Recording engineer Shane Woodley went to New York on a whim and good luck has followed him ever since.

Mr. Woodley, 24, is president of Woodley Engineering, a recording company that produces music for many who have already reached hip hop and rap paradise.

He works out of Base Line Studios in Manhattan and mainly records for Jay Z's Rock-a-fella music label.

Mr. Woodley left Bermuda after spending less than six months in a local recording studio.

He said: “I picked it up immediately and I knew that was what I wanted to do for a career. I had been messing at the Bermuda College in the general studies programme for three years.

“I wasn't going anywhere and I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I was what you would call a straggler, I wasn't ambitious about anything.”

After he began doing some recording, he started looking around on the Internet for internships.

“I paid $3,000 to a company that promised to offer an internship in New York, but what they were offering was a job helping to build recording studios.

“I took the job and it was the best thing that I ever did, because it was there that I met the boss of Base Line Studios. We were building the studio for him. He asked me what I really wanted with my life and he offered me an internship with his company. I have worked there since the first day that it opened.”

Since 2000, Mr. Woodley, originally from Ord Road, Warwick and now living in Long Island, has worked as a recording engineer and has produced music for several top rap and hip hop artists.

He has worked with DJ Clue?, Jay-Z, Memphis Bleek, Beanie Sigel, Cam'Ron, R.Kelly, Nelly, Scarface and Fabolous, all major players in the Hip Hop world.

On the CD covers Mr. Woodley affectionately uses “Bermuda” or “Bermy” as his middle name to give the Island a plug.

On a usual day in the studio, he arrives at about two in the afternoon and can work until two in the morning, sometimes work for a few days straight. He does not work on Sundays, as he needs to take a day off. But he is always on standby for the Rock-a-fella label artists.

Mr. Woodley, who is back on the Island for Christmas, said: “If anyone had told me that this would have been my life I would not have believed them.

“Music has always been a big part of my life, but one thing that I would like to do now is to learn to play an instrument or two.”