Sidney Riley

Hailing from Washington, D.C, singer-songwriter Sidney Riley has been involved with the arts since he learned to play the piano at age 9. After discovering his deep passion for singing as a cast member of Children’s Choice, a popular children’s British television show filmed in the Middle East, Riley decided then to take his musical career more seriously. While in high school, he formed an acapella group and began writing original music. During that time, he and his high school choir had the fortune to perform at The Kennedy Center Honors whose honoree that year was Quincy Jones, the most decorated producer and composer to date.

Soon after celebrating this momentous occasion, Riley fell critically ill with Meningoencephalitis, a rare disease that had him fighting for his life in a coma for several months, overcoming a 1% chance to live. Upon waking from his coma, he formed a paralysis causing immobility from his neck down, medical experts related to him that he would never walk again. After many months of rehab, which included re-learning how to walk again, Riley shocked his friends and family when he walked unassisted across the graduation stage to receive his diploma, with the full chamber choir by his side.