(L-R: Sean Kingston, Iyaz)
There are probably millions of demo songs on MySpace. Somehow, one of Keidran Jones', aka Iyaz, got into Sean Kingston's ear and the rest is history in the making.
Kingston introduced Iyaz to his his producer and label-boss, J.R. Rotem and Rotem, in turn, introduced the Virgin Islands native Iyaz to the world with the surprise summer hit Replay. A dreamy R&B jam, "Replay" blends Iyaz' Caribbean flow with na na nas reminiscent of Akon's signature call.
The winning combination may have never happened. It took Kingston sending upwards of five messages to Iyaz on MySpace before the budding singer finally responded. Iyaz' excuse for not replying? He didn't believe the real Kingston would be spamming his MySpace inbox. After meeting up in Florida to talk shop – and party – Iyaz signed with Rotem and Kingston.
Despite his overnight success, Iyaz says he's got a lot of work to do: "I still consider myself an up-and-coming artist." What's the difference? Now he's got someone in his corner: "Sean is my 'little' big brother."
See: myspace.com/iyaz