Nigel “Nigy Boy” Hector, the 23-year-old New York-based visually impaired reggae artist from Montego Bay, Jamaica returned to his hometown recently in making his stunning Reggae Sumfest debut.
Anthony Turner, the New York-based Jamaican entertainment publicist, told Caribbean Life on Tuesday that Nigy Boy surprised attendees with “a blistering performance that left many reggae lovers stunned.
“They could not believe that the blind artist, who was led on the massive main stage, dressed in a space suit against a backdrop in intergalactic props, is actually new to the reggae business and only dropped his first hit record, ‘Continent’, a few months ago,” said Turner, who is also a Jamaican native.
“For over 30 minutes, from Saturday night into the wee hours of Sunday morning, Nigy Boy battered Catherine Hall like hurricane ‘Dutty Gal Beryl’, with a barrage of hits that had the festive, near capacity audience screaming for more,” he added.
Turner said Nigy’s set started with gospel favorite “Way Maker”, and included hits “Judgement”, “Nomad”, and “Super Woman”, which was dedicated to his mom, as well as a cover of Dexta Daps’ “Breaking News” and Kranium’s “Nobody Has To Know”.
After an “out of this world” performance on Night Two of Reggae Sumfest, Turner said the explosive climax came towards the end of Nigy Boy’s “razzle dazzle” with his best known hit, “Continent.”
When his performance ended, Turner said Nigy Boy was honored with the 2024 Silver Montego Bay Sumfest City Award from the St. James Municipal Corporation for his outstanding achievement in entertainment.
Turner said the presentation was made by Mayor of Montego Bay Richard Vernon.
On stage for the presentation with Vernon were Joe Bogdanovich, chief executive officer of Downsound Entertainment, and Robert Russell, deputy chair of Reggae Sumfest, Turner said.
In accepting the citation and award, the “Continent Boss” thanked his many supporters.
“I just wanna say it was a privilege being here, and I like how everything came full circle,” Turner quoted Nigy Boy as saying. “My first ever performance was in the place I came from, Montego Bay.
“I appreciate all of you for coming out,” he added to loud cheers from the capacity crowd. “The love is real; one heart.”
Sumfest’s head honcho Joe Bogdanovich told Caribbean Life: “We achieved the wow factor. We witnessed it from the production set. We saw it when singer Lauren Hill joined her son YG Marley. and we saw it with Babyface.
“The pre-events were the best in the history of Sumfest since 2016,” he added. “We saw it on the faces of the audiences at each event. Nothing but joy they experienced. Great venue design, great music, fabulous food, and good vibes provided.”
In terms of the economic impact, Bogdanovich said: “Every hotel room in Montego Bay was sold out. You couldn’t get a room.
“The airbnbs were pretty much sold out as well,” he added. “And this is all the way from Negril to Ocho Rios. I think it got to be US$50 million in sales in Montego Bay the week of Sumfest, which was a new record. That is a lot of chicken.”
