'Sean Paul Henriques' (born
January 8 1973) is a
Jamaican
reggae and
dancehall artist. He is professionally known only by his first names, 'Sean Paul'.
Sean Paul was born in
Kingston, Jamaica, and spent his early years "comfortably" (according to his VH1 biography
[1]) in Upper
Saint Andrew Parish, a few miles north of his birthplace. His parents were both talented
athletes, and his mother Frances, is a well-known
painter.
[2] His father Garth is
Portuguese and his mother is of
Afro-Caribbean and
Chinese descent, although both were born in Jamaica.
[3]
In line with his
Sephardic heritage, he was a pupil at the island's Hillel Academy, a non-religious school funded by the local Jewish community. He claims to be a direct descendant of
Solomon through his father.
[3]
Many members of Sean Paul's family are
swimmers.
[5] His grandfather was on the first Jamaican men's national water polo
team.
[6] His father also played water polo for the team in the 1960s, and competed in long-distance swimming, while Sean Paul's mother was a backstroke swimmer.
[5] Sean Paul played for the national water polo team from the age of thirteen to twenty-one.
[5] However, he gave up the sport in order to launch his musical career.
Background
Born Sean Paul Henriques on
January 8,
1973, the multi-ethnic Paul (his parents have African, Chinese and Portuguese 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.
Musical career
Dancehall music was Sean Paul's first love, and he became proficient at crafting rhythm tracks. He became a
deejay after writing his own songs, basing his style largely on the works of
Super Cat and
Don Yute. The latter was later to become his idol and mentor. Sean Paul was closely connected to the reggae-pop band
Third World. His brother, Jason "Jigzagula" Henriques, and his best friend Zameer Masjedee helped him open up business connections. Sean Paul released his debut single "Baby Girl (Don't Cry)" with producer Jeremy Harding in 1996. It proved a significant success, and led to further Jamaican hits like "Nah Get No Bly (One More Try)", "Deport Them", "Excite Me", "Infiltrate", and "Strategy".
In 1999, Sean Paul started to attract audiences in the
United States. He was commissioned to collaborate with fellow dancehall hitmaker
Mr. Vegas on a production for rapper
DMX, entitled "Top Shotter". The song went on to be included in the film
''Belly'' (dir.
Hype Williams). Paul also recorded the Jamaican chart-topper "Ladies Man" with rapper Spanner Banner, through the latter's label, Sweet Angel Productions. The success of "Ladies Man" resulted in Sean Paul being approached by the then little-known Harding, who burst on the scene with his production of
Beenie Man's crossover hit "
Who Am I" and most famously recorded "Baby Girl (Don't Cry)" with Sean Paul. The following single, "Infiltrate", joined the singer's combination hit in the Jamaican top charts. Also that year, Paul scored a top ten hit on the Billboard Rap chart with "Hot Gal Today", which quickly became his signature tune. Sean Paul fell out very publicly with Mr. Vegas over the packaging of Vegas' remix of "Hot Gal Today", but this did not slow Sean Paul's career momentum.
He then appeared on ''
Punk'd'', ''
106 & Park'', ''Sean Paul Respect'', ''
Making the Video'' ("
Get Busy", "
Gimme the Light", "
Like Glue", "
We Be Burnin'", and "
Temperature") and his music videos have been broadcast on
MTV and
BET. Paul's biggest hits include "Get Busy", "Like Glue", "Gimme the Light", "Baby Boy", "
I'm Still in Love With You", "
Temperature", and "
(When You Gonna) Give It up to Me" (featuring
Keyshia Cole).The video of "Give It Up To Me" was also featured in the movie "Step Up" in 2006.
He was nominated for four awards at the 2006
Billboard Music Awards, including male artist of the year, rap artist of the year, hot 100 single of the year, and pop single of the year for his hit "
Temperature".
[9] He also won an American music Award for "(When You Gonna) Give It Up To Me" beating Kanye West and Nick Lachey who were also nominated for the award.
Sean Paul is one of the artists that has made appearances on various
Riddim Driven albums with various other dancehall artists.He returned to his native Jamaica to perform at the
Cricket World Cup 2007 opening ceremony.
'Stage One (2000)'
In March 2000, Paul released his first album, ''
Stage One'', on
VP Records, which included many of his previous hit singles and compilation cuts, plus several new tracks. He played the Summer Jam 2000 in
New York City, where he was held in high acclaim. Sean Paul's fanbase grew tremendously with fans from all over the world. In 2001, Sean Paul appeared on Canadian rapper
Kardinal Offishall's '' on a single called "Money Jane", which was released in
Canada the previous year and featured
Jully Black. The video for "Money Jane" won
Best Rap Video at the 2001
MuchMusic Video Awards, and the song was nominated for Best Rap Recording at the
2001 Juno Awards.
[10][11]
'Dutty Rock (2002)'
In 2002, he announced the release of his second album, ''
Dutty Rock''. Pushed by the success of the singles "Gimme the Light" and the
Billboard Hot 100 topper, "
Get Busy", the album was a worldwide success, eventually selling over six million copies. Simultaneously, Sean Paul was heard on
Beyoncé's single "
Baby Boy" and
Blu Cantrell's "Breathe", both chart hits in 2003, and helping to push his reputation further still in the United States.
Sean Paul in September 2005.
'The Trinity (2005)'
Sean Paul's third album ''
The Trinity'' was released in on
September 27,
2005 which include the hits We Be Burnin', Ever Blazin', Give It up to Me, Temperature and Never Gonna Be The Same.
Sean Paul spent part of 2006 opening for
Mariah Carey's
Adventures of Mimi Tour. In September of that year he started work on his fourth album, and was featured on the single "
Break It Off" (
High Altitude Riddim) with
Rihanna, on her ''
A Girl Like Me'' album.
'A new age (2007-present)'
Discography
Main articles: Sean Paul discography
★ 2000: ''
Stage One''
★ 2002: ''
Dutty Rock''
★ 2005: ''
The Trinity''
★ 2007: ''
A New Age''
Awards
★ 2003:
MuchMusic Video Awards -
Best International Artist Video - "
Like Glue"
★ 2004:
Grammy Award -
Best Reggae Album (''Dutty Rock'')
★ 2005:
Billboard Music Award - Selling Reggae Artist of the Year
★ 2005:
Billboard Music Award - Top Selling Reggae Album of the Year (''The Trinity'')
★ 2006:
Jamaican Awards- Best Hardman
★ 2006:
American Music Awards- Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist
★ 2006:
Billboard Music Awards - Hot 100 single of the year "
Temperature"
References
1. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/paul_sean/bio.jhtml
2. http://top40.about.com/od/artistsls/p/seanpaul.htm
3. http://spec.hamilton.edu/arts.cfm?action=display&news=1512
4. http://spec.hamilton.edu/arts.cfm?action=display&news=1512
5. http://www.sohh.com/articles/article.php/8685
6. http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1123326_4%7C102882%7C%7C0_0_,00.html
7. http://www.sohh.com/articles/article.php/8685
8. http://www.sohh.com/articles/article.php/8685
9. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/awards/index.jsp
10. http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=31377
11. http://theenvelope.latimes.com/extras/lostmind/year/2001/2001juno.htm
External links
★
Sean Paul official site
★
Sean Paul's MySpace profile
★
VH1.com: Sean Paul
★
MTV Sean Paul - Artist Area
★
Realvibez.com: Sean Paul music videos
★
SomethingJewish - Sean Paul
★
★
CNN interview with Sean Paul
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