Iya Vybez’s entry into music was inevitable. His mother Angela Brennan was once a singer who went by the name Jah Jilly. He also spent a lot of time around musicians affiliated with the late Bob Marley.

“I grew up around a lot of musicians because my mother was a singer herself. So my interest in music developed from an early age,” Iya Vybez said in a recent interview during rehearsals for the upcoming Sting concert on Boxing Day.

The 23 year old singer/deejay/singjay whose real name is Brer Brennan, was born in the states to an American father and a Jamaican mother. The family moved to Jamaica when he was a year old, and settled in Clarendon.

Growing up in Clarendon, he attended a few institutions including Clarendon College, but he would later move back to the states upon completion of third form. “I lived in the states for five years and that was when I began to take music serious by experimenting with rap and techno music,” said Iya Vybez.

He and his brother Benji also known as Jah Benji would then form a duo called General Touch and recorded songs at the Anchor studios in Kingston. “We started out producing and singing as a duo. After a while I decided I wanted to pursue a solo career,” he said.

His solo trek would bear fruit with songs including On Top Of the World, Reaching for Greatness, Every Day We Dancing and Jah Know Mi Feel It Hard which features featuring singer Studio Voice aka Richie Rich.

His latest single Anyone Can Be a Superstar is being promoted on FM radio, and Iya Vybez is confident that it could be the song to break him into the illusive big times.

“I am bringing positive messages and reality to the people. I write, produce and engineer all of my songs, and I consider myself as multi faceted,” Iya Vybez commented.

Asked if having a mixed heritage has worked in his favour or worked against him in terms of musical opportunities, Iya Vybez responded ‘It sometimes works for me on the good side. People don’t expect of me in terms of what I am bringing as an artiste, and because of that, whenever I perform, I always surprise the people.”

Iya Vybez will make his Sting debut on Boxing Day. Asked why it was important for him to be on the Sting lineup, he said “I want to start off 2011 with a bang, so ending the year on the Sting stage, will add a lot of power to the movement.”