Sean Paul
Biog
Dancehall
superstar
Sean Paul began scoring hit singles in Jamaica starting in 1996 and thereafter
steadily began attracting international attention, eventual breaking into the
pop mainstream in 2002 with
Dutty Rock.
Born
Sean Paul
Henriques
on January 8, 1973, the multi-ethnic Paul (his parents had Portuguese, Chinese,
and Jamaican blood) grew up comfortably in St. Andrew, Jamaica, his mother a
renowned painter. He was a skilled athlete, excelling in swimming and especially
water polo, playing for the Jamaican national team in the latter. Although his
education was enough to land a prosperous career, dancehall
music
remained Paul's first love, particularly crafting rhythm tracks. He became a DJ
after he began writing his own songs, patterning his style largely after
Super Cat
and finding a mentor in
Don Yute;
he also found contacts in several members of the reggae-pop band
Third World
in 1993, which helped open up business connections.
Paul released his debut single, "Baby Girl," with producer
Jeremy Harding
in 1996; it proved a significant success, leading to further Jamaican hits like
"Nah Get No Bly (One More Try)," "Deport Them," "Excite Me," "Infiltrate," and
"Hackle Mi." In 1999, Sean Paul started to make inroads to American audiences;
he was first commissioned to collaborate with fellow dancehall hitmaker
Mr. Vegas
on a production for rapper DMX; titled "Here Comes the Boom," the song was
included in director
Hype Williams'
film Belly. Also that year, Paul scored a Top Ten hit on the Billboard rap
charts with "Hot Gal Today." Unfortunately, Paul had a very public falling out
with
Mr. Vegas
over the packaging of the latter's remix of "Hot Gal Today"; still, it didn't
slow Paul's career momentum, as he played the Summer Jam 2000 in New York City,
the center of his American popularity. That fall, Paul released his first album
on VP Records; the sprawling
Stage One
collected many of Paul's previous hit singles and compilation cuts, plus a few
brand-new tracks. 2002's
Dutty Rock
and 2005's
The Trinity
were extremely successful. Both albums peaked in the Top Ten of the album chart
and featured a handful of mainstream smashes.
Hits:
‘Temperature’,’Give it up to me’, 'Get Busy', 'Baby Boy' : Video: Watch here
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