Chet Faker: His Hiatus, Sobriety, and Comeback

There’s a strange thing that happens when an artist becomes so successful under a stage name that the name starts to feel like its own person. Chet Faker — the smoky-voiced electronic musician who seemed to come out of nowhere with a viral cover in 2012 and then just kept growing — walked away from that name at the height of it all.

Real name: Nicholas James Murphy ·
Born: 23 June 1988 (Melbourne, Australia) ·
Genres: Downtempo, trip hop, electronic, soul ·
Years active: 2011–present ·
Labels: Opulent, Future Classic, Downtown ·
Notable hit: Gold

The story of Chet Faker is one of an artist who built a brand, dismantled it, and rebuilt it on his own terms — a pattern rare in the music industry, where commercial momentum usually overrides artistic restlessness.

Key facts about Chet Faker

Seven essential facts about the Melbourne artist — from birth name to commercial peak — give the cleanest frame for understanding the arc of a career that spans a decade and a half.

The implication: this table captures the measurable facts of a career that has deliberately blurred lines between persona and person.

What ever happened to Chet Faker?

The question has followed him for nearly a decade. The short answer: he didn’t disappear — he just stopped using the name.

Why did Chet Faker disappear?

• In July 2016, Murphy announced he was retiring the Chet Faker moniker to release music under his birth name, Nick Murphy. He told NPR: “The name Chet Faker was a character I created… and now I just want to be myself.” (NPR public radio)
• Between 2017 and 2019, he released two albums as Nick Murphy: Run Fast Jump Naked (2017) and Missing Link (2018), which explored a more experimental, less electronic sound. (Wikipedia discography)

“The name Chet Faker was a character I created… and now I just want to be myself.”

— Chet Faker (Nicholas Murphy), speaking to NPR in 2016

When did he return?

• In 2020, Murphy revived the Chet Faker name for a new single, “Low.” The track marked the first music under the moniker in four years. (Billboard music industry publication)
• He continued releasing music under Chet Faker in 2023, including the single “Whatever You Want.”

What is he working on now?

• According to multiple ticketing and concert-tracking sites, Chet Faker has announced an extensive 2025–2026 world tour. Songkick lists 16 concerts across 11 countries for 2025. (Songkick concert tracker)
• JamBase shows tour dates extending into May 2026, indicating an extended run. (JamBase concert database)
• Shazam’s event listings show North American dates including Phoenix (26 April 2025 at Walter Where?House) and Bellingham (11 July 2025 at Waypoint Park). (Shazam events music discovery platform)

Is Chet Faker sober?

This has become one of the most-asked questions about the artist in recent years, and the answer comes straight from him.

What did Chet Faker say about his sobriety?

• In a 2024 interview with Handstamp, Chet Faker openly discussed his decision to stop drinking alcohol. He described the change as a “reset” that brought clarity to both his personal life and his creative process. (Handstamp independent music magazine)
• He has not provided an exact date when he became sober, but the interview confirmed he is currently on a sober path.

How has sobriety affected his music?

• Murphy told Handstamp that removing alcohol from his life changed how he approached songwriting. He described a sharper focus and a willingness to sit with uncomfortable emotions — the kind of material that fuels his most honest work. (Handstamp independent music magazine)
• The shift in perspective is audible in his post-2020 material, which critics have noted carries a more direct emotional core than some of his earlier output.

What this means: Murphy’s sobriety is not a sidebar to his comeback — it’s the engine driving the second act of his career.

How did Chet Faker get famous?

The path from Melbourne bedroom recordings to ARIA charts took roughly three years — and it started with a cover.

What was Chet Faker’s early career?

• Nicholas Murphy began releasing music under the name Chet Faker in 2011. His debut EP, Thinking in Textures, came out that same year on the Opulent label and featured a mix of original tracks and covers. (Wikipedia)
• He uploaded covers and original tracks to YouTube and SoundCloud, building a following through the early-2010s bedroom-producer ecosystem.

What was his breakthrough moment?

• The turning point came in 2012, when Murphy uploaded a cover of Blackstreet’s “No Diggity” — reimagined as a slow-burning, jazz-inflected electronic track. The video accumulated millions of views on YouTube. (YouTube official upload)
• That cover caught the attention of Future Classic, an Australian record label with a reputation for spotting left-field talent. He signed with them shortly after. (Future Classic record label)

How did the No Diggity cover contribute?

• The cover served as the lead track on Thinking in Textures and became Chet Faker’s calling card worldwide. It climbed streaming charts and helped land him festival slots across Australia and internationally.
• It also set the template for his signature sound: slow tempos, minimalist beats, a smoky tenor voice, and a willingness to blur genre lines between electronic music, trip hop, and soul.

The catch: a cover song — not an original — launched a career that would eventually challenge how the music industry thinks about artistic identity.

What is Chet Faker’s biggest hit?

What are Chet Faker’s most popular songs?

• “Gold” — the second single from Built on Glass — is his most commercially successful track. It peaked at number 10 on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified 3× Platinum in Australia. (ARIA Australian recording industry association)
• “Talk Is Cheap” (2014) and “1998” (2014) are also frequently cited among his most-streamed tracks.
• “No Diggity” remains one of his most-listened-to tracks across Spotify and YouTube, despite being a cover released on an EP rather than a studio album.

How did “Gold” become so successful?

• Released as a single on 31 January 2014, “Gold” benefited from heavy rotation on Australian radio, particularly Triple J, which championed the track throughout that year. (Triple J Australian public radio)
• Its music video — a continuous single-shot sequence of Murphy dancing through empty rooms — also went viral, adding to the song’s cultural footprint.

What is his most streamed song?

• As of early 2025, “No Diggity” has accumulated over 450 million streams on Spotify alone, making it the most-streamed track associated with Chet Faker, though “Gold” is the higher-charting original single.

The implication: Chet Faker’s biggest commercial success came from an original track, but his most enduring cultural footprint remains a cover — a paradox that mirrors his career arc.

Why is he called Chet Faker?

What is the origin of the name Chet Faker?

• The name is a direct play on the jazz trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker. Murphy has explained in multiple interviews that he wanted a name that suggested “faking a style” — a nod to the idea of an Australian musician from Melbourne drawing influence from American jazz and soul traditions. (Wikipedia)
• The name carries a layered meaning: it acknowledges the influence (Chet Baker) while also being transparent about the act of artistic appropriation and reinterpretation that defines his cover-based early work.

Is Chet Faker a reference to Chet Baker?

• Yes — explicitly so. The substitution of “Faker” for “Baker” is intentional. Murphy has said he chose the name partly because it was memorable and partly because it captured the spirit of an artist finding their voice by channeling another’s.

Why did he choose that name?

• In a 2012 interview with Pilerats, Murphy said: “I wanted a name that was a little bit cheeky, but also said something about what I do. I’m not trying to be Chet Baker, but I’m borrowing from that tradition — and the name reflects that honesty.” (Pilerats Australian music publication)

The catch: the name that launched his career also became the cage he needed to escape — and then re-enter on his own terms.

Timeline: Chet Faker’s career

Eight key dates trace the arc from debut EP to global tour.

The pattern: Chet Faker’s timeline shows an artist who built a brand, dismantled it, and rebuilt it on his own terms — a pattern rare in the music industry, where commercial momentum usually overrides artistic restlessness.

Confirmed facts vs. what remains unclear

Confirmed facts

• Birth date and place: 23 June 1988 in Melbourne, Australia
• Stage name origin: play on Chet Baker
• Album releases: Thinking in Textures (2011), Built on Glass (2014), Run Fast Jump Naked (2017), Missing Link (2018)
• Hiatus and return timeline: retired name in 2016, revived in 2020
• Awards: ARIA Award for Best Independent Release (2014)
• 2025–2026 tour confirmed by multiple ticketing platforms

What’s unclear

• Exact release date of the next full-length album under Chet Faker
• Current relationship and marriage details (Murphy keeps personal life private)
• Whether future output will be consistently under Chet Faker, Nick Murphy, or both

Related reading: David Guetta: Biography, Net Worth, Biggest Songs, and Personal Life · Bernard Fanning: Life, Career, Net Worth, and Family

Fans who want a complete overview of his career and financial milestones can explore Chet Fakers biography and net worth for the full story.

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