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Shaggy
Shaggy performing in 2006
Background information
Birth name	Orville Richard Burrell
Born	(1968-10-22) October 22, 1968 (age 43) Kingston, Jamaica
Origin	Flatbush, New York, U.S.
Genres	Reggae, dancehall, hip hop
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Years active	1990–present
Labels	VP, EMI, Virgin, MCA, Universal
Associated acts	Rayvon
Website	www.shaggyonline.com

Orville Richard Burrell (born October 22, 1968), better known by his stage name Shaggy, is a Jamaican American Grammy Award winning reggae singer and rapper. He is perhaps best known for his 1995 single "Boombastic" and 2000 single "It Wasn't Me". He has been noted as having a baritone-range singing voice, and he is easily identifiable by his trademark slurred way of rapping and singing. He is said to have taken his nickname from his shaggy hair.

Early life[link]

1968–89[link]

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, at the age of 18 his family moved to the Flatbush area of Brooklyn, New York, from Jamaica. In 1987, he took singing courses in Brooklyn and was discovered a year later, while singing in the streets with friends. In 1988, he joined the United States Marine Corps as a Field Artillery Cannon Crewman with "S" Battery, 5th Battalion 10th Marines. While enlisted in the Marines he served during Operation Desert Storm during the Persian Gulf War. It was during this time that Shaggy perfected his signature singing voice, breaking the constant monotony of running and marching cadences with his flair for inflection. It is also where he got the inspiration for his song "Boombastic".^[1][2]

Music career[link]

1990–2000[link]

Upon his return from the Persian Gulf, he 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.^[3] 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 and Robert Livingston. He had further big hits, including "Boombastic" in 1995,^[3] the theme tune of a popular Levi's commercial.

2000–05[link]

He then had a major comeback in 2000, with big hit album Hot Shot, which was certified 6x Platinum in the U.S. The album featured worldwide number-one hit singles "It Wasn't Me" and "Angel", the latter of which was built around two song samples - Merrilee Rush's 1968 hit "Angel of the Morning" (which was remade in 1981 by Juice Newton), and The Steve Miller Band's 1973 hit "The Joker". The album hit number one on the Billboard 200 and UK albums chart.^[3] However, his 2002 release Lucky Day, and the 2005 album Clothes Drop, failed to match Hot Shot's success, although Lucky Day still went gold.^[3] The albums, however, found success in Europe, especially with heavy airplay for the single "Hey Sexy Lady". Shaggy remade the Scooby-Doo theme song on the soundtrack entitled "Shaggy, Where Are You?". Shaggy also recorded the theme for the 2002 movie Showtime. Shaggy's last top 40 single in the US was "Angel" from the album Hot Shot.

2005–10[link]

Following the release of Clothes Drop, Shaggy began to increase his number of live performances. In March 2007, he 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. In August 2007, he joined Cyndi Lauper live on stage in Singapore for the Sonnet Music Festival, where they performed "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" together. In October 2007, he was awarded the Jamaican Order of Distinction for the rank of Commander.^[4]

In January 2008, he completed a six-date arena tour with Belgian singer Natalia. He later performed with band En Vogue in Antwerp, to a crowd of 78,000 people. Shaggy also collaborated with Arash in the song "Donya" (Persian: "دنیا"). In April 2008, Shaggy was chosen to record the official anthem for the Mascots (Trix and Flix) of the Euro 2008 football tournament held in Austria and Switzerland. The song, "Feel the Rush", topped charts in most of Europe. In June 2008, a live DVD of his concert material was released under the name Shaggy - Live. In July 2008, he appeared on VH1's "I Love the New Millenium", talking about his video "It Wasn't Me". In August 2008, he performed live at the Dar es salaam festival, to mark the Zain Global Brand launch in Tanzania. The concert was held at the Leaders Club. In December 2008, Intoxication was nominated for Best Reggae Album at the 51st Grammy Awards.

In May 2009, Shaggy performed at the closing ceremony of the 2009 IPL tournament held in South Africa. He also performed at the opening ceremony of the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 in the same month, held in Bangalore, India. In August 2009, he performed live at the Ottawa Reggae Festival in Ottawa, Canada. Here he revealed plans for a new single, "Fading Away", which featured Kevin Rudolf and Lil Jon. He later cancelled this release in favour of "Fly High", a track featuring Gary Pine, which was released on December 5. Shaggy was also invited to perform at the Festival Creole, a festival held every year from November 28 to December 6 in Mauritius.

In January 2010, "Rise Again", a track featuring Sean Paul, Sean Kingston, Alison Hinds, Shontelle Layne, Edwin Yearwood, Destra Garcia, David Rudder, KesDieffenthaller, Tessanne Chin, Etana & Belo, was released to support victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake which struck on January 12. His collaboration with the Balkan group Sahara (consisting of the Romanian singer Costi Ioniţă and the Bulgarian singer Andrea) and French House DJ Bob Sinclar on a track entitled "I Wanna" was a commercial success, released as a single in March 2010 throughout Europe. Shaggy later performed the track several times during Miami's Winter Music Conference in April 2010. In May 2010 he once again performed before cricket audiences at the ICC T20 World Championships, also providing between play performances.

On July 17, 2010, he performed at the Party FM Meja Jam Concert in Country Fair Entertainment Park, Medford, New York. Later that month, he recorded the song "Target" with Japanese reggae singer lecca, which was released on her album, パワーバタフライ (Power Butterfly). Shaggy also released "For Your Eyez Only", which topped reggae charts across the world.^{[citation needed]} Shaggy recorded the song with fellow Jamaican singer Alaine.

2011[link]

In 2011, Shaggy released the official videos of "For Your Eyez Only", along with the hit singles "Sweet Jamaica", featuring Mr.Vegas and Josie Wales and "Girlz Dem Luv We" featuring Mavado. That same year it was announced that Shaggy would release his first new album in four years. Preceded by the single "Champagne", featuring Sahara, the album was released digitally on January 19, 2011. Titled Shaggy & Friends, the album featured many collaborations, including songs with his long-time collaborators Rikrok and Rayvon. A physical release of the album followed. On July 16, 2011, he launched the album Summer in Kingston which contained his single "Sugarcane".^[5] The album was launched at a free party in Kingston, Jamaica, where he released the video for "Sugarcane". The video was premiered globally on MTV.^[6] "Sugarcane" went on to become the number 2 best selling reggae song on the Canadian iTunes chart, and number 4 in the US.^{[citation needed]} Shaggy also collaborated with Apache Indian on the latter's album, Home Run, on a remix of "Chokthere".

2012–present[link]

Shaggy and the Egyptian star Tamer Hosny recorded a song together called "Smile". The music video was filmed in New York City and was released on January 7, 2012. Also Shaggy re-released Summer in Kingston in the form of Summer in Kingston (Lava Edition). Shaggy is working on a new album where all tracks will be produced by Sly and Robbie. Shaggy did a collaboration on a charity single called "World Citizen", which was released on April 5, 2012. Shaggy performed live in Colombo, Sri Lanka on April 28, 2012.

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• 1993: Pure Pleasure
• 1994: Original Doberman
• 1995: Boombastic
• 1997: Midnite Lover
• 2000: Hot Shot
• 2002: Lucky Day
• 2005: Clothes Drop
• 2007: Intoxication
• 2011: Shaggy & Friends
• 2011: Summer in Kingston

Awards and nominations[link]

Grammy Awards

American Music Awards

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Shaggy (musician) (category)

• Official website

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2010)

Big Joe Williams
Big Joe Williams in concert on November 14, 1971
Background information
Birth name	Joseph Lee Williams
Born	(1903-10-16)October 16, 1903 Crawford, Mississippi, United States
Died	December 17, 1982(1982-12-17) (aged 79) Macon, Mississippi, United States
Genres	Delta blues[1]
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Labels	Bluebird, Delmark, Okeh, Prestige, Vocalion Records

Joseph Lee Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982),^[2] billed throughout his career as Big Joe Williams, was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter,^[1] notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar. Performing over four decades, he recorded such songs as "Baby Please Don't Go", "Crawlin' King Snake" and "Peach Orchard Mama" for a variety of record labels, including Bluebird, Delmark, Okeh, Prestige and Vocalion.^[3] Williams was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame on October 4, 1992.^[4]

Blues historian Barry Lee Pearson (Sounds Good to Me: The Bluesman's Story, Virginia Piedmont Blues) attempted to document the gritty intensity of the Williams persona in this description:

"When I saw him playing at Mike Bloomfield's "blues night" at the Fickle Pickle, Williams was playing an electric nine-string guitar through a small ramshackle amp with a pie plate nailed to it and a beer can dangling against that. When he played, everything rattled but Big Joe himself. The total effect of this incredible apparatus produced the most buzzing, sizzling, African-sounding music I have ever heard".^[5]

From busking to Bluebird[link]

Born in Crawford, Mississippi,^[6] Williams as a youth began wandering across the United States busking and playing stores, bars, alleys and work camps. In the early 1920s he worked in the Rabbit Foot Minstrels revue and recorded with the Birmingham Jug Band in 1930 for the Okeh label.^[4]

In 1934, he was in St. Louis, where he met record producer Lester Melrose who signed him to Bluebird Records in 1935. He stayed with Bluebird for ten years, recording such blues hits as "Baby, Please Don't Go" (1935) and "Crawlin' King Snake" (1941), both songs later covered by many other performers. He also recorded with other blues singers, including Sonny Boy Williamson I, Robert Nighthawk and Peetie Wheatstraw.^[4]

Festival fame[link]

Williams remained a noted blues artist in the 1950s and 1960s, with his guitar style and vocals becoming popular with folk-blues fans. He recorded for the Trumpet, Delmark, Prestige and Vocalion labels, among others. He became a regular on the concert and coffeehouse circuits, touring Europe and Japan in the late 1960s and early 1970s and performing at major U.S. music festivals.^[4]

Marc Miller described a 1965 performance in Greenwich Village:

"Sandwiched in between the two sets, perhaps as an afterthought, was the bluesman Big Joe Williams (not to be confused with the jazz and rhythm and blues singer Joe Williams who sang with Count Basie). He looked terrible. He had a big bulbous aneuristic protrusion bulging out of his forehead. He was equipped with a beat up old acoustic guitar which I think had nine strings and sundry homemade attachments and a wire hanger contraption around his neck fashioned to hold a kazoo while keeping his hands free to play the guitar. Needless to say, he was a big letdown after the folk rockers. My date and I exchanged pained looks in empathy for what was being done this Delta blues man who was ruefully out of place. After three or four songs the unseen announcer came on the p. a. system and said, "Lets have a big hand for Big Joe Williams, ladies and gentlemen; thank you, Big Joe". But Big Joe wasn't finished. He hadn't given up on the audience, and he ignored the announcer. He continued his set and after each song the announcer came over the p. a. and tried to politely but firmly get Big Joe off the stage. Big Joe was having none of it, and he continued his set with his nine-string acoustic and his kazoo. Long about the sixth or seventh song he got into his groove and started to wail with raggedy slide guitar riffs, powerful voice, as well as intense percussion on the guitar and its various accoutrements. By the end of the set he had that audience of jaded '60s rockers on their feet cheering and applauding vociferously. Our initial pity for him was replaced by wondrous respect. He knew he had it in him to move that audience, and he knew that thousands of watts and hundreds of decibels do not change one iota the basic power of a song".^[7]

Williams' guitar playing was in the Delta blues style, and yet was unique. He played driving rhythm and virtuosic lead lines simultaneously and sang over it all. He played with picks both on his thumb and index finger, plus his guitar was heavily modified. Williams added a rudimentary electric pick-up, whose wires coiled all over the top of his guitar. He also added three extra strings, creating unison pairs for the first, second and fourth strings. His guitar was usually tuned to Open G, like such: (D2 G2 D3D3 G3 B3B3 D4D4), with a capo placed on the second fret to set the tuning to the key of A. During the 1920s and 1930s, Williams had gradually added these extra strings in order to keep other guitar players from being able to play his guitar. In his later years, he would also occasionally use a 12-string guitar with all strings tuned in unison to Open G. Williams sometimes tuned a six-string guitar to an interesting modification of Open G. In this modified tuning, the bass D string (D2) was replaced with a .08 gauge string and tuned to G4. The resulting tuning was (G4 G2 D3 G3 B3 D4), with the G4 string being used as a melody string. This tuning was used exclusively for slide playing.^[8]

Back to the Delta[link]

He died December 17, 1982 in Macon, Mississippi.^[2][4] Williams was buried in a private cemetery outside Crawford near the Lowndes County line. His headstone was primarily paid for by friends and partially funded by a collection taken up among musicians at Clifford Antone's nightclub in Austin, Texas, organized by California music writer Dan Forte, and erected through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund on October 9, 1994. Harmonica virtuoso and one time touring companion of Williams, Charlie Musselwhite, delivered the eulogy at the unveiling. Williams' headstone epitaph, composed by Forte, proclaims him "King of the 9 String Guitar."^[9]

Remaining funds raised for Williams' memorial were donated by the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund to the Delta Blues Museum in order to purchase the last nine-string guitar from Williams' sister Mary May. The guitar purchased by the Museum is actually a 12-string guitar that Williams used in his later days. The last nine-string (a 1950s Kay cutaway converted to Williams' nine-string specifications) is missing at this time. Williams' previous nine-string (converted from a 1944 Gibson L-7) is in the possession of Williams' road agent and fellow traveler, Blewett Thomas.

One of Williams' nine-string guitars can be found under the counter of the Jazz Record Mart in Chicago, which is owned by Bob Koester, the founder of Delmark Records. Williams can be seen playing the nine-string guitar in American Folk-Blues Festival: The British Tours, 1963-1966, a 2007 DVD release.

Big Joe Williams, American Folk Blues Festival, Hamburg 1972. Photograph by Heinrich Klaffs.

Discography[link]

• Piney Woods Blues (1958)
• Tough Times (1960)
• Blues on Highway 49 (1961)
• Nine String Guitar Blues (1961)
• Mississippi's Big Joe Williams and His Nine-String Guitar (1962)
• Blues for Nine Strings (1963)
• Back to the Country (1964)
• Ramblin' and Wanderin' Blues (1964)
• Classic Delta Blues (1964)
• Studio Blues (1966)
• Big Joe Williams (1966)
• Thinking of What They Did to Me (1969)
• Hand Me Down My Old Walking Stick (1969)
• Big Joe Williams (1972)
• Blues From the Mississippi Delta (1972)
• Don't Your Plums Look Mellow Hanging on Your Tree (1974)

Quotations[link]

• "When I went back down South, boy, they'd put me up on top of a house to hear me play."^[6]

References[link]

External links[link]

	Biography portal
	Mississippi portal

• Big Joe Williams pre-1945 discography
• Illustrated Big Joe Williams discography
• Biography: Big Joe Williams
• Big Joe Williams at Allmusic
• Big Joe Williams at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Big Joe Williams in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Sean Paul
Sean Paul at the International Reggae and World Music Awards.
Background information
Birth name	Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques
Born	(1973-01-09) January 9, 1973 (age 39) Kingston, Jamaica
Genres	Dancehall, reggae, R&B, ragga
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter, producer, actor
Years active	1996–present
Labels	VP, Atlantic
Website	allseanpaul.com

Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques^[1] (born January 9, 1973),^[1][2] who performs under stage name Sean Paul, is a Jamaican dancehall and reggae artist.

Life and career[link]

1973–96: Early life[link]

Sean Paul was born in Kingston and spent his early years in Upper Andrew Parish, a few miles north of Kingston.^[2] His parents, Garth and Frances, were both talented athletes, and his mother is a well-known painter.^[3] His paternal grandfather was a Sephardic Jew whose family emigrated from Portugal, and his paternal grandmother was Afro-Caribbean; his mother is of English and Chinese Jamaican descent.^[4][5] Sean Paul was raised as a Catholic.^[6] Many members of his family are swimmers. His grandfather was on the first Jamaican men's national water polo team. His father also played water polo for the team in the 1960s, and competed in long-distance swimming, while Sean Paul's mother was a backstroke swimmer. Sean Paul played for the national water polo team from the age of thirteen to twenty-one, when he gave up the sport in order to launch his musical career. He attended the Wolmers High School for Boys, Belair School, Hillel Academy High School, and the College of Arts, Science, and Technology, now known as the University of Technology, where he was trained in commerce with a view to pursuing an occupation in hotel management.

[edit] 1998–2000: Stage One

Sean Paul's manager and producer Jeremy Harding first heard about the singer when his brother told him about seeing someone at a small open mic event in Kingston who sounded a lot like the popular dancehall DJ and toaster Super Cat.^[7] Harding eventually met the singer when Sean Paul came by his studio to ask for some advice. During the meeting Paul recorded a vocal over Harding's rhythm track and in the process created the song "Baby Girl".^[7] Sean Paul began hanging out at the studio every day, and the pair collaborated on several more tracks. When they recorded "Infiltrate" they decided they had something good enough to get on the radio. As Sean Paul started to attract local attention, Harding began looking after his affairs. He later told HitQuarters that his support of Paul's fledgling career initially led him assuming the roles of "DJ, manager, road manager and security guard."^[7] Sean Paul made a quick cameo appearance in the 1998 film Belly on stage performing. He made a very successful collaboration with DMX & Mr. Vegas (Top Shotter) as a soundtrack of the film. In 2000, Sean Paul released his debut album, Stage One with VP Records.

[edit] 2001–02: Dutty Rock

In 2002, he began working extensively with a team of producers and choreographers from Toronto, namely Jae Blaze and Blaze Entertainment and announced the release of his second album, Dutty Rock. Pushed by the success of the singles "Gimme the Light" and the Billboard Hot 100 topper, "Get Busy", the album was a worldwide success, eventually selling over six million copies. Simultaneously, Sean Paul was heard on Beyoncé's U.S. #1 single "Baby Boy" and Blu Cantrell's "Breathe", a chart hit in Europe. Both helped to push his reputation further still in the United States. He appeared on Punk'd, 106 & Park, Sean Paul Respect, Making the Video ("Get Busy", "Gimme the Light", and "Like Glue") and his music videos have been broadcast on MTV and BET. Paul's biggest hits included "Get Busy", "Like Glue", "Gimme the Light", "Baby Boy", and "I'm Still in Love with You".

[edit] 2003–05: The Trinity

Sean Paul in September 2005.

Sean Paul's third album The Trinity was released in on September 27, 2005. The album produced five big hits, "We Be Burnin'", "Ever Blazin'", "Give It Up to Me", "Never Gonna Be The Same" and the U.S. chart-topping smash hit "Temperature". The video of "Give It Up to Me" (featuring Keyshia Cole) was also featured in the movie Step Up in 2006. He was nominated for four awards at the 2006 Billboard Music Awards, including male artist of the year, rap artist of the year, hot 100 single of the year, and pop single of the year for his hit "Temperature".^[8] He also won an American Music Award for "(When You Gonna) Give It Up To Me" beating Kanye West and Nick Lachey who were also nominated for the award. His song "Send It On" from "The Trinity" featured on the 2005 Vauxhall Corsa advert. Sean Paul often contributes his songs to various Riddim Driven albums (by VP Records). In March 2007, he returned to his native Jamaica to perform at the Cricket World Cup 2007 opening ceremony. Sean Paul appears on the game Def Jam: Fight for NY as part of Snoop Dogg's crew and again in the game's sequel, Def Jam Icon.

[edit] 2006–10: Imperial Blaze

The newest Sean Paul album entitled "Imperial Blaze" was released on August 18, 2009. The lead single, “So Fine”, which was produced by Stephen “Di Genius” McGregor, premiered on Sean Paul's official website on April 26, 2009.^{[9][dead link][10]} Speaking to Pete Lewis of 'Blues & Soul' magazine in August 2009, Sean Paul stated that 'Imperial Blaze' "Actually signifies 'The King's Fire'. It's that thing inside of you that gives you the desire to do whatever you do, and be the best in the world at it."^[11] The new album consists of 20 tracks including "So Fine", "Press it Up", "She Want Me", "Private Party" which are party tracks and also love songs such as "Hold My Hand" (feat Keri Hilson), "Lately", "Now That I've Got Your Love" among others. Producers on the album include Don Corleone, Jeremy Harding, and Sean's brother Jason 'Jigzagula' Henriques.^[11] All the full songs of the album have been added to Sean Paul's Myspace page^[12] on the day of release of the album.

Up until now there have been eight music videos: "Always On My Mind (with Da'Ville)", "Give It To You (with Eve)", "Watch Them Roll", "Back It Up" (with Left Side/Mr. Evil), "(I Wanna See You) Push It Baby" (with Pretty Ricky), "Hit 'Em" (with Fahrenheit and his brother Jason "Jigzagula" Henriques), "Come Over" with Estelle,^[13] and also the video of his first single, "So Fine" from the new album. He has recently been featured in Shaggy's video, "Save A Life", which also includes appearances from Elephant Man and Da'Ville, among others. In an effort to raise money for a children's hospital, Shaggy, Sean Paul and others will be having a benefit concert. All proceeds will go towards getting new equipment and technology 'For Aid to the Bustamante Hospital for Children'. In an interview in 2009 he says he is planning to release a new album in 2011. During the premiere for MNET's Big Brother Africa 5: All-Stars on July 18, 2010, he performed his songs "Temperature", "Hold My Hand", and "So Fine".

[edit] 2011–present: Tomahawk Technique

The first single Got 2 Luv U features vocals from American singer Alexis Jordan. It was released on the July 19, 2011 by Atlantic Records. The song was written by Sean Paul, Ryan Tedder and Stargate, and it was produced by Stargate.^[14][15][16]

She Doesn't Mind is the second single from the album. It was written by Sean Paul, Shellback and Benny Blanco and was produced by Shellback and Benny Blanco. It was released on the September 29, 2011 on NRJ & Skyrock (French radios), and to iTunes on October 31.^[17] Like its proceeder, "Got 2 Luv U", featuring Alexis Jordan, it topped the charts in Switzerland, but it debuted at that spot. Sean appeared on the Never Mind the Buzzcocks episode which aired on November 21, 2011.

Sean Paul is featured in the music video for the Simple Plan song Summer Paradise.

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Stage One (2000)
• Dutty Rock (2002)
• The Trinity (2005)
• Imperial Blaze (2009)
• Tomahawk Technique (2012)

Mixtapes

• The Odyssey Mixtape (2009)

Filmography[link]

Sean Kingston
Sean Kingston on December 29, 2007.
Background information
Birth name	Kisean Anderson
Born	(1990-02-03) February 3, 1990 (age 22) Miami, Florida, United States
Origin	Kingston, Jamaica
Genres	Reggae fusion, dance, R&B[1]
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, rapper, actor
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Beluga Heights, Epic, TM3 Records, E1 Music
Associated acts	Flo Rida, Soulja Boy, Unk, Rick Ross, Iyaz
Website	www.seankingston.com

Sean Kingston (born Kisean Anderson; February 3, 1990) is a Jamaican-American singer. He pursued a music career and debuted in 2007 with the album Sean Kingston.

Early life[link]

Kingston was born on February 3, 1990, in Miami, Florida and moved to Kingston, Jamaica when he was six.^[2] He attended high school in Ocho Rios.^[3] His grandfather was the noted Jamaican reggae producer Lawrence Lindo,^[4] who worked under the stage name Jack Ruby.^[5][2] At age 11, Kingston spent 3 weeks in jail for breaking and entering, and Kingston lived in a car while his mother was incarcerated for identity theft.^[2][6]

Music career[link]

[edit] 2007–2008: Sean Kingston

Sean Kingston was discovered through MySpace by Tommy Rotem at Beluga Heights, and signed to the label in a partnership deal with Sony.^[7] Beluga is a label notable for its focus on discovering and developing artists.^[8] In an interview with HitQuarters label head and producer J.R. Rotem described this process with regards to Kingston:

"Sean Kingston was a rapper when we found him and it was a development process to get him more melodic. At Beluga we essentially refine the talent so that it's more of a marketable product."^[7]

In a venture between Epic Records and Koch Records, Kingston recorded and released the single "Beautiful Girls" in May 2007.^[9] The single, based on the bass line and lyrical "association" of the 1961 hit "Stand by Me" by Ben E. King, reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and topped the UK Singles Chart along with many other international charts. Similarly, the song "Me Love" samples the main hook out Led Zeppelin's "D'yer Mak'er", from their 1973 album Houses of the Holy. The song also debuted at number one in Australia, where it knocked off Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry", which had been at number one for nine weeks. The song stayed on the Canadian Hot 100 number one spot for over six weeks before getting knocked down to third place by the Plain White T's. "Beautiful Girls" remained at number one in Canada longer than any other song in 2007. In 2007, Kingston was the opening act for Gwen Stefani's The Sweet Escape Tour and for select dates on Beyoncé's The Beyoncé Experience Tour. In 2008, he was one of the opening acts for the Australian leg of Kelly Clarkson's My December Tour.^[10] Since Sean is a Jamaican singer, he got his stage name "Kingston" from the capital of Jamaica called Kingston, Jamaica.

[edit] 2009–2010: Tomorrow

The album Tomorrow was released on September 22, 2009. Big-name producers involved in the album included former Fugee Wyclef Jean; RedOne (of recent Lady GaGa fame); plus Sean's original mentor, J.R. Rotem.^[11] So far, the singles "Fire Burning", and "Face Drop" have been released. Additionally, five promotional digital singles were released leading up to the album.

Kingston co-wrote Jason Derülo's "Whatcha Say". He also found the R&B-reggae singer Iyaz on MySpace and signed him to his record label.^[12] He also recorded the track "Miss Everything" for the UK girl-group Sugababes studio album Sweet 7 which was released March 15, 2010 in the UK. Kingston and DJ Khaled are being featured on Bow Wow's new single "For My Hood", from the upcoming movie, The Lottery Ticket.^[13]

2010–present: Back 2 Life, King Of Kingz and other projects[link]

According to Sean Kingston, he is already working on his next album. The lead single was confirmed to be "Dumb Love". The song's chorus samples 1957's, Come Go With Me by the Del Vikings. The song is also featured in a episode of The Suite Life on Deck which Kingston guest starred on. The album will also feature T-Pain, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, Flo-Rida, Soulja Boy, Wyclef Jean, Akon and Dr. Dre.^[14][15] The first single from the album is "Eenie Meenie" featuring Justin Bieber, released on March 23, 2010,^[16] which is also included on Bieber's My World 2.0 album. This collaboration with the young star has been the source of much disapproval from the rap community. The second single from the album is "Letting Go (Dutty Love)", which features a verse from Nicki Minaj. It was released on iTunes August 3, while the third is "Dumb Love" and was released on iTunes September 8. Sean Kingston's new song "She Moves" samples Irena Cara's "What a Feeling" from the film Flashdance. This has not been release as a single. A fourth single "Party All Night (Sleep All Day)" was released on December 21, 2010. The song leaked online in December 2010. The music video has already been shot. The video was released on December 23, 2010. Sean said this would be the song of the new year.

Kingston represented the continent of America to sing the Official Theme Song of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games, Everyone. He collaborated with four other international artists representing their continent, South African Jody Williams representing Africa, Singaporean Tabitha Nauser (Asia), Briton Steve Appleton (Europe), and Australian Jessica Mauboy representing Oceania.^[17] However, Kingston was unable to attend the Singapore Youth Olympics 2010 opening ceremony due to passport mix ups.^[18] Sean was invited to featured on Cash Money Records/former So So Def member Bow Wow on his single "For My Hood". He performed it with him along with DJ Khaled on BET's television program 106 & Park the day after release.

Sean Released his first mixtape King Of Kingz on February 3, 2011 as a free Download only. The mixtape includes guest appearances by Akon, Flo-Rida, Soulja Boy, Justin Bieber, B.O.B and Tory Lanez.

Kingston will release a mixtape with pop star Justin Bieber, called Our World. It will feature about 12–14 songs and includes their versions of songs like "Pretty Boy Swag" and "Billionaire". The mixtape is finished and Kingston showed his fans a preview on uStream on August, 19, 2010^{[citation needed]}. The release date is yet to be confirmed. Kingston also went on to perform on first leg of Bieber's tour. On April 25, 2011, Kingston performed at Cross Roads Hotel in front of 2,000 people in Lilongwe, Malawi. Kingston was recently in Zimbabwe performing there and is scheduled to perform in Ghana in June 2011. He performed a street concert on April 29, 2011, at Utah State University.^[19]

Kingston has announced that his new album will be called Back 2 Life.^[20] He also said in an interview with MTV that he would be completely re-doing the album and that the previous singles will not be on it. According to Sean's twitter the first single off the album will be released the first week in May 2012. Sean linked up with T.I. on set of the video for “Back 2 Life,” the street single off his upcoming album of the same name. The two shot the video in Los Angeles last week with comedian Mike Epps.

Activism[link]

Kingston filmed a public service announcement with Do Something to encourage teens to become active in their communities by forming a Do Something club.^[21] In 2010, he appeared with one of his dogs in an ad for PETA, encouraging people not to chain their dogs outside.^[22]

Jet skiing accident[link]

On May 29, 2011, Kingston was involved in a jet skiing accident in Miami Beach, Florida. Kingston and a female passenger were severely injured when their jet ski struck the bridge connecting Palm Island with the MacArthur Causeway at approximately 6 pm. He was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where he was placed in the intensive care unit and listed in stable condition.^[1][23][24] He suffered a fractured wrist and broken jaw along with water in the lungs, but was expected to make a full recovery.^[25] On June 24, 2011, Kingston was discharged from hospital and continued his recovery at home.^[26]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Sean Kingston (2007)
• Tomorrow (2009)
• Back 2 Life (2012)^[20]

Mixtapes

• My Time (2009) (Tomorrow Pre-album)
• King Of Kingz (2011)
• Our World (TBA) (with Justin Bieber)
• Greatness (TBA)

Awards/nominations[link]

• Image Awards
  • 2008, Outstanding New Artist (nominated)
• MOBO Awards
  • 2007: Best Reggae Acts
• Teen Choice Awards
  • 2007: Choice R&B Track "Beautiful Girls"
  • 2007: Choice Summer Track "Beautiful Girls" (nominated)
  • 2009: Choice Summer Song "Fire Burning" (nominated)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sean Kingston

• Official website
• Official UK website
• Sean Kingston on Twitter
• Sean Kingston on Myspace
• Sean Kingston's channel on YouTube

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (August 2008)

{{Infobox musical artist |name = Tessanne Chin |background = solo_singer |birth_name = Tessanne Chin |birth_date = (1985-09-23) September 23, 1985 (age 26) |origin = [[jamaca |instrument = Vocals, acoustic guitar |genre = Reggae, reggae fusion, rock, soul |website = [1] }}

Tessanne Chin (born September 23, 1985, in Kingston, Jamaica) is a Reggae fusion recording artist, best known for her hit singles Hideaway and Messenger. Hideaway was featured on VP Records' Reggae Gold 2007.^[1] She has already opened for famous acts such as Patti Labelle, Peabo Bryson and Gladys Knight, and toured for 3 years with Jimmy Cliff.

Biography[link]

Her father, Richard Chin, is of Chinese descent with Cherokee ancestry and her mother, Christine Chin is of half Black-Jamaican and Black-European ancestry. Her older sister Tami Chynn is also a singer. Her cousin is J Hall, bad boy vocalist / guitarist with UK rockers The Royal Players.

Tessanne was introduced to music at a very early age by her parents.^[2] Her mother was the trumpeter/ singer in her band called the "Carnations" and her father was the drummer. The family has a recording studio in their home in Jamaica. Tessanne started performing when she was 6 years old with Cathy Levy's "Little People and Teen Players club", one of Jamaica's top performing arts schools. Most of her vocal coaching came from her mother and also from noted vocal coach Lecie Wright.

Tessanne learned firsthand about cultural diversity when she moved to England at age 12. She coped with the move by devoting a lot of time to writing songs.

Tessanne recently^[when?] married Michael Cuffe.

Musical career[link]

Mile High and Touring with Jimmy Cliff[link]

Upon her return to Jamaica, Tessanne joined the Jamaican Rock Band, "Mile High" and performed for crowds at numerous local venues including Jazzfest, Rockfest, an RETV Unplugged. Their style, rock reggae, was unique. After going on tour for 3 years with Jimmy Cliff as a back-up singer, she decided to launch her solo career.

Solo career[link]

After Tessanne left Mile High, she started writing songs for her debut CD. Rudy Valentino and Paul Kastick are her producers. Her debut single, Hideaway, received heavy rotation on Jamaican radio and select stations in New York.^[3] Both the single and its music video were very popular. Since then she has released two more singles, Messenger and Black Books, both available for sale on her website.

She has performed at several live shows, including The Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival 2006, the Deck cafe, The Port Royal Music festival, ABC Slim Traxx and her very own show "Arabian Night".

Her mixed style is influenced by singers such as Skunk, Pat Benatar, Diana King, Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Bob Marley and Mahalia Jackson.^[4]

Tessanne has collaborated with fellow Jamaican artist Shaggy ("Never Let Go"), the Trinidadian Soca band Kes (band) ("Loving You") and was featured in a track; by the Legendary Jamaican band Third World (band), titled ("By My Side").

Other noted tracks by Tessanne are remakes of other famous artists and bands such as Foreigner's "I Wanna Know What Love Is", The Who's "Love, Reign o'er Me", and Phish's "Free". A remake of Bob Marley's "Could You Be Loved" which Tessanne performed with her band "Mile High" also circulated through the internet early in 2006. Other works include a live performance of "You and Me" performed and written with her older sister Tami Chynn.

On December 6, 2010, Tessanne released her debut album available for digital download entitled "In Between Words".

Discography[link]

• 2010: "In Between Words"

Singles[link]

• 2006: Hideaway
• 2007: Blackbooks
• 2008: Messanger
• 2010: Loving You w/ Kes
• 2010: Are Yuh Gonna (Control)

References[link]