Dyson Knight Feature (April 2024)

Join East Coast DNA host Darcy Walsh for a chat with Dyson Knight, Baha Men lead singer, as he releases a solo single through NSCC’s Music Business Program. At Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC), everyone in the Music Department is aware of a Bahamian student who has achieved international fame in the music industry. Dyson Knight, integral member of Grammy award-winning group Baha Men (memorable for their international hit single Who Let the Dogs Out?), is enrolled in the college’s Music Production and Engineering program, and he is releasing his new single Feeling The Magic today. Knight ended up at NSCC due to a convergence of circumstances: “I went through a series of challenges post a near fatal car crash in 2021. I felt a strong need to reevaluate my life. One of the things I wanted to act on is my transition from being a frontline singer of Baha Men to taking a role as an engineer/producer/manager of the band. So, although daunting, I decided to move to Canada to study Music Production and Audio Engineering at NSCC in Dartmouth. I ultimately chose this school because it allows me to be with my older children who live in Halifax.” Knight has been mostly flying under the radar ever since he arrived in Canada, but that’s about to change, as he is set to make waves with the release of his new single Feeling the Magic. This release came out of a contest held every year by the Music Department at NSCC. The Producer Challenge is a competition in which Music Production students are divided into teams tasked with writing and recording a song in one week. The songs are then evaluated and judged by a panel of local music industry people, and this year’s first-place prize was to have the winning song be commercially released by NSCC’s Music Business class. This Music Business program, offered at the Ivany Campus in Dartmouth, NS, is a graduate certificate program, led by industry veteran Evan Newman. It began last year, where the inaugural class launched the Lulo Music Group. The team of producers which included Knight won the contest with a song called Feeling the Magic. The song was written and sang by Dyson, and because the finished product was a collaborative effort among students, it nudged Knight to explore avenues a bit outside of the Caribbean pop that has mainly been his calling card so far. The result was Feeling The Magic, a change of style for Knight, but still a reflection of his continued dedication to creating captivating music. The song is an upbeat funk-disco track with an infectious bass line that will invite you to dance. It has an encouraging and optimistic message, and it evokes positivity and carefree energy. Feeling The Magic is out today. Subscribe to @eastcoastdna for more music + arts coverage throughout the year