full album with the help of two musicians who played a lot of the back up instruments. In 2012 they released Every Kingdom, which got good reviews and led to not only an appearance on Jools Holland, but also a show at SXSW. He became a festival regular and in 2013 won two BRIT Awards, one for British Breakthrough Act and another for British Solo Male Artist. Later that year he released an EP with four new tracks, which was met with critical acclaim and clearly pointed to continued success. Currently he's continuing on the festival circuit and, as always, working on another full album for release soon.