Ray and Stephens were both born in 1984. Ray grew up in
Northwood, London, whilst Stephens grew up in
Notting Hill. The boys met Watson when they were 18. Ray played
classical guitar and Stephens played
cello with encouragement from his free-jazz musician father. By the time a mutual friend introduced them at the age of 17, Stephens was attending the specialist music school at
Pimlico. Outside school both were making electronic music on home computers. They began working together at 17, setting up a studio in Stephens' bedroom. The latter had already been a fan of
jungle music after seeing M-Beat featuring
General Levy on
Top of the Pops in 1994. Ray's epiphany (according to
Q), happened in the London club
Fabric where the duo's ideas about producing were cemented. Nero's debut release was "Space 2001" as part of the "Straight Outta Leicester" three piece vinyl LP on Reformed Recordings in 2004. Watson started featuring on Nero's songs from 2008, namely "Solid Air" (Punchy Recordings) and "This Way" (Audio Freaks) which was their debut
dubstep release, and is now a full-time member of the band. Nero released the EP, 'Requiem', 10 May 2006, predominantly hard drum and bass, which quickly saw their acknowledgement rise within the dance music scene.
Sasha Frere-Jones, journalist for the
New Yorker Magazine, listed Nero's
remix of
The Streets, "Blinded by the Lights" in his top songs of 2009. The track had radio airplay in the U.K. as well as being played by DJs including
Chase & Status,
Skream,
Tiësto and
Diplo.
Welcome Reality (2010–2012) , on 9 July 2011. The trio released their first
single on
MTA, "
Innocence", in the
United Kingdom on 26 April 2010. The single was released as a double A-side with the track "Electron" as a
digital download, as well as on
vinyl. The track peaked at number one hundred and sixty seven on the
U.K. Singles Chart besides peaking at numbers sixteen and eleven on the
Dance and
Independent charts respectively. In November 2010, Nero unveiled their
BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix. The mix went on to extreme critical acclaim and has been widely regarded as "The Greatest BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix of All Time". The mix was recorded at the height of the dubstep popularity and features a wide variety of genres such as; Drum and Bass, French House, Dubstep and Electronica. The 2010 Nero Essential Mix also later became a talking point on 4 September 2015 as there was a wide debate upon Reddit users on 'the best Essential Mix of all time'. On the website, users had a heavy favour of the mix (slightly edging out Zeds Dead in second place) The
nomination was followed by the addition of their second
single on
MTA "
Me and You" to
BBC Radio 1's A List playlist on 8 December 2010. The single was released in the United Kingdom as both a digital download and a 12" vinyl on 2 January 2011, where it debuted at number fifteen on the U.K. Singles Chart, also managing to reach the number one spot on the independent releases chart. The trio's third
single, "
Guilt" made its
premiere on 22 February when Zane Lowe selected it as the
Hottest Record in the World. On the week ending dated 14 July 2012 "
Promises" debuted at number 81 on the
Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, which marked their first single to chart in the United States. Their debut album entitled
Welcome Reality was released on 15 August 2011 and debuted at number one in the
UK Albums Chart. Nero composed an orchestral piece known as
The Dubstep Symphony (later officially titled 'Symphony 2808'), performed by the band in collaboration with the
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Joe Duddell on BBC Radio 1 on 6 June 2011. The trio toured their live show after the release of their album during Autumn 2011 in both the United Kingdom and United States. In early 2012, the trio toured their live show entitled 'Second Reality Tour' across Australia, the United Kingdom and North America. Nero declined touring as a support act for
Madonna's MDNA Tour over the summer, as they felt that they needed to spend much more time in the studio. The
Skrillex & Nero remix of Monsta's "Holdin On" received its premiere on
Zane Lowe's
BBC Radio 1 show on 1 October 2012. The remix was featured on Monsta's self-titled EP, released on 23 October 2012. Their song, "
Promises" is featured in the
HP television advertisement for their
notebooks with
Beats Audio in 2012. On 22 October 2012, their debut album was re-released as
Welcome Reality +. It features two extra tracks, "Won't You (Be There)" and "Etude", along with the
Skrillex & Nero remix of "Promises". An
EP of "Won't You (Be There)" was released on the same day, featuring the original alongside "Etude" and remixes from
Baauer and Club Cheval.
Between II Worlds (2013–2016) On 23 April 2013, their track for the soundtrack of the Baz Luhrmann rendition of
The Great Gatsby was revealed: "Into The Past". On 12 November 2013, a 28-minute ambient piece was posted to their
SoundCloud, along with the words "Sorry to have left you in the dark for so long. The second album is coming in 2014." On 24 December 2013, in an interview with
Vh1 India, Nero revealed that the track was actually a 3-minute ambient song looped on purpose to be 28 minutes and 8 seconds long to reveal the number 2808 – a number frequently associated with Nero, which is the title of the first track on
Welcome Reality." On 13 May 2014, the album's lead single "
Satisfy" premiered on
BBC Radio 1 as
Zane Lowe's
Hottest Record in the World. In February 2015 the band's record label MTA Records posted a picture of a tweet by Stuart Hawke stating that he had just started mastering the new album by Nero. On 19 March 2015, Nero announced they had finished the album, and premiered its second single, "The Thrill". The single was released on 20 March 2015 alongside remixes by
Porter Robinson,
TCTS,
René LaVice and KANT. On 10 April, it was announced that the album is called
Between II Worlds, and it would be released on 28 August 2015 (coinciding with their recurring use of the number '2808') but the release date was later delayed to 11 September. The album was made available to pre-order on the same day, with "Satisfy" and the title track offered as an instant grat for those who pre-order a copy. The album features a reworked version of "Into the Past", from
The Great Gatsby soundtrack. NERO focused more on side projects after the release of
Between II Worlds. Joe Ray launched a solo project in 2017, while Stephens and Watson announced a new electronic pop project The Night in March 2018. During promotion for The Night, Stephens and Watson clarified that NERO was still active alongside the side projects, with new music in the works. In 2021 during the lead-up to the 10th Anniversary of Welcome Reality, the debut album, the band released three remixes of classics from Daft Punk, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Disciples after a nearly two year silence. They also announced they were working on their third album. In 2022, NERO joined
deadmau5's “We Are Friends” tour as the main support act. They also went on to remix the deadmau5 track “XYZ” on his label
mau5trap, which was released on August 26, 2022. They have also released a highly anticipated new track called “Renegade” which features the artist
RL Grime and was released on December 2, 2022. This is the first original single produced by the trio since December 4th, 2018.
Into the Unknown (2023–present) On 27 October 2023, Nero released their first solo original material in 5 years with "Truth", and announced it was the first single from their upcoming third studio album,
Into the Unknown. The band subsequently released the next single, "Blame You" on 26 January 2024, and then the third single "Draw Energy" on 10 May 2024. The band announced the release of Into the Unknown to be on 16 August 2024, as well as announcing a US tour beginning in September 2024. They then released the fourth and fifth singles, "Too Many Questions" and "Solar", on 21 June and 2 August, respectively. ==Other works==