The West boasts countless rags-to-riches tales, but in the Caribbean, stories unfold differently—more like triumphs over insurmountable odds. These are journeys from obscurity, marked by resilience and an unyielding spirit. When a person from the tiny Antilles islands achieves global acclaim—like Saint Lucian, Yogi the Producer receiving his first Grammy nod—it is often a story packed with priceless lessons.
Yogi, 35, has been working on his craft for years. His first Grammy nomination came on November 8, 2024, for his credits on Chris Brown’s Run Away featuring Bryson Tiller. The song appears on Brown’s deluxe 11:11 project, which was Grammy-nominated in the Best R&B Album category.
In the living room of a villa perched in the hills of Goodlands, Castries, Yogi – whose given name is Johann Deterville – brought St Lucia Times into his world, pulling back the curtain to unveil the formula that propelled him to triumph in a competitive industry.
Lesson #1: Take the Leap—”Just Go Do It”
It all started in Anse Le Raye, where he grew up. Yogi’s mother, popular musician Petronilla Deterville, nurtured his interest in music as a child all the way through to secondary school, albeit at times having to resuscitate her son’s dwindling enthusiasm for the craft of music performance.
In his late teens, he’d had the typical experience of harbouring a willingness to explore while also being bound by the availability of only just a few resources and opportunities that most in Saint Lucia do. He’d been prompted by his mother to undergo a music programme in Jamaica, but when she suddenly passed away, Yogi found himself back in Saint Lucia, dealing with the loss.
Eventually, he found a job at Accela Marketing that allowed him to tap into his creativity while developing other production skills like videography, video editing, photography and sound engineering. With his background in music, he began to gravitate towards the latter. Yogi gradually began building his music catalogue as an engineer and producer. This sparked his interest in enrolling in a sound engineering programme in Halifax, Canada.
Once the programme was done, Yogi worked at a computer shop in Halifax. One evening, on a long commute home, he felt the urge to cut through the monotony and make a career leap by moving to a city with a more vibrant music scene. Shortly after, he relocated to Toronto.
“For the first couple of months, I had no idea who I was going to connect with—but once again my name is Yogi and I just make it happen,” he said with a chuckle. “I just connect with who I can, build good relationships and try my best”.
“I’m a firm believer in ‘just go do it’. I don’t believe in saving up money to hold me down while I’m trying to pursue my dreams, and I might be crazy because some people believe in the other way and it works out. It could work out both ways, but I don’t have the patience to do that. To me, you’re always going to feel like it’s hard to leave that safe space and you might still end up not doing what you intended to do even after waiting because you’re just so comfortable.”
Lesson #2: Leverage Your Skills to Unlock Opportunities
In Toronto, Yogi found clever ways to hone his craft. He’d managed to land an audio engineering job with a production company where he worked with big clients like Honeycomb and Gillette. It was a gig he got after someone in his network turned it down.
However, the most significant move for his music career was leveraging audio engineering, photography and videography skills in exchange for studio time.
Yogi said: “A lot of the early skills I picked up on in Saint Lucia helped me down the line because I would sometimes use those skills to barter. I would be like, ‘Yo, let me edit your video and in exchange, I could use your studio for a day’. That type of thing!”
Lesson #3: Mastery Is Just the Starting Line
Yogi stresses that success is broken down into stages, each inciting growth.
“It’s like trying to build yourself up every day, in everything that you do, trying to spend as much time as you can in the thing that you’re interested in. Because, the day that your opportunity comes, you want to be ready,” he said. “It ties in with the 10 000-hour rule where if you spend 10 000 hours doing anything, you become a master at it. And then, even after the 10 000 hours, once you’ve become a master, this is where the work really starts. Now, you have to operate as a master of your craft, and then even that is a process; it’s like, you keep levelling up and at every level, you’re still growing.”
Lesson #4: Success Starts with Kindness and Quality
Yogi made one of the most important connections of his life when he linked up with well-known Canadian artist Savannah Re. The two not only fell in love and got married but have collaborated on award-winning projects. The connection also propelled Yogi into the good graces of acclaimed producer, Boi-1da.
“This is after years of being patient, playing my part, and working with Sav. Now that I’m looking at it, I was just being a decent person and making sure anything I did was at a high level,” Yogi explained.
“It’s not that I met him and asked him to check out my beats. Actually, he heard my stuff because of the work that I was doing with Savannah, and ultimately it was a record we did that got the attention of an A&R at Universal Music Canada which then led to Boi-1da. From there, everything just started to flourish”.
He has since scored music for the video game Spiderman Miles Morales, and is credited for work with artists like Kehlani, Camila Cabello, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Giveon, and many others.
Lesson #5: Stay Focused and Outwork the Competition
Evident in his reflections, Yogi remains awestruck at his own achievements, particularly as they were accomplished in a city not short of others doing what he does.
“There are a lot of talented producers, especially in Toronto. You really have to avoid distractions and focus on being good at what you’re doing in order to stand out and I think that’s what helped me. I still don’t think I’m the best, but I definitely want to keep working on it to be seen as the best.”
Though still young, Yogi has plans to continue on this trajectory, hopefully one day creating pathways for other Saint Lucian producers to establish lucrative music careers with global impact.
