Iyaz

Biography

Keidran Kenmore Jones (born 15 April 1987), better known by his stage name Iyaz (pronounced EYE-yaz), is a British Virgin Islands singer and songwriter, formerly signed with the record label Warner Music Group. He is known for his singles "Replay×Replay18 August 2009 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Replay3:002Solo3:133So Big3:184OK3:435Breathe3:346Heartbeat3:217There You Are3:148Stacy4:049Look at Me Now3:0510Friend3:4111Goodbye3:21", "Solo", and "Pretty Girls×Pretty Girls24 June 2011 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Pretty Girls3:44". He released his debut album Replay in 2010.

1987–2009: Early life and career beginnings

Keidran Jones, known by his stage name Iyaz, was born in 1987 into a musical family. He was born and raised on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. Iyaz studied digital recording at New England Institute of Technology. He was featured on the track "Island Girls×Island Girls8 May 2013 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Island Girls4:19" by Out Da Box Family, which achieved radio success in the Caribbean. Brennan Sayre, an A&R consultant with 800 Agency & Beluga Heights, found Iyaz through his Myspace page in 2008 and sent his music to Tommy Rotem and Sean Kingston who would later sign him to a recording contract with Time Is Money/Beluga Heights. Kingston also introduced him to producer and Beluga Heights head J.R. Rotem.

2009–present: Replay and Aurora

In 2009, he released "Replay×Replay18 August 2009 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Replay3:002Solo3:133So Big3:184OK3:435Breathe3:346Heartbeat3:217There You Are3:148Stacy4:049Look at Me Now3:0510Friend3:4111Goodbye3:21" 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". His debut album, Replay, was released in 2010, and he was also featured on Jake Zyrus’s single "Pyramid". In an interview with HitQuarters, Rotem described Iyaz's creative perfectionism:

"Where as [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 Forever and made a song with Miley Cyrus called "Gonna Get This×Gonna Get This8 October 2010 · Single · SoundtrackSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Gonna Get This3:16", which is featured on the Hannah Montana Forever soundtrack album.
In 2011, Iyaz played his part in Big Time Rush's song "If I Ruled the World×If I Ruled the World22 July 2011 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1If I Ruled the World3:00". Iyaz released "Last Forever" with David Guetta as the producer, and its follow-up, "At Last". Iyaz was featured on New Boyz's single "Break My Bank" and Akon's "My Girl".
Later, Iyaz did a duet called "You're My Only Shorty" with Demi Lovato, which is from Lovato's third studio album, Unbroken. He released a song with Travie McCoy titled "Pretty Girls×Pretty Girls24 June 2011 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Pretty Girls3:44" and later in the year a song titled "My Heart Broke" surfaced. Iyaz uploaded a duet song named, "Christmas Time×Christmas Time12 December 2020 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Christmas Time3:26" featuring Sha Sha Jones on to YouTube, 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 and Warner Music Group. Iyaz made a cover of Chris Brown's "Loyal" named "Comin' for Ya", followed by another cover months after of Magic!'s song "Rude", 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 in Japan on 12 December 2014, the first single from his second album Aurora×Aurora8 April 2015 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1One Million3:422Alive3:203One More Time3:094One of Those Nights3:305Believe In Love3:446Love Renagade2:587Sleeping Alone4:298Wherever You Are3:489You're the Only (Wherever You Are)3:1910Words I Thoughts I'd Never Say3:1711One Million (Tom Ohalloran Remix)4:5312You're the Only (Wherever You Are) [Tom Ohalloran Remix]5:4013Aurora - Special Non-Stop DJ Mix (Continuous Mix)23:51, released exclusively in Japan on 8 April 2015.
On 24 July 2015 Iyaz released the second single from Aurora, "Alive", featuring Nash Overstreet of Hot Chelle Rae. 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".