‘The smiles on people’s faces – it’s all that matters’
The Blast Off tour comes to the region in March and dancehall legend Shaggy is in the line-up. We chat to him
Are you excited to be heading back on the road?
Yeah! I’ve literally just got back off the road with UB40 in North America so this is a perfect time to be hitting the UK and Ireland! It [the Blast Off Tour] is a great line-up also, and as soon as I looked at the line up I said, “yeah, I definitely wanna go!”. It’s a line-up of great hits.
Nelly, Salt N Pepa, Blu Cantrell – how do you feel about these 90s & 00s big names joining you on the tour?
It’s going to be good vibes! I’ve done a couple of shows with Nelly on several occasions... I just think with the amount of amazing records these guys have got... it’s just going to be a really, really good night!
You’ve not long completed a tour with Sting! How did that come about?
I’ve known Sting for years! We have a mutual friend in common which is Martin Kierszenbaum – he was my A&R at Interscope and also Sting’s A&R at Interscope – and then Martin started managing Sting and then managed me and he just thought that we would work well together. We went into the studio to do one song and then we thought that we had a lot in common on many levels that turned into a friendship, which then developed into an album. We just couldn’t get enough of each other and the way we make music, and the laughs and the fun, we just said, “We’re gonna take this show on the road.”
Your joint album 44/876 was a massive success and also won you a Grammy – did you expect to receive such an amazing response to the album?
We didn’t know what to do with that thing because Sting & Shaggy on paper looks really weird! That’s kind of what attracted us to it anyway, the fact that no-one was really expecting it... But one thing was undeniable, which we knew would be, that once you came to a show, you would leave entertained, and if you look at most of the write-ups and reviews of the shows throughout the whole tour, people were saying that they came even though they didn’t think they would like it and they found it a little weird because they forgot how many hits we have between us and it’s the journey and soundtrack of people’s lives – and that’s what it’s all about. The smiles on people’s faces, that’s all that matters really.
You’ve had four UK number one singles. How do you find playing the UK compares to elsewhere?
I used to go over to the UK for years – it’s almost as if people thought I lived there! We’ve had a few number ones and a lot of pop records over there, which started in 1992 with Oh Carolina, which was the first dancehall record that actually went into the British chart at number one, and then we were on Top Of The Pops four times and it was the first time Dancehall really did that as well. Then we debuted at number one with Boombastic, and it was the first time for Reggae and Dancehall again. At that point, I started to circuit and get to know everyone over there so England and the whole of the UK was a big part of that time for me, and I have a lot of friends in the UK.
Your music career has spanned close to three decades – what do you find is your biggest motivation to keep making music and keep performing?
I just do music because I’m really not good at anything else! Honestly, you don’t want to see me kick a ball. Trust me, it ain’t pretty! I’ve a knack for writing great melodies and obviously we did the Sting album, we won a Grammy, three years before that we did Need Your Love which was a Top 5 single in America, which made me happy. I’m still writing songs that have relevancy within dancehall, and I write for other people also. It’s just a hobby for me, music for me is just like air after a while, and it’s just kind of what I do! I don’t have any aspirations to be any mogul or have riches – I just want to play music and be happy, that’s it.
Throughout your career, you’ve given back to your hometown community in Jamaica and to charity – how important is that to you?
For me, coming from humble beginnings to now being at this level – I played for the Queen’s birthday the other day – when you’re sitting around and dining with kings and queens, from a little kid that came from Jamaica, it’s humbling. After a while, you realise just how very fortunate you are and I don’t think that was given to me just so I could walk around drinking, partying… I have to use this platform. I have to bring people together to do something amazing. Starting up a hospital for children was what I chose to go behind because it was the only one in the English-speaking Caribbean and I realised for a hospital like that, it would mostly be children and they would be serving in the neighbourhood of about 400-500 people a day and those are huge numbers for such a small hospital. I had the ability to get sponsorship and pull people together and create these massive concerts, we made a lot of money for them. We were able to build their cardiac wing, and were very instrumental in the building of the CAT lab, and all the equipment. I’m also a brand ambassador for Food For The Poor, which is the fifth largest charity in the US. I do a lot of work with Home Base, which is a charity for the military to combat invisible wounds. It’s good to be in that position where you can put your celebrity towards something like that. I also do work with Chain Of Hope who do cardiac operations for little babies in third world countries. After a while, especially where I’m at right now where I’ve done all the partying, it’s time to do something.
You have a military background yourself – is that something that has always stuck with you, when it comes to charity?
I was in the first Gulf War so I know all about that. I don’t think you’re going to go through any war without having some sort of trauma – it just comes with it. I’m in a position where I can do a lot of work with the military, even as far as doing concerts for them and doing shows in Bosnia and Germany.
You’ve had number one albums, number one singles, toured the world… What would you say is your career highlight to date?
There’s a lot! I think meeting James Brown and him being such a really big Shaggy fan was such an out-of-body experience. Also, the whole Sting project has certainly been a highlight of my life. Michael Jackson, and Michael just being such a fan and playing at the 30th anniversary at Madison Square Garden. Going diamond is also a massive highlight. It’s been a very amazing ride; it’s been pretty good and pretty colourful.
Last but not least, what else is in the works for you?
Well, after the tour with UB40 in North America, I went straight off and did Disney’s The Little Mermaid LIVE for ABC, and now Sting and I have just shot the holiday special for Thanksgiving and Christmas, where we’ll be doing all reggae and dancehall for the opening… we’re doing Christmas carols and reggae! Sting and I might get back in the studio, as there’s a project we’re discussing, so we’ll see how that works… It’s going to be something off the wall, it seems so far-fetched, people might not understand it but that’s how we like it! When you’ve been doing things so long, you just look for things that excite you. So, a couple of projects here and there and we’ll just see how it goes!
■ The Blast Off! Tour – including Shaggy, Eve, Nelly, Salt N Pepa, Fatman Scoop, Blu Cantrell, Mya plus more – comes to arenas around the country including Nottingham Motorpoint Arena on Tuesday, March 3, and Birmingham Resorts World Arena on Thursday, March 12. Tickets: Nottingham: motorpointarenanottingham.com, 0808 164 4616, from £47.68; Birmingham: resortsworldarena.co.uk. 0844 33 88 222 from £43.75