Iyaz was born in 1987 into a musical family and grew up on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. He studied digital recording in college. His talent was spotted by Sean Kingston on MySpace in 2008. When Iyaz first saw the message from Sean Kingston on his inbox he didn't believe that it was really him and thus he ignored it. But after receiving three more messages, Iyaz thought he'd better respond. The two met and he later signed a recording contract with Time Is Money/Beluga Heights, a record label owned by Warner Bros. Records.