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📅 1992 🌍 Kingston, Jamaica 🎵 Reggae

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 signature slurred rapping and vocal style. He is said to have taken his nickname from his shaggy hair. 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". 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.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. 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 titled "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.