Orville Richard Burrell (born October 22, 1968), known professionally as Shaggy, is a Jamaican-American reggae musician who scored hits with the songs "It Wasn't Me", "Boombastic", "In the Summertime", "Oh Carolina", and "Angel". He has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards, winning twice for Best Reggae Album with Boombastic in 1996 and 44/876 with Sting in 2019, and has won the Brit Award for International Male Solo Artist in 2002.
In 2007, he was awarded the Jamaican Order of Distinction with the rank of Commander. In 2022, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Brown University.
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Early life
Orville Richard Burrell was born on October 22, 1968, in Kingston. At the age of 18, he moved to New York City with his mother.
Burrell enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on April 12, 1988 and obtained the MOS 0811 (Field Artillery Cannon Crewman). He served with a Field Artillery Battery in the 10th Marine Regiment during the Persian Gulf War. Discharged on May 4, 1992, the highest rank he achieved was Lance Corporal, although he was reduced in rank twice. Burrell perfected his signature "toasting" voice while he was in the Marine Corps.
Career
1990s
Shaggy decided to pursue his music career and his first hit in 1993, "Oh Carolina", was a dancehall remake of a ska hit by the Folkes Brothers, which appeared in the film Sliver. 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, Robert Livingston and Frankie Cutlass on the Maxi-Single title "Nice and Lovely" Hip Hop Remix. He had further big hits, including "Boombastic" in 1995, the theme tune of a popular Levi's commercial, and sang with Maxi Priest on his Top 20 hit from 1996, "That Girl".
Hot Shot (2000)
In 1999, Shaggy was dropped by Virgin, who felt he was unlikely to release another song as successful as 1995's "Boombastic". He would sign with MCA Records to release the album Hot Shot, the following year. The album featured the smash hit singles "It Wasn't Me" and "Angel", the latter of which was built around two song samples – Chip Taylor's song "Angel of the Morning" (which released by Merrilee Rush in 1968 and covered in 1981 by Juice Newton), and The Steve Miller Band's 1973 hit "The Joker". Both songs topped the Billboard Hot 100 and saw similar success worldwide, reaching number one in the UK, Ireland, Scotland and France, among others. Female artist Lady Saw (aka Marion Hall) did an answer record to It Wasn't Me ("Son of a Bit@h") that also saw chart action. Hot Shot debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and would go on to be certified 8× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), as well as achieving platinum or multi-platinum status in a number of other countries, and ranking as the second most successful album of 2001 on the Billboard Year-End charts.
In 2001 Shaggy was selected to perform with Rayvon and Rikrok at Michael Jackson's 30th anniversary, performing the songs "Angel" and "It Wasn't Me" from Hot Shot.
Further releases (2002–2009)
Over the course of his next two albums, Shaggy saw his popularity decline in the United States. In October 2002, Shaggy released his second album for MCA, Lucky Day. While the album went on to sell 352,000 copies in the United States and become certified Gold by the RIAA, it was considered a sales disappointment in contrast to those of Hot Shot. MCA, who had been banking on the album's success to get the label through a poor financial year, subsequently went under, and was absorbed into sister label Geffen Records in July 2003. Shaggy's only album on Geffen, 2005's Clothes Drop, was even less of a success, only selling 40,000 copies, and he parted ways with the label the following year.
Despite this, both albums were more successful internationally. Lucky Day was more successful in Europe, especially with heavy airplay for the single "Hey Sexy Lady". Shaggy re-made 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 United States was "Angel" from the album Hot Shot. On March 11, 2002, Shaggy and Ali G released "Me Julie" from the soundtrack to the film Ali G Indahouse. The song sold 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom, as stated by the Official Charts Company. It spent 14 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number two.
Shaggy was featured on the album True Love by Toots and the Maytals, which won the Grammy Award in 2004 for Best Reggae Album, and showcased many notable musicians including Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Trey Anastasio, Gwen Stefani / No Doubt, Ben Harper, Bonnie Raitt, Manu Chao, The Roots, Ryan Adams, Keith Richards, Toots Hibbert, Paul Douglas, Jackie Jackson, Ken Boothe, and The Skatalites.
Following the release of Clothes Drop, Shaggy began to increase his number of live performances. In 2006, he was a featured artist on Japanese-American singer Ai's song "Famous" alongside Turkish singer Yalın from her album, What's Goin' On Ai. The trio performed "Famous" in Los Angeles in 2008. In March 2007, Shaggy 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 with the rank of Commander.
2010s
In January 2010, "Rise Again", a track featuring Sean Paul, Sean Kingston, Alison Hinds, Shontelle Layne, Edwin Yearwood, Destra Garcia, David Rudder, Kees Dieffenthaller, Tessanne Chin, Etana and Belo was released to support victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake that struck on January 12. Shaggy's 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. Shaggy recorded the song with fellow Jamaican singer Alaine.
In 2011, Shaggy released the official videos for "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". 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. "Sugarcane" went on to become the number-two best-selling reggae song on the Canadian iTunes chart, and number four in the United States. Shaggy also collaborated with Apache Indian on the latter's album Home Run, on a remix of "Chokthere".
On January 7, 2012, Shaggy released a collaborative single with Egyptian star Tamer Hosny, "Smile", with a music video filmed in New York City. In February 2012, he re-released his EP, Summer in Kingston, in the form of the Lava Edition, containing two new tracks, one of which was taken from his upcoming Sly & Robbie & Shaggy project, plus a remix of the track "Dame" featuring Kat Deluna.
2020s
In January 2020, Shaggy told the Daily Star in an interview that some of Rihanna's representatives had reached out to him to collaborate on a song for her ninth album. However, he turned down the opportunity because he was asked to audition, saying that he would "leave that to the younger guys". Shaggy later stated in another interview that he meant no offence by his remarks. Despite passing on the project, he seemed optimistic about how it would turn out, saying: "From what I hear, it should be good."
In April 2020, Shaggy celebrated the 20th anniversary of his 2000 album Hot Shot by announcing an updated version of the album, called Hot Shot 2020. "It Wasn't Me" returned as the first single on the updated album with Rayvon. His original collaborator on the song, Rikrok, does not appear on the new version.
Shaggy, Spice and Sean Paul collaborated on "Go Down Deh", which became a dancehall hit during the summer of 2021. The three went on a tour of American and British television performances in June and July of that year, appearing on shows such as Good Morning America, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Wendy Williams Show and Good Morning Britain.
In 2022, Shaggy competed in season seven of The Masked Singer as "Space Bunny" of Team Cuddly. He was eliminated alongside En Vogue as the "Queen Cobras" of Team Bad.
On May 28, 2022, Shaggy was conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Brown University.
In 2024, Shaggy's 2001 hit "Angel," featuring Rayvon, was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for achieving over 600,000 sales and streams in the United Kingdom, as tracked by the Official Charts Company.
From 2025 to 2026, he took on the role of the Ferryman in a new production of Sting's musical The Last Ship, which toured to New York, Paris, Amsterdam and Brisbane.
In May 2026, Shaggy released his studio album Lottery via VP Music Group and Ranch Entertainment. The 13-track project marked his first album of original, non-holiday material in several years and features collaborations with artists including Jeremih, Robin Thicke, Dexta Daps, Sting, and Anthony Hamilton.
Personal life
Burrell married his long-term partner Rebecca Packer in 2014 and together they have three daughters. Burrell has two sons from a previous relationship. His son Richard O'Neil Burrell is an American rapper known as Robb Banks.
In 2022, he received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Brown University.
Philanthropy
Shaggy started his philanthropy with a project called Shaggy and Friends, in 2016, donating more than US$1 million, to the Bustamante Children's Hospital in Jamaica. Along with financial assistance to the hospital, he has donated hospital equipment and machinery. He also did his first collaboration in the Caribbean called "Can't Let My Love Go", which he performed with the "Queen of Soca" Alison Hinds of Barbados.
In May 2020, Shaggy performed a Billboard Live At-Home concert that raised funds for Direct Relief, entertaining fans while supporting COVID-19 relief efforts.
In December 2025, Shaggy co-headlined a benefit concert to raise funds for Hurricane Melissa relief efforts in Jamaica.
Discography
Studio albums
Pure Pleasure (1993)
Original Doberman (1994)
Boombastic (1995)
Midnite Lover (1997)
Hot Shot (2000)
Lucky Day (2002)
Clothes Drop (2005)
Intoxication (2007)
Shaggy & Friends (2011)
Summer in Kingston (2011)
Rise (2012)
Out of Many, One Music (2013)
Wah Gwaan?! (2019)
Christmas in the Islands (2020)
Com Fly Wid Mi (2022)
Lottery (2026)
Collaborative albums
44/876 (with Sting) (2018)
Tours
Concert tours
Pure Pleasure Tour (1993–94)
Crazy Cool/Boombastic Tour (with Paula Abdul) (1995–96)
Midnite Lover Tour (1997–98)
Saint Lucia Arts & Jazz Festival (with Sting) (2023)
Hot Summer Nights 2023 Tour (with TLC, En Vogue, and Sean Kingston) (2023)