- Reggae/Hip-hop/Dancehall singer, songwriter born Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques in 1973 in Kingston Jamaica.
- Sean Paul grew up in a comfortable environment in Jamaica, well educated and athletic. He developed a love of Jamaican Dancehall music, and he began to develop his own rhythm tracks as a teenager. In his late teens, he became of DJ, using a style similar to fellow Jamaican DJ Super Cat. He became friends with Jamaican reggae recording artist Don Yute and reggae band Third World, which enabled him to make connections in the music industry. A local producer met with Paul when Paul stopped by the producer’s studio to ask for some advice. During the meeting, Paul recorded a vocal track over a rhythm track, and this led to a single released in 1996 called Baby Girl. Paul and the producer recorded several more tracks, and their music began to get local attention.
- In 1999, Paul and fellow Dancehall artist Mr. Vegas contributed to a song by rapper DMX called Here Comes the Boom, which was included in a film titled Belly, in which Paul made a cameo appearance as a DJ. This led to a recording contract for Paul, and his debut album was released in 2000 – Stage One. Two singles were released, with Haffi Get De Gal Ya (Hot Gal Today) reaching #5 on the Hot Rap Songs chart.
- Paul’s breakthrough came with his 2002 album Dutty Rock. The album was certified 2x platinum and it sold over 6 million copies globally. It won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2004. The single Get Busy topped the Hot 100 chart and R&B chart. Other singles from the album were Gimme the Light (#7 on the Hot 100 and #2 on the R&B chart), Like Glue (#13 and #9 respectively) and I’m Still In Love With You (#14 and #13). Paul performed Get Busy on Saturday Night Live in March 2003. Also that year, Paul was the co-writer and featured artist on Beyoncé’s second #1 hit, Baby Boy.
- Paul’s next studio album was Trinity, released in 2005. Three songs were top 10 hits on the Hot 100 chart – We Be Burnin, Temperature and (When You Gonna) Give It Up To Me, with Temperature reaching the top of the chart. Albums and singles released since 2009 were less successful in the U.S., though his work remained very popular in Europe, with four singles reaching in the top 10 in several European countries between 2009 and 2013. In 2016, he was the featured artist in Sia’s #1 hit Cheap Thrills, and that same year, his collaboration on the song Rockabye with British electropop group Clean Bandit topped charts in over 20 International markets, reaching #9 on the Hot 100 chart.
- Sean Paul’s legacy was to bring the Dancehall genre into the mainstream in the U.S., Europe and other global markets. Dancehall originated in Jamaica in the late 70s – it incorporated reggae and rhythm, and it gained popularity when digital instrumentation became prevalent. His single Get Busy was the first dancehall song ever to top the Hot 100 chart. Over the years, the Dancehall genre became common in some of the biggest hits by artists like Rhianna and Drake. Here’s the video to the song that brought it to the masses, Get Busy.