Ricky Dillon

Richard Porter Dillon Jr. (born April 4, 1992) is an American YouTube personality and singer-songwriter. Over his ten years on YouTube, Dillon has amassed over 3.2 million subscribers on his channel, as well as more than 415 million views on his videos.

Early life and education

Dillon was born in North Carolina. His family moved to Tuscumbia, Alabama when he was one year old. He has two older sisters, named Tara and Lexi. Dillon attended high school at Hoover High School where he also marched in the band. Dillon then attended college at Auburn University to study film but dropped out after three years.

Career

Dillon began his career on YouTube, uploading his first public video to his channel, PICKLEandBANANA, in 2009. Dillon also gained exposure due to the YouTube supergroup Our2ndLife where he, Connor Franta, JC Caylen, Kian Lawley, Trevor Moran and Sam Pottorff went on an international tour and amassed a total 2.7 million subscribers before the group broke up in December 2014. He is also partnered with Fullscreen and has participated in their InTour festival.

Dillon uploads original songs and covers, as well as music videos on his channel. He also starred in a scripted Sour Patch Kids series, titled Breaking Out.

In 2014, Dillon released his debut single, titled "Ordinary". Dillon's debut EP, titled RPD, was released on January 26, 2015. In July 2015, Dillon released his sophomore single titled "Beat". In an interview with People magazine at VidCon 2015, Dillon hinted towards a new personal song called "Gold", told to be featured as one of the tracks on his second EP.

Dillon has mentioned in multiple interviews that Demi Lovato is a major influence to his musical career. He has covered several of her songs on his YouTube channel some of which were released to iTunes.

On December 1, 2015, Dillon announced the release of his debut album Gold, which was released on January 15, 2016. The 10-track set (produced by Bobby J Frausto) is preceded by the lead single "Steal the Show" (featuring Trevor Moran) released on December 28. Snoop Dogg and fellow YouTube personalities Trevor Moran and Shelby Wadell are featured on the album. The music video for the second single "Problematic" (featuring Snoop Dogg) was released on January 15.

Personal life

Dillon, who has previously dated both men and women, posted a video in September 2016 entitled "My Sexuality", in which he said that, "If I were to label myself, I would be the closest to asexual." In a February 2019 video named "My Coming Out Video Was a Lie", Dillon distanced himself from earlier comments on his asexuality, remarking on the 2016 video that "I no longer 100% relate to that video, I don't have a label for myself for the time being, I am figuring myself out, and I don't label myself as asexual". In February 2020, Dillon posted a video in which he came out as gay (titled "I'm Gay").

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles