River Tiber

Biography

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 Lamar’s "Savior" and Kaytranada’s "Freefall", plus Grammy nominations for songwriting and production of global hits by Drake ("No Tellin’"), 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 Tiber’s 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.

Background

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. “Hypnotized” was also sampled on Kendrick Lamar’s "Savior" from his 2023 Grammy Award-winning album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

Personal life

He is the brother of actress Alex Paxton-Beesley. He is the son of visual artist Philip Beesley.

Studio albums

From Now On (2011)
Synapses (2013)
Indigo (2016)
Dreaming Eyes (2022)
Dreaming Eyes (Instrumentals) (2023)

Extended plays

The Star Falls (2013)
When the Time Is Right (2015)
Spirals (2025)

Singles

"Prophets" (2014)
"West" with Daniel Caesar from Indigo (2016)
"Illusions" (feat. Pusha T) / "Gravity" (2016)
"Acid Test" from Indigo (2016)
"Patience" (2017)
"Deep End" (2018)
"Taurus" (2019)
"Nevada" (2019)
"Rainbow Road" / "Hypnotized" (2020)
"Sent from Above" (2021)
"Peace" / "Here or There" (2023)
"Tell Her" / "Stranger" [with Justin Nozuka] (2024)

As featured artist

Kaytranada – "Bus Ride" and "Vivid Dreams" (feat. River Tiber) – from 99.9% (2015)
Selena Gomez – "Kill Em With Kindness - River Tiber Remix" single (2016)
Jazz Cartier – "Tell Me" (feat. River Tiber) from Hotel Paranoia (2016); also producer
Junia-T – "Tommy's Intro" (feat. River Tiber & Sean Leon) from Studio Monk (2020)
Sean Leon - "Memories (Reprise)" (feat. River Tiber) from In Loving Memory (2023)

Songwriting credits

indicates a featured artist contribution.
indicates an additional/co-producer contribution.
indicates a background vocal contribution.

Other credits

Albums

Justin Nozuka – Ulysees (2014); musician
BadBadNotGood – III (2014); guitar, violin, cello
BadBadNotGood & Ghostface Killah – Sour Soul (2015); cello, violin, trombone, guitar, organ
Tess Parks – Blood Hot (2015); co-producer, drums, guitar, bass, tambourine, cello
Kingsway Music Library – Colors (2015); musician
Tracks

Daniel Caesar – "Death & Taxes" from Pilgrim's Paradise (2015); music
Sean Leon – "This Ain't 2012" single (2015); additional vocals
Freddie Gibbs – "Insecurities" from Shadow of a Doubt (2015); additional vocals
Daniel Caesar – "Won't Live Here" single (2016); music
Charlotte Day Wilson – "Where Do You Go" from CDW (2016); producer, bass, cello, violin, synth
Post Malone – "Cold" from Stoney (2016); background vocals
Charlotte Day Wilson – "Let You Down" & "Falling Apart" from Stone Woman (2018); strings, synth, vocals, drums
Kaytranda – "Freefall" from Bubba (2019); synth

Touring Ensemble/Instrumentation

2024-25
River Tiber (Tommy Paxton-Beesley) vocals, guitar, bass, trombone, keys, drums
John Mavro (John Mavrogiannis) — guitar, piano, drums, backing vocals

Dan Only — keys, synths, bass, backing vocals

Guest performer:
Justin Nozuka — keys, background vocals

Projections:
Maritza Campos,
Leo Aguirre