Sean Kingston

Kisean Anderson (born February 3, 1990), known professionally as Sean Kingston, is a Jamaican-American singer, songwriter, rapper and actor whose first album, Sean Kingston, was released in 2007.

Early life and education

Kisean Anderson was born on February 3, 1990, in Miami, Florida, and moved to Kingston, Jamaica, when he was six. He attended high school in Ocho Rios. His grandfather was the noted Jamaican reggae producer Lawrence Lindo, who worked under the stage name Jack Ruby. Afterwards, Kingston spent three weeks in jail for burglary, and he lived in a car while his mother was incarcerated for identity theft.

Career

2007–08: Sean Kingston

Kingston was discovered on Myspace by Tommy Rotem at Beluga Heights, and signed to the label in a partnership deal with Sony. In an interview with HitQuarters label head and producer J.R. Rotem described this process with regards to Kingston:

In a venture between Epic Records and Koch Records, Kingston recorded and released the single "Beautiful Girls" in May 2007. The song peaked at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. "Beautiful Girls" was a success internationally, topping the charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom. In the latter country, the song spent four weeks at the summit of the UK Singles Chart. 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. Since Sean is a Jamaican singer, he got his stage name from the capital of Jamaica called Kingston.

Sean Kingston (album)

Sean Kingston is the self-titled eponymous debut album by Sean Kingston, released on July 31, 2007. The album was produced by J. R. Rotem. Sean Kingston wrote the lyrics with help from Evan Bogart. Kingston has claimed his lyrics are totally representative of his personal life. Ranging from the self-deprecating-schoolboy tale of lost love in the album's global chart-topping single "Beautiful Girls" to the much deeper "Dry Your Eyes", where he visits the hardship of watching his mother and sister being sent to prison when he was just 15 years old.

The album has been certified gold by the RIAA as of February 2008 with an excess of 500,000 copies.

The album entered the U.S. Billboard 200 chart at #6 and fell to #13 the following week. The album reached #2 on RIANZ in its second week.

Track listing

Beautiful Girl

Beautiful Girl(s) may refer to:

Film and television

Music

Beautiful Girls (Van Halen song)

"Beautiful Girls" is the last song from Van Halen's second album, Van Halen II, from 1979. The song was a concert staple during their tour for this album. The song was originally titled "Bring on the Girls" when it was recorded for the 25-song Warner Brothers demo, but the title and lyrics were changed accordingly.

In 1991, the song was used in a Saturday Night Live commercial parody called "Schmitt's Gay." The commercial, which spoofed beer company advertisers who targeted specific demographics, featured Chris Farley & Adam Sandler as two gay men who are housesitting and find themselves surrounded by attractive, and presumably gay, men wearing bikini swim trunks, with whom both characters end up cavorting merrily. The initial broadcast and subsequent rebroadcasts shortly thereafter featured the original Van Halen song, but later syndicated broadcasts use generic rock guitar riffs produced by the SNL band, presumably due to licensing costs. Phil Hartman was the announcer for both versions.

Beautiful Girls (Sean Kingston song)

"Beautiful Girls" is the debut single by reggae-influenced musician Sean Kingston from his eponymous debut; it was first released in 2007. The song samples Ben E. King's classic "Stand by Me" and uses digital pitch correction technology on the vocals. The song is about a boy who is suicidal (or rather "in denial" in the edited version) over the failure of his relationship with a "beautiful girl". It is Kingston's signature song.

Rapper Lil Mama and actors Kenny Vibert and Lil' JJ are featured in the music video directed by Marcus Raboy.

Lyrics controversy

Certain radio stations (mostly AC or hot AC stations, including Radio Disney), play the censored version of the song, which replaces "you had me suicidal, suicidal" with "you got me in denial, in denial." On MTV the word "suicidal" is completely removed with no replacement. On BET, Fuse and MuchMusic, as well as several top 40, urban and rhythmic top 40 and AC stations, "suicidal" was left intact.

Due to the lyrics containing references to suicide, the track has been removed from many radio playlists including FM104 in Dublin, where complaints were phoned in on a late night chat show, The Adrian Kennedy Phoneshow, and Wild 102 in Roseau, Minnesota. It was allegedly pulled from two FM although a spokesperson said the song is currently not on its playlist but could not confirm if it had been in the past. FM104 replaced "suicidal" with "in denial", a change Sean Kingston made for the radio station.