Justin Wellington

Justin Wellington was born in Papua New Guinea to Australian-born parents who had immigrated to PNG.^{[citation needed]}

He attended schools in Texas, US, and in Canada.^{[citation needed]}

Wellington began working as an R&B and reggae pop singer. Hit singles include "I Wanna Give You Some Lovin'", "Better Off", "One Night With You", "Much Love", "Fire", "In Love with U", "Runaway", "Tell Me", "Reminiscing", "Rain of Morobe", and others.^[1][2] He has worked with many Papua New Guinea artists, such as AK-47, Tattz from NakaBlood, Jokema, O-Shen, Robbie T, Mekere Crew, Steven M, Gravity, and DJ Travy.^[1]

His musical style is a blend of pop, reggae, R&B, dancehall and island music.^{[citation needed]}

Wellington's international breakthrough came with a cover of "Iko Iko",^[3] originally recorded by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford in 1953 and popularised by The Dixie Cups, and many covers from the 1980s onwards. Wellington's adapted version of the song, "Iko Iko (My Bestie)", was released featuring Solomon Islands group Small Jam in 2017. It received worldwide attention as part of the social platform TikTok challenge. As a result, the cover was released by Sony Music UK on 3 June 2019, and started to gain international popularity in 2021.^[4][5] His version makes various changes to the lyrics of the verses, and has its own original sections, but keeps the chorus the same. It was later added alongside the TikTok dance into the video game Fortnite Battle Royale.^{[citation needed]}

Wellington was nominated for "International Revelation of the Year" during the 2021 NRJ Music Awards.^[6]