SEAN PAUL
July 3, 2017 - 8:30 pm

Dancehall superstar and multi-platinium selling artiste Sean Paul began scoring hit singles in Jamaica in 1996 and steadily attracted international attention thereafter, eventually breaking into the pop mainstream in 2002 with his album Dutty Rock, fuelled by his Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers, “Gimmie the Light” and “Get Busy” and which won in 2004 a Grammy for Best Reggae album.

BIOGRAPHY

Born Sean Paul Henriques on January 8, 1973, the multi-ethnic Paul (his parents had Portuguese, Chinese, and Jamaican forebears) grew up in St. Andrew, Jamaica, where his mother was a renowned painter.  Although his education was enough to land him 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, founding contacts in several members of the Jamaican 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”. He followed that up with playing 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 collecting many of Paul’s previous hit singles and compilation cuts, plus a few brand-new tracks.
Dutty Rock (2002) and The Trinity (2005) were extremely successful. Both albums peaked in the Top Ten of the album chart and featured a handful of mainstream smashes. His 2009 release Imperial Blaze featured the singles “So Fine” and “Hold My Hand”, the latter a duet with Keri Hilson. Odyssey Mixtape dropped in 2011 and was followed a year later by Tomahawk Technique, a more pop and dance-oriented album with production from the likes of Stargate, DJ Ammo, and Benny Blanco. In 2012, he collaborated with CongoRock and Stereo Massive on the single “Bless Di Nation”. In 2013, he announced details of Full Frequency, his sixth studio album, which was released in early 2014. The singles “Other Side of Love”, “Entertainment”, “Turn It Up”, and “Want Dem All” were released in preparation for the record.

Sean Paul has a long history of recording hit duets, including the remix of Estelle’s “Come on Over”, preceded by “Give It Up To Me” with Keyshia Cole, “Break It Off” with Rihanna, “Baby Boy” with Beyonce, and “Give It to You Girl” with Eve in addition of
Being heavily featured on numerous tracks with some stellar names such as Sia (“Cheap Thrills”), Santana, Busta Rhymes, R Kelly, Major Lazer (“Come On To Me”) and recently with Clean Bandit “Rockabye”.
On November 18, 2016, he released the lead single off his upcoming seventh studio album, “No Lie” featuring Dua Lipa