Jamaican dancehall and reggae artist Nigyboy (Nigel Hector) is on his way to Bermuda for what he jokingly calls a “Valen-blind” performance.

Nigyboy has been blind since he was six months old.

He will be performing in the One Love and Envy Productions show My Valentine in Hamilton on Saturday.

“I am definitely looking forward to Bermuda,” he said. “It will be my first time there. I can’t wait to see what it is like and interact with the people.”

Two years ago, the 25-year-old shot from obscurity to fame, virtually over night.

In the middle of final exams in political science in university, he decided to take some initiative with his lifelong passion for music.

In January 2024, he dropped Continent, a song he made with music producer Rvssian’s Dutty Money Riddim. It received a million views on YouTube within eight days.

Since then he has released other songs such as Judgment, Risk It All and Colour Blind, and has performed at events such as Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay Jamaica before 27,000 people.

“Now the biggest challenge is just getting enough sleep,” Nigyboy said. “There are times I am doing three performances in a weekend, and taking three flights.”

He was born four months prematurely in Montego Bay, Jamaica. He was placed in an incubator after birth for three months, but doctors were so unsure he would survive that they did not shield his eyes.

Infants under 30 weeks of gestation cannot yet regulate light entering their retinas.

Despite his blindness, he grew up playing with the other children in the neighbourhood and getting into mischief.

From early on he showed a gift for music.

“I come from a musical family,” he said.

At age 4, he would often go with his aunts to the local vendor market in Montego Bay to sing while they sold crafts.

“People would gather and listen,” he said. “They would ask for one more song and put money into my hands. I was just doing it for the love. At that tender age, it lit a fire in me and inspired me to pursue music.”

His grandfather often told him he was going to be the next Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles, both music legends who were visually impaired.

“My grandfather was my primary inspiration for getting into music,” Nigyboy said.

When he got older, he went to The Salvation Army School for the Blind in Kingston, Jamaica where his passion for music was encouraged even further.

“I joined the school choir, and took part in competitions with them across Jamaica,” he said.

Still, when he graduated high school he did not see music as a viable career path. Instead, he studied political science at Stony Brook University in New York.

It is a move he does not regret.

“It was interesting,” he said. “If I studied music at university I would not have that much love for it today.”

It was not until 2021 that he was introduced to the music industry and started seeing it as a potential career path.

“It was a slow and steady rise from there,” he said. “I decided to start taking initiative thinking maybe something can happen. I thought let me see if I can put myself there on the internet and see what will happen.”

In 2023 he did a song called Waterfall with Mr Vegas.

“I was in the public eye at that time, but not really known,” he said.

It was Continent that tipped the scales for him.

Performing with visual impairment has its challenges for him.

“I am not able to use the stage to its fullest extent,” he said. “I cannot jump and prance around. My blindness adds an extra layer to me, but I still go out there and deliver with bursts of energy.”

He recalled a show he did in Canada on a wet day.

“They put up a tent over the stage,” he said. “As I was singing, I stretched my hand out and found the pole of the tent, and started doing a weird dance around that.”

He confessed he is not the best dancer.

“I have two left feet,” he said. “You have to incorporate things from your surroundings to give people their money’s worth. That went viral.”

Nigyboy avoids explicit lyrics in his songs, wanting to appeal to a wide age range.

His advice to young people is to pursue their passions.

“Let nothing stop you,” he said. “You might not see results today, but you will see them tomorrow.”

He has been doing music in a serious way for five years, but it took him three years to hit the jackpot.

“Adversity builds character,” he said. “You have to keep pushing.”

• My Valentine will be held on the Upper Level of Pier Six on Front Street in Hamilton on Saturday from 10pm to 3am. Other artists will include DJ IBreeze, Q Skull and Jim Brown. Tickets are $85, available from Freshmen, Fish & Tings, Choices Menswear and Bdatix.bm