Jamaica’s ‘Love Doctor’ preps for Seychelles performance, promises a concert to remember

Romain Virgo, 26, is performing in Seychelles for the first time. (Clive Camille Radius Studios/Seychelles News Agency)

(Seychelles News Agency) - Jamaican artist Romain Virgo and his group the Unit Band is set to perform in Seychelles on Monday. It’s the first time that Virgo, often dubbed the ‘Love Doctor’ for  his style of reggae music known as lovers rock, will be performing for his islander fans in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

Arriving at the international airport on Mahe, the main island, onboard an Air Seychelles flight on Sunday, Virgo said: “I'm just looking forward to do my part and give the people something to remember.”

“If the people of Seychelles loves reggae music we will be performing all night. We are energized, even though we are jet lagged.”

Seychelles is the latest country where Virgo is performing as he sets out on his first concerts in Africa, having already been to Zimbabwe and Kenya.

He admitted to SNA that it was only recently that he came to learn about Seychelles.

"A year or two ago somebody mentioned Seychelles, and I thought it was a Caribbean island until later on someone said it was off the coast of Africa which I thought was far away,” said Virgo. “But it’s unbelievable that people here would know the music and this shows the power of music and how it connects people."

Romain Virgo and the Unit Band pictured with the promoter and sponsors of his concert trip to Seychelles. (Clive Camille Radius Studios/Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

The artist from Kingston, Jamaica is known to islander fans for his tracks including "Love Doctor," "Don’t You Remember" and "Soul Provider." Virgo is also well-known in Seychelles for his reggae interpretation of popular pop music such as Sam Smith's "Stay with me."

Questioned by SNA on his preference of doing cover songs, Virgo explained that this was the way he started out in the music industry.

"I got my breakthrough through a competition called Rising Stars in Jamaica, similar to American Idol, X-Factor or The Voice. And in those competitions we sing cover songs. From time to time I find out whenever we do a do a cover, we see that people take on to it."

Aside of being the youngest winner of the Rising Stars music competition in Jamaica, he was also the first Jamaican to go to the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2011, in Nashville Tennessee performing alongside Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers. 

Romain Virgo started out singing in his church choir at a young age. His first album -- Romain Virgo -- came out in 2010 followed by his second -- The System -- in 2012. The artist is now promoting his latest single ‘Love Sick’ which features on his third album with the same name scheduled for release before the end of this year.

Virgo is the latest of a string of Jamaican stars, including Grammy-award winning artist Beenie Man, to perform in Seychelles, a 115-island archipelago in the western Indian Ocean.