Sean Paul
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) 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. His father Garth is Portuguese and his mother is of Afro-Caribbean and Chinese descent, although both were born in Jamaica.
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.
Many members of Sean Paul's family are swimmers. His grandfather was on the first Jamaican men's national water polo team. 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.
Sean Paul played for the national water polo team from the age of thirteen to twenty-one. However, he gave up the sport in order to launch his 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". 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.
Sean Paul has been activley involved in the reggaeton movement through collaborations with various artists such as Daddy Yankee and Tego Calderon.
