Shaggy Biography

The artist known as Shaggy is perhaps best known for his enormous crossover success in the early 1990’s, becoming one of the most enduring and commercially successful dancehall reggae artists of the decade and beyond. Born Orville Richard Burrell in 1968 in Kingston, Jamaica, Shaggy, adopted his nickname from the famous Scooby-Doo character.  When Shaggy was eighteen, he moved to Brooklyn, New York to live with his mother, and soon after, he began performing around the area.

By 1988, however, Shaggy was in need of steady income, and so he joined the Marines. While stationed in North Carolina, he continued to write music, and whenever possible he returned to New York to record. “Man a Mi Yard” was Shaggy’s first single, released when he was twenty. “Mampie” followed, and became an enormous success with the local New Yorkers, and it seemed as though Shaggy was on his way to musical success. However, he was temporarily derailed when he was called to Kuwait for Operation Desert Storm.

Shaggy returned to the states and his music, and released “Oh Carolina,” a cover of the Folkes Brothers’ hit. Surprisingly, it was picked up by Greensleeves for release in the UK in 1992, and rocketed to the top of the UK charts. He followed up with "Nice and Lovely," and "Soon Be Done," but it was a duet with Maxi Priest for “One More Chance” that finally gave him the breakthrough he needed. Shaggy signed to Virgin Records, and his recording career officially began.

Pure Pleasures was released in 1993, and Original Doberman followed in 1994. Boombastic came next in 1995, and the title track sold over a million copies, topping the charts. The album went platinum and spent a year on the Billboard Reggae charts at number one. It also earned Shaggy a Grammy for Best Reggae Album. A string of additional albums followed over the next few years, including Midnight Lover (1997), Hot Shot (2000), Lucky Day (2002), Clothes Drop (2005), Intoxication (2007), Shaggy & Friends (2011), Rise (2012), and Out of Many, One Music (2013.) Perhaps his biggest and most iconic hit, however, is “It Wasn’t Me,” released in 2002 off the Hot Shot album. The single earned Shaggy a nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocal (with Rikrok) and became his best-selling single.

Most recently, Shaggy has launched Ranch Entertainment, his own label, and he continues to write, record, perform, and tour. So far in his career, Shaggy has earned one Grammy Award (for Best Reggae Album—Bombastic), with five additional nominations. Shaggy most recently released his single, “Seasons,” featuring OMI. Later in 2017, he appeared on the Didi J single, “Say No More.”