Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques, stage name Sean Paul and also known as Sean P. (Kingston, January 9, 1973) is a Jamaican reggae and hip-hop singer. Sean Paul was born in Kingston, Jamaica and spent his early years in Upper Saint Andrew Parish, a few miles north of Kingston.
Many members of your family are swimmers. Sean Paul was part of the national water polo team from the age of 13-21, where he played matches against the Brazilian team. But he later gave up the sport in order to launch his music career.
He made a brief appearance in the film Belly (1998) where he appeared on stage singing. This is all thanks to a successful collaboration with DMX & Mr. Vegas (Top Shotter) that became the film's soundtrack. In 2000, Sean Paul released his first album, "Stage One" with VP Records.
In 2002, he began working intensively with a team of producers and choreographers in Toronto. He worked alongside Jae Blaze of Blaze Entertainment and announced the release of his second album, "Dutty Rock". Driven by the success of the singles "Gimme the Light" and "Get Busy", which reached the Billboard Hot Top 100, the album was a worldwide success, selling more than six million copies and winning the Grammy for best reggae album of the year 2003. At the same time, Sean Paul released singles such as: "Baby Boy" alongside Beyoncé, and "Breathe" with Blu Cantrell, both reaching number 1 on the American charts. Both helped further push his reputation in the United States.
Sean Paul's third album, "The Trinity" was released on September 27, 2005. The album released five major hits, "We Be Burnin'", "Ever Blazin'", "Give It Up To Me", "Never Gonna Be The Same" and "Temperature", which earned him a best-selling digital song certificate, surpassing the incredible mark of 1 million downloads.
The video for "(When You Gonna) Give It Up to Me" (featuring Keyshia Cole) was also featured in the film "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". He also won the American Music Award for the song "(When You Gonna) Give It Up To Me" beating Kanye West and Nick Lachey, who were also nominated for the award.
His song "Send It On" from the album "The Trinity" featured in the 2005 Vauxhall Corsa advertisement. Sean Paul has contributed to many artists, producing several hit singles such as "Can you do the Work" with Cecille, "Cry Baby Cry" with Carlos Santana, "Come Over" with Estelle and "Break it Off" with Rihanna. In March 2007, he returned to Jamaica to host the opening of the Cricket World Cup.
He was a friend of mine. He was one of the Cup Dutty Crew DJs. He was shot in Kingston last year, and that really touched me because we were experiencing a lot of new things. That's why I wanted to dedicate the first verse of this song to him... The second verse is a tribute to all my other friends and family who died. And in the third verse, I tried to mention the people who were missed in my life. One of them was Pedro Cargill and Stephen "Shorty" Malcolm, who were part of the Jamaica Reggae Boyz team (water polo team) that played in the World Cup in France in '98 and died in a car accident. There is also DJ Simplory who died of a heart attack in 2004 and Bogle was a popular dancer in Jamaica. Actually "Never Gonna Be The Same" talks about all the people who disappeared around me. It's to say that "without them, nothing will be the same as before. It's a very sad and moving song..."
(excerpt from the interview "R.A.P RnB" in July 2006)
NEVER GONNA BE THE SAME
The song "Never Gonna Be The Same" is very important to Sean Paul, because it talks about all the relatives and friends who passed away, among them: Daddigon, Boggle, Peter Cargill, Simplory, Shorty Malcolm, Nicole Winter, and, of course, his father.He was a friend of mine. He was one of the Cup Dutty Crew DJs. He was shot in Kingston last year, and that really touched me because we were experiencing a lot of new things. That's why I wanted to dedicate the first verse of this song to him... The second verse is a tribute to all my other friends and family who died. And in the third verse, I tried to mention the people who were missed in my life. One of them was Pedro Cargill and Stephen "Shorty" Malcolm, who were part of the Jamaica Reggae Boyz team (water polo team) that played in the World Cup in France in '98 and died in a car accident. There is also DJ Simplory who died of a heart attack in 2004 and Bogle was a popular dancer in Jamaica. Actually "Never Gonna Be The Same" talks about all the people who disappeared around me. It's to say that "without them, nothing will be the same as before. It's a very sad and moving song..." (excerpt from the interview "R.A.P RnB" in July 2006)
A THOUSAND PER HOUR
The album "Imperial Blaze" was released on August 18, 2009. The first single, "So Fine", which was produced by Stephen "Di Gênio" McGregor, debuted on Sean Paul's official website on April 26, 2009. The new album consists of 21 tracks, including "So Fine", "Press It Up", "She Want Me", "Private Party", with dance beats and also love songs like "Hold My Hand" (feat. Keri Hilson), "Lately", "Now That I’ve Got Your Love", among others. The album's producers include Don Corleone, Jeremy Harding, and 'Jigzagula, Sean Paul's brother. He appears in a video by Shaggy, titled "Save a Life", which also includes appearances from Elephant Man and Da’Ville, among others, in an effort to raise money for a children's hospital. Sean Paul stood out alongside "Jay Sean" and Lil Jon with the single "Do You Remember". Another success was the remix of "Hold My Hand" alongside Zaho, in addition to the remake of the group 2 Unlimited alongside Bob Sinclair titled "Tik Tok". In 2012, he performed two concerts on the 7th and 8th of December in Maputo, Mozambique. Sean Paul produces, and produces a lot!