Shaggy

Orville Richard Burrell (born October 22, 1968), better known by his stage name Shaggy, is a Jamaican-born reggae musician, rapper and singer who scored hits with the songs "It Wasn't Me", "Boombastic", "In the Summertime", "Oh Carolina", and "Angel".

Orville Richard Burrell was born on October 22, 1968, in Kingston.

At the age of 18, he moved to New York City with his mother.

The album featured the smash hit singles "It Wasn't Me" and "Angel", the latter of which was built around two song samples – Chip Taylor's song "Angel of the Morning" (which released by Merrilee Rush in 1968 and covered in 1981 by Juice Newton), and The Steve Miller Band's 1973 hit "The Joker".

Both songs topped the Billboard Hot 100 and saw similar success worldwide, reaching number one in the UK, Ireland, Scotland and France, among others.

Female artist Lady Saw (aka Marion Hall) did an answer record to It Wasn't Me ("Son of a Bit@h") that also saw chart action.

Burrell enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1988 and obtained the MOS of 0811 (Field Artillery Cannon Crewman).

Shaggy decided to pursue his music career and his first hit in 1993, "Oh Carolina", was a dancehall re-make of a ska hit by the Folkes Brothers, which appeared in the film Sliver.

The same year, Shaggy appeared on Kenny Dope's hip hop album The Unreleased Project.

He worked together with producers such as Sting International, Don One, Lloyd 'Spiderman' Campbell, Robert Livingston and Frankie Cutlass on the Maxi-Single title "Nice and Lovely" Hip Hop Remix.

He had further big hits, including "Boombastic" in 1995, the theme tune of a popular Levi's commercial, and sang with Maxi Priest on his Top 20 hit from 1996, "That Girl".

He has been nominated for seven Grammy Awards, winning twice for Best Reggae Album with Boombastic in 1996 and 44/876 with Sting in 2019, and has won the Brit Award for International Male Solo Artist in 2002.

In 1999, Shaggy was dropped by Virgin, who felt he was unlikely to release another song as successful as 1995's "Boombastic".

He would sign with MCA Records to release the album Hot Shot, the following year.

Hot Shot debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and would go on to be certified 8x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), as well as achieving platinum or multi-platinum status in a number of other countries, and ranking as the second most successful album of 2001 on the Billboard Year-End charts.

In 2001 Shaggy was selected to perform with Rayvon and Rikrok at Michael Jackson's 30th anniversary, performing the songs "Angel" and "It Wasn't Me" from Hot Shot.

Over the course of his next two albums, Shaggy saw his popularity decline in the United States.

In October 2002, Shaggy released his second album for MCA, Lucky Day.

While the album went on to sell 352,000 copies in the United States and become certified Gold by the RIAA, it was considered a sales disappointment in contrast to those of Hot Shot.

Shaggy also recorded the theme for the 2002 movie Showtime.

Shaggy's last top 40 single in the United States was "Angel" from the album Hot Shot.

On March 11, 2002, Shaggy and Ali G released "Me Julie" from the soundtrack to the film Ali G Indahouse.

The song sold 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom, as stated by the Official Charts Company.

It spent 14 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number two.

MCA, who had been banking on the album's success to get the label through a poor financial year, subsequently went under, and was absorbed into sister label Geffen Records in July 2003.

Shaggy was featured on the album True Love by Toots and the Maytals, which won the Grammy Award in 2004 for Best Reggae Album, and showcased many notable musicians including Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Trey Anastasio, Gwen Stefani / No Doubt, Ben Harper, Bonnie Raitt, Manu Chao, The Roots, Ryan Adams, Keith Richards, Toots Hibbert, Paul Douglas, Jackie Jackson, Ken Boothe, and The Skatalites.

Following the release of Clothes Drop, Shaggy began to increase his number of live performances.

Shaggy's only album on Geffen, 2005's Clothes Drop, was even less of a success, only selling 40,000 copies, and he parted ways with the label the following year.

Despite this, both albums were more successful internationally.

Lucky Day was more successful in Europe, especially with heavy airplay for the single "Hey Sexy Lady".

Shaggy re-made the Scooby-Doo theme song on the soundtrack titled "Shaggy, Where Are You?"

In 2006, he was a featured artist on Japanese-American singer Ai's song "Famous" alongside Turkish singer Yalın from her album, What's Goin' On Ai.

In 2007, he was awarded the Jamaican Order of Distinction with the rank of Commander.

In 2022, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Brown University.

In March 2007, Shaggy performed the official song of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, titled "The Game of Love and Unity", alongside Bajan entertainer Rupee and Trinidadian soca artist Fay-Ann Lyons, at the opening ceremony of the tournament, held at The Greenfield Stadium, Trelawny, Jamaica.

Later that year, he left Universal Music and released his latest album, Intoxication under his own label, Big Yard Records, with distribution rights by VP Records.

The trio performed "Famous" in Los Angeles in 2008.

He served with a Field Artillery Battery in the 10th Marine Regiment during the Persian Gulf War.

The highest rank he achieved was lance corporal, although he was reduced in rank twice.

Burrell perfected his signature "toasting" voice while he was in the Marine Corps.