Keidran Jones (born 15 April 1987), better known by his

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Iyaz, is a

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singer and songwriter, formerly signed with the record label

Beluga Heights Records Beluga Heights Records is an American record label established by record producer J. R. Rotem. The label is known for discovering and developing Sean Kingston, Iyaz, Mann, and Jason Derulo. In September 2020, Beluga Heights was acquired by Cinq ...

. He is known for his singles " Replay", "

Solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

" and " Pretty Girls". He released his debut album '' Replay'' in 2010.

Life and career

1987–2010: Early life and career beginnings

Iyaz aka Keidran Jones was born in 1987, into a musical family. He grew up in

Tortola Tortola () is the largest and most populated island of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It has a surface area of with a total population of 23,908, with 9,400 residents in ...

in the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Croix ...

. Iyaz studied

digital recording In digital recording, an audio or video signal is converted into a stream of discrete numbers representing the changes over time in air pressure for audio, or chroma and luminance values for video. This number stream is saved to a storage de ...

New England Institute of Technology New England Institute of Technology (New England Tech or NEIT) is a private university with its main campus in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. It was established in 1940 and Richard I. Gouse has been the president since 1971. Campuses New Engla ...

. He was featured on the track "Island Girls" by Out Da Box Family, which achieved radio success in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

Sean Kingston Kisean Paul Anderson (born February 3, 1990), better known by his stage name Sean Kingston, is an American-Jamaican singer and rapper. He is known for his hit songs " Beautiful Girls", "Fire Burning", " Take You There", and his collaboration wit ...

found Iyaz through his Myspace page in 2008 and later signed him to a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with Time Is Money/Beluga Heights. Michael Nguyen introduced him to producer and Beluga Heights head J.R. Rotem. He released "Replay" in 2009, which peaked at number 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and at number 1 in several territories, including the United Kingdom. His second single "Solo" was released in February 2010, and peaked at number 32 on the Hot 100. He also took part in recording the Haiti charity single, "

We Are the World 25 for Haiti "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" is a charity single recorded by the supergroup Artists for Haiti in 2010. It is a remake of the song " We Are the World", which was written by American musicians Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and was recor ...

". His debut album, '' Replay'' was released in 2010, and he was also featured on Jake Zyrus’s single "

Pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

". In an interview with

HitQuarters HitQuarters was an international music industry publication and contact database founded in 1999. It was noted for its in-depth interviews with industry figures, as well as its A&R and manager contact directory, free artist promo pages and song ...

, Rotem described Iyaz's creative perfectionism:

"Where as 'sic''.html" ;"title="sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''others might work on several songs in one day, he might sit there and work on one song for days. The end result that he gets is usually an absolute gem, so heartfelt and genuine."

Iyaz also appeared on the fourth season of ''Hannah Montana'', ''Hannah Montana (season 4), Hannah Montana Forever'' and made a song with Miley Cyrus called "Gonna Get This", which is featured on the ''Hannah Montana Forever (soundtrack), Hannah Montana Forever'' soundtrack album.

2011–present: ''Replay'' and ''Aurora''

In 2011, Iyaz played his part in

Big Time Rush ''Big Time Rush'' is an American musical sitcom television series created by Scott Fellows that originally aired on Nickelodeon from November 28, 2009, to July 25, 2013 and is currently available in Paramount+. It focuses on the Hollywood misa ...

's song "If I Ruled the World". Iyaz released "Last Forever" with

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...

as the producer, and its follow-up, "At Last". Iyaz was featured on

New Boyz New Boyz was a hip-hop duo that consisted of rappers Earl "Ben J" Benjamin and Dominic "Legacy" Thomas. They debuted in the spring of 2009 with their viral hit "You're a Jerk" taken from their 2009 debut studio album '' Skinny Jeanz and a Mic''. ...

's single "Break My Bank" and

Akon Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam (; born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of " Locked Up" (featuring Styles P) ...

's "My Girl". Later, Iyaz did a duet called " You're My Only Shorty" with

Demi Lovato Demetria Devonne Lovato ( ; born August 20, 1992), known as Demi Lovato, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), Lovato rose to prominence for pl ...

, which is from Lovato's third studio album, '' Unbroken''. He released a song with

Travie McCoy Travis Lazarus "Travie" McCoy (born August 5, 1981) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is the co-founder and former lead vocalist of the rap rock band Gym Class Heroes, in addition to having a solo career. McCoy became involved w ...

titled " Pretty Girls" and later in the year a song titled "My Heart Broke" surfaced. Iyaz uploaded a duet song named, "Christmas Time" featuring Sha Sha Jones on to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, A Christmas song which His Grandparents requested. In 2013, a slew of tracks credited to Iyaz surfaced online, namely "Da Da Da", along with "Congrats", "What Is This Feeling" and "Too Sexy". In 2014, after leaving his previous labels the year prior, Iyaz signed with new Los Angeles-based independent record label Rekless Music, which is distributed by the

Alternative Distribution Alliance Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) is a music distribution company owned by Warner Music Group, which represents the rights to various independent record labels. ADA provides "independent artist and label partners with access to the resource ...

and

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

. Iyaz made a cover of

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to '' Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempo ...

's " Loyal" named "Comin' for Ya", followed by another cover months after of

Magic! Magic! (stylized in all uppercase) is a Canadian reggae fusion band based in Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of lead vocalist, guitarist/producer Nasri Atweh, guitarist/keyboardist Mark "Pelli" Pellizzer, and bassist Ben Spivak. Active si ...

's song "

Rude Rudeness (also called effrontery) is a display of actual or perceived disrespect by not complying with the social norms or etiquette of a group or culture. These norms have been established as the essential boundaries of normally accepted beha ...

" which he shared on SoundCloud. Iyaz tweeted in December 2014 he would release a single titled "One Million", and released a snippet of the song on SoundCloud. Iyaz released "One Million" on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

in Japan on 12 December 2014, the first single from his second album ''Aurora'', released exclusively in Japan on 8 April 2015. On 24 July 2015 Iyaz released the second single from ''Aurora'', "Alive", featuring

Nash Overstreet Hot Chelle Rae ( ) (formerly known as Miracle Drug) is an American pop rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2005. The band currently consists of Ryan Follesé (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Nash Overstreet (lead guitar, backing vocals), a ...

Hot Chelle Rae Hot Chelle Rae ( ) (formerly known as Miracle Drug) is an American pop rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2005. The band currently consists of Ryan Follesé (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Nash Overstreet (lead guitar, backing vocals), a ...

. It was produced by J.D. "Boy Rekless" Salbego, the President/CEO of Rekless Music, Iyaz's new label, and Stuart Hart. On 23 September 2015, MTV exclusively premiered the official video of "Alive".

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other appearances

Notes

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1987 births British Seventh-day Adventists British Virgin Islands singers Reggae fusion artists Living people People from Tortola 21st-century British singers