There is an old adage that says, “Like father, like son,” and when the father is an iconic sports figure with whom the son shares some similar physical attributes, there is sometimes great expectation that the son will walk in the footsteps of the father. However, while Hernando “Nando” Griffiths has had a strong affinity for riding from his youth, he has never harbored any dreams of duplicating the success of his father – many-times Jamaican champion jockey and a Guinness World Record holder, Winston “Fanna” Griffiths – at the race track. For while Fanna became a Jamaican legend for his exploits at riding horses, Nando appears odds-on to emulate his father’s success, but at riding riddims.

With the release of his four-song EP, All these Girls, which is available on the top e-music retailers, Nando, who is currently working on his debut album, has been earning comparisons to Rik Rok and Kevin Lyttle, successful contemporary reggae and soca singers who have also achieved pop-success. On All these Girls -- which features production from hot young British-based producer Deewaan (Lockdown and Tiki Wine), NY-based James “JimmyGee” Gately (Nasio Fontaine’s Living in the Positive), and veteran reggae musician-producer Barry O’Hare (Burning Spear’s Grammy-award winning Calling Rastafari ) -- Nando stays true to his core reggae roots on tracks such as Say What You Wanna and Get Better, but also branches off into the pop realm on Look at All These Girls and the soca-reggaeton hybrid Rude, giving a glimpse of his vast potential to transcend any limits that one may place on him. It is precisely Nando’s unbounded potential that has O’Hare, who has been working extensively with Shaggy in recent years, so impressed that he has committed to work on at least seven potential tracks for Nando’s debut album.

That Nando would venture outside of the reggae boundaries on his debut EP is not surprising, as he draws inspiration from a diverse pool of illustrious musicians from across a wide range of genres for both his songwriting and his singing. Nando counts mainstream R&B singers, such as D’Angelo, Babyface, and Maxwell, and iconic reggae artistes such as Bob Marley and Beres Hammond, among his primary influences. However, he also points to Dave Brubeck, a less familiar name (at least among non-Jazz aficionados), as an early influence who eventually led to his love affair with jazz and the broadening of his repertoire beyond his native genre. Additionally, Nando, who earned a BBA degree in Finance and Economics from Baruch College, where he sang in the school choir and formalized his musical training by also completing a Minor in Music Theory, is a trained singer and songwriter who has performed extensively for diverse audiences in New York. While attending Baruch, Nando was a frequent performer at Ida Mae, the acclaimed jazz lounge, where he was the lead singer of a band of extremely talented musicians, some of whom went on to tour with renowned artistes such as John Legend, Lauren Hill, Beyonce, and The Fugees. During this period, Nando was also approached by talent scouts; however, he resisted the lure to forego a college degree and pursue his musical ambitions full time.

Some may argue that Nando may have let his big opportunity slip; however, based on his recent recordings, Nando appears poised to fulfill his potential as a solo artiste. While he works on his debut album with the team from Heart-to-Art Music that is helping to guide his career, Nando continues to thrill audiences, singing original and cover material as one of the lead singers of Fevah, a multi-cultural band that is developing a growing following in the New York region. The warm reception that has greeted All these Girls has Nando brimming with optimism; however, he understands the huge hurdles to commercial success in music. Nonetheless, Nando remains undeterred as he is driven by an innate love for music, which he sees as a medium for the cross-cultural celebration of the human experience. He is happy just participating in this exchange, with the knowledge that he is riding to the rhythm of his heart.