Shaggy is the stage name of Orville Richard Burrell, a dancehall and reggae singer from Kingston, Jamaica. His work sits across dancehall, reggae, reggae-pop, ragga, dance-pop and R&B. He is associated with Big Yard Music Group. Jamaica United is listed among the act’s members.

Career

Shaggy grows up in Jamaica before his family moves to the United States and settles in Flatbush, Brooklyn, in New York City. He joins the United States Marine Corps in 1988 and serves during Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf War. After returning from Iraq, he turns to music full-time.

His first major hit is “Oh Carolina” in 1993, a dancehall version of a ska recording by the Folkes Brothers. In the same year, he appears on Kenny Dope’s hip hop album The Unreleased Project. He also works with producers including Sting Intl., Don One, Lloyd “Spiderman” Campbell and Robert Livingston.

Major releases and songs

Shaggy follows with “Boombastic” in 1995, another major hit. He later has a major commercial comeback in 2001 with “It Wasn’t Me” and “Angel”, both of which become worldwide number-one singles. “Angel” uses Merrilee Rush’s “Angel of the Morning” as its basis, following the earlier Juice Newton version. The album Hot Shot, which includes those songs, reaches number one on the Billboard 200.

His 2002 release Lucky Day and his 2005 album Clothes Drop do not match the success of Hot Shot.

Other work

Shaggy performs the theme for the 2002 film Showtime.