Shaggy was a powerlifting champion, personal trainer and ‘celebrity dad everybody in city loved’
DAUGHTER PAYS TRIBUTE TO FITNESS FANATIC FATHER AFTER HE DIES AGED 56
“EXTREMELY charismatic and funny” is how a daughter will remember her powerlifting champion dad following his death.
Shaggy, The Body Technician, also known as Shaggy Wizard, suffered a heart attack on July 28, aged just 56.
Shaggy, who won the World DrugFree Powerlifting Federation European Championships, moved to Derby almost three decades ago from Vauxhall, London, where he was born. He quickly settled in the city and became a legend to many through his work as a personal trainer.
Taniqa Griffith-Browne, Shaggy’s eldest daughter, spoke about what made her dad so special.
She said: “His character was like no other. He was extremely charismatic, he was funny. You’d have to have a thick skin around him.
“He was huge. His party trick was that he could stand a pint glass on his pecs because his chest muscles were that big.
“But underneath all of that he was so soft. He trained a lot of children, a lot of boys with anger issues and trained them to put that into constructiveness and fitness.
“He helped a lot of people change their bodies, not just physically, but mentally as well and he was extremely selfless which added to his end really.”
As a personal trainer, Shaggy was infamous for his militant style and was known to keep a bucket near his client’s workout.
Taniqa said: “When he makes you work out, he pushes every boundary that you’ve got and a lot of people are sick after the session.
“He had a whole thing, you haven’t had a good session until you are sick
in the bin.”
Taniqa said Shaggy’s health had been deteriorating for a while.
She said: “He resorted to fitness sessions over Zoom through Covid and he was actually sitting down and dictating what they do because he couldn’t do it physically, but he could still pass on his knowledge.
“It was just kind of ironic how he was physically so strong, he looked after himself, he was healthy but his body failed him.”
She said at one time he trained dance troop Diversity.
Shaggy leaves behind three daughters. Reflecting on her father, Taniqa said: “He was your celebrity dad that everybody loved and when he came and picked you up you would live the high life.” Shaggy’s funeral will be taking place on Friday, September 3. Taniqa said that she doesn’t plan on attending the funeral and instead wants to host a memorial event to her father for all the people who knew him in Derby.
Taniqa is raising funds for the memorial event on Go Fund Me.
She said: “I feel obliged to do something for all the people in Derby who can’t attend in London.
“I’ve decided not to go to the funeral and host something in Derby on the same day and have the funeral live-streamed so that we can all be part of it because there are so many people that are going to miss out with the location.”
His party trick was that he could stand a pint glass on his pecs...his muscles were that big. Taniqa Griffith-Browne