While moving from Jamaica to Brooklyn and ending up in the Gulf War as a US Marine cannon driver, Shaggy - 'Mr lover, lover, lover' - developed a passion for describing his love of girls through light, fun reggae.
His 'main thing', to dub his own words, is to sing about girls and stop when he drops. 'I write about girls all the time because I have the highest respect for them,' said the Jamaica-born Shaggy, who has a date with Hong Kong on Monday. 'What is life without women? They'll have to kill me to stop writing about them.' Hit singles Boombastic, Oh Carolina and In the Summertime (a remake of the Mungo Jerry classic), not only won him a slice of international fame but also showed that the former DJ has a mind that can make the most of fun and sex.
Take a look at his two albums - Pure Pleasure and Boombastic. Gal Yu a Pepper, Women a Pressure Me, All Virgins and Lust show the state of his hormones.
'As much as I would like to tell you about the crazy things that my fans do to me, there is nothing publishable,' said Shaggy, 27. 'You can only imagine what they do.' Shaggy also has a television jeans ad to thank for his success.
'We did the single [Boombastic] in May 1994 and they [Levi's] came in the following February and asked whether they could have the single for the ad. I previewed the ad and it's good, so I said: 'Of course'.' In the ad, a clay red-neck character plays the hero rescuing a blond sweetie from a building on fire. In real life, however, Shaggy prefers down-to-earth feats. 'I don't think I am much of a hero though; I prefer to play it safe and try to live.' He goes into great detail to convince the world that he is not a fluke. 'The reason I am more successful is because people in the reggae industry are not consistent in what they do.
'They get one hit and that's it.
'The whole package of being successful takes attitudes and behaviour.' Born Orville Richard Burrell in Kingston, Jamaica, he found himself grooving in the streets in Brooklyn at 18 after his mother found the Big Apple a better place for her family. Shaggy - the name is taken from his hair, he stresses - spent time, and made a few bucks, playing records in discos and pubs.
