Emerging in the early '90s, Shaggy was the biggest crossover success in dancehall reggae. Not only did he become the genre's most commercially potent artist in the international market, he was also more than just a typical flash in the pan, managing to sustain a career over the course of several highly popular albums. Perhaps in part because he wasn't based in Jamaica, he never really needed to have it both ways: virtually ignoring the hardcore dancehall crowd, his music was unabashedly geared toward good times, a friendly (if horny) persona, and catchy party anthems. He wasn't shy about lifting hooks wholesale from pop hits of the past, a chart-ready blueprint similar to that of hip-hop stars like Puff Daddy, but he also had fairly eclectic tastes, giving his records a musical variety lacking from other dancehall stars. As a result, he became one of the scant few reggae artists to top the album and pop singles charts in America, not to mention numerous other countries where he's had even greater success.

Shaggy was born Orville Richard Burrell on October 22, 1968, in Kingston, Jamaica, and was nicknamed after the Scooby-Doo character. At age 18, he joined his mother in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn, New York, and soon began performing with the local Jamaican-style sound system Gibraltar Musik. A steady income proved to be a more pressing matter, however, and in 1988 Shaggy joined the Marines.

Shaggy still had obligations to the military, and his budding career was interrupted by Operation Desert Storm in 1991; he was sent to Kuwait for a five-month tour of duty. After returning to Camp Lejeune, Shaggy resumed his sessions in New York, and waxed a cover of the Folkes Brothers' ska hit "Oh Carolina." Originally recorded for Prince Buster's label, the song was given a modern dancehall update complete with a prominent "Peter Gunn" sample. At first, "Oh Carolina" was simply another local hit, but thanks to some overseas promotion, it was picked up for release in the U.K. by Greensleeves in late 1992. It was an instant smash, vaulting all the way to the top of the British pop charts early the next year and doing the same in several other European countries.

Now firmly a star in Europe, Shaggy went on to conquer the U.S. with his next album, 1995's Boombastic. The title track was an inescapable hit, selling over a million copies; it reached number three on the pop charts and number one on the R&B charts, and also became his second U.K. chart-topper. "In the Summertime," the flip side of the American single release of "Boombastic," climbed into the U.K. Top Five as a follow-up. Meanwhile, the album went platinum, nearly reaching the R&B Top Ten, and spent a full year at number one on Billboard's reggae album chart; it also won a Grammy for Best Reggae Album. A third single, "Why You Treat Me So Bad," featured guest rapper Grand Puba and nearly reached the British Top Ten in 1996, but failed to make much of an impact stateside.

Shaggy followed his breakout success with an extensive world tour, consolidating his European following, and recorded a hit duet with Maxi Priest, "That Girl," in 1996. He returned to solo action in 1997 with the Midnite Lover album. The first single, a dancehall version of Big Brother & the Holding Company's "Piece of My Heart" featuring duet partner Marsha, was a relative flop in the U.S., though it had some international success. Similarly, the album was a commercial disappointment, and Virgin, assuming that Shaggy's moment had passed (as it quickly had for many of dancehall's crossover hitmakers), dropped him from its roster.

Undaunted, Shaggy turned to movie soundtracks to keep his name in the public eye. He appeared on a minor hit duet with Janet Jackson, "Luv Me, Luv Me," from the soundtrack of How Stella Got Her Groove Back in 1998, and followed it by contributing the solo cut "Hope" to For Love of the Game in 1999. By this time, he was able to land a new deal with MCA, and rewarded them with one of the biggest-selling reggae albums ever. Released in 2000, Hot Shot started off slowly as its lead single, "Dance and Shout," flopped in the States. However, a radio DJ in Hawaii downloaded the track "It Wasn't Me" (featuring Rik Rok) from Napster, and began playing it on his show. Soon it was a national hit, rocketing up the pop charts and hitting number one in early 2001; naturally, it did likewise in the U.K. and many other European countries. Its follow-up, "Angel" — a rewrite of the country hit "Angel of the Morning," featuring Rayvon on vocals — also went straight to number one in the U.S. and U.K. Hot Shot, meanwhile, spent six weeks at number one on the album charts and eventually sold over six million copies in the U.S. alone — an almost unheard-of figure for a reggae release.

While Shaggy prepared his follow-up album, more pieces of product hit the market in 2002: Virgin put out Mr. Lover Lover: The Best of Shaggy, Vol. 1, a compilation covering his years at the label, while MCA issued a remix album, Hot Shot Ultramix. Before the end of the year, Shaggy released his new album, Lucky Day, which was loosely designed as a respectful tribute to womankind. Its first two singles, "Hey Sexy Lady" and "Strength of a Woman," didn't fare well in the U.S., but the album sold respectably well, going gold by year's end and charting in the Top 30 on both the pop and R&B listings. In 2005 he returned with Clothes Drop, this time on the Geffen label. Early in 2007 his "Church Heathen" single began dominating the dancehall scene thanks in part to its video starring the legendary Ninjaman as a priest. The big hit single landed on Shaggy's album Intoxication, released that same year. In 2011 he returned with the single "Sugarcane" and the EP Summer in Kingston. Both were released on his own label.

Shaggy is also widely known for his philanthropic efforts which raise millions of dollars for the Bustamante Hospital for Children.

Shaggy was introduced to the Bustamante Hospital for Children whilst visiting a friend’s son who had been admitted there. He was so moved by what he saw, that he vowed to do whatever he could to make things better there for Jamaica’s children. This visit opened Shaggy’s eyes to the obstacles children faced with receiving medical care in Jamaica and the region, it being the only full service children’s hospital in the English speaking Caribbean, he resolved that something had to be done in order to improve the conditions there. For eight years he quietly made personal donations of medical equipment, which the hospital desperately needed, such as:

2001- two (2) Ventilators

2002- Electroencephalogram (EEG) Machine

2003- Table Top Sterilizing Machine

2005- Funded the Upgrade of the Medical Oxygen System

2006- Funded the Beautification of the Administrative Block

2008- Collaborated with Scotiabank to create a park & recreation area

To Date The Shaggy Make a Difference Foundation has raised a total of just over US$1,000,000 (J$90 Million) for the hospital, and has covered the costs for an overall audit to be done on all medical equipment (working or otherwise) at the Bustamante Hospital (June - July, 2011). In addition, the Foundation has donated two (2) new fully equipped dental chairs for the hospital’s Dental Unit, as the existing unit was forced closed for several months due to non-functional dental chairs. The new chairs were delivered and installed earlier last year along with 378 pieces of medical equipment.

Singer

Tessanne Chin is NBC's 'THE VOICE 2013"

Tessanne Chin is a reggae fusion recording artist, with a solo album In Between Words and is known for her hit singles "Hideaway", "Messenger" and "Black Books." She is the fresh soulful voice of a new generation of musical talent that has come out of Jamaica. Her sultry fusion of dancehall and reggae with edgy rock riffs mixed with the honest, heartfelt and conscious lyrics she pens herself, creates a musical style that is uniquely her own. And now with the title of The Voice 2013, her powerful vocals, and extraordinary stage presence have been showcased internationally.

She comes from a family steeped in music - her mother was the trumpeter and singer in her band called the Carnations and her father was the drummer. The family owns a recording studio in Jamaica.

Tessanne started performing when she was six years old with Cathy Levy's "Little People and Teen Players Club", one of Jamaica's top performing arts schools. Most of her vocal coaching came from her mother and also from noted vocal coach Lecie Wright. She learned firsthand about cultural diversity when she moved to England at age 12, where she coped with the move by devoting a lot of time to writing songs.

She has opened for musical icons such as Patti Labelle, Peabo Bryson and Gladys Knight, and toured for 3 years with Jimmy Cliff, recorded with superstar Shaggy and collaborated with many artistes including Trinidad and Tobago's KES. In 2013, she took part in season 5 of the American singing competition The Voice as part of Adam Levine's Team.

Reggae Legend

Jimmy Cliff was reggae's first international star and remains its greatest living ambassador, having taken the music of Jamaica to all corners of the world. He had hits outside of Jamaica as far back as 1969, when "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" reached Number Six in Britain and Number 25 in the U.S. Yet his career breakthrough came in the Seventies, with the release of the soundtrack to The Harder They Come. That album served as a primer on reggae music for the uninitiated, and half of its tracks were by Jimmy Cliff. They included three songs that have become reggae standards: the ebullient "You Can Get It If You Really Want," the anthemic "The Harder they Come" and the hymn-like "Many Rivers to Cross."

In addition to writing and singing those songs, Cliff starred in the ?lm. The Harder They Come was the first feature film written and directed by a Jamaican and shot on location using an all-native cast. Cliff played a budding singer from the Jamaican countryside who gets caught up in the renegade world of drugs and violence in the slums of Kingston. The movie became a huge success in Jamaica and a cult classic elsewhere. The soundtrack, released in America on Chris Blackwell's Mango label (a subsidiary of his Island Records) in 1973, proved to be a steady seller, though it didn't enter Billboard's album chart until March 1975 - still a full two months before Bob Marley and the Wailers first cracked the U.S. charts with Natty Dread.

Jimmy Cliff was born James Chambers in St. James, Jamaica. He adopted the stage name "Cliff" to acknowledge the heights he intended to climb. His First recordings date back to 1962, and two of his songs ("Ska All Over the World," "Trust No Man") were included on a 1964 anthology, The Real Jamaican Ska, released in the U.S. on Epic Records. Hooking up with legendary Jamaican producer Leslie Kong, Cliff unleashed a string of hit singles in his homeland throughout the Sixties, including "Hurricane Hattie," "Miss Jamaica" and "King of Kings." He was among those chosen to represent Jamaica at the 1964 World's Fair in New York.

Blackwell groomed Cliff to be the artist who would break reggae into the international mainstream. Cliff moved to London for a period to further that goal. Hard Road to Travel, his first British album, was released in 1968, and the Top 10 success of "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" followed the next year. His controversial 1970 single "Viet Nam" was a minor British hit. That same year, his version of Cat Stevens' "Wild World" - with Stevens producing and playing piano - went to Number Eight in the U.K. A cover of Cliff's "You Can Get It if You Really Want" by Desmond Dekker, his friend and fellow Jamaican singer, soared to Number Two on the British charts in 1970 - a few years before the inclusion of Cliff's original version in The Harder They Come. Cliff's 1972 single "Trapped" was also produced by Cat Stevens. Subsequently covered by Bruce Springsteen, it received great exposure from its inclusion on the We Are the World charity album from 1985.

His last album for Island Records was 1973's Struggling Man, at which point he signed with Reprise and embarked on a period of stylistic experimentation that included such albums as Another Cycle (a soul/pop album cut at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios), Unlimited and Brave Warrior. One of the standouts in his catalog, Give Thankx (1978), included the militant anthem "Stand Up and Fight Back." In the early Eighties, he returned to rootsy reggae on Give the People What They Want (1981) and Special (1982). The latter album, his first for Columbia Records, was recorded at Channel One Studios in Kingston with some of Jamaica's best producers and engineers. Cliff dubbed his touring band Oneness, and they performed all over the world, including Africa.

Cliff returned to movies with his appearance in the 1985 comedy Club Paradise (starring Robin Williams), set in the Caribbean. Cliff and Oneness toured with head-liner Steve Winwood in 1986. In 1993, Cliff's recording of Johnny Nash's early-Seventies hit "I Can See Clearly Now" - included on the soundtrack of Cool Runnings, a film about the Jamaican bobsledding team - became a Top 20 hit.

Jimmy Cliff's role as a reggae pioneer was celebrated in 2003 with a Deluxe Edition reissue of The Harder They Come and a two-disc Jimmy Cliff Anthology.

"My role has always been as the shepherd of reggae music," Cliff has noted. "When they wanted to bring reggae to America, they sent Jimmy Cliff. When they wanted to bring reggae to England, they sent Jimmy Cliff. When they wanted to bring reggae to Africa, they sent Jimmy Cliff."

Boxing Legend

Lennox Lewis has accomplished more in one boxing career than most people can imagine. He is known for his calculated fighting style and grace in the ring. Muhammad Ali famously said to Lewis, "You're the greatest one there is, like me." George Foreman has described Lewis as "beyond doubt, the greatest heavyweight of all time." Lewis' decision to retire as the reigning heavyweight champion of the world in 2004 re-affirmed his reputation as a man who makes decisions for himself and sticks to his principles.

Lewis retired with an impressive record of 41 wins - 2 losses - 1 draw, 32 wins by knockout. Before turning pro, Lewis held a remarkable amateur record of 85-9, which he capped with a gold medal for Team Canada at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

After turning professional in 1989, Lewis went on to gain the European title in 1990 and the British Commonwealth Heavyweight title in 1992. He was officially crowned the WBC Heavyweight Champion in January of 1993. In November 1999 Lewis and Evander Holyfield met once again in the ring after their earlier fight ended in a controversial draw. This time Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield to become the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World, unifying the WBC, WBA, IBO and IBF titles. Along with Muhammad Ali and Evander Holyfield before him, Lewis is one of three boxers in history to have won the heavyweight championship three times. The crowning moment in his career came in June 2002 when Lewis ceremoniously defeated Mike Tyson. The Lewis/Tyson 2002 fight was the highest grossing pay-per-view professional boxing fight for five years.

Lewis's athletic accomplishments have been acknowledged with numerous international honors. In 1988 his adopted home of Canada awarded him a CM - Member of the Order of Canada. The Order of Canada is the centrepiece of Canada's honours system and recognizes a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation. In 2002 he was honored by his birth country of England when Queen Elizabeth II awarded him a CBE - Commander in the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. The CBE is an esteemed honor for a British citizen, just one rank below knighthood. In 2008, Lewis was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the World Boxing Council's Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame. In June 2009, Lewis was also inducted in his first year of eligibility into the revered International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Lewis keeps busy with business ventures and charitable projects. He is a major contributor to the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky, and lent his talent and expertise to build a new Canadian youth boxing center in Kitchener Waterloo named in honor of his amateur boxing coach Arnie Boehm. He sponsored a youth chess team, which eventually won the US national championship before graduating. He is an annual supporter of countless charities which focus primarily on youth issues, including the Rotary Club of Grand River's Downtown Mudpuppy Chase for KidsAbility Centre. Lewis did national public service announcements against domestic violence in the UK and in the US for Do Something. He also contributed to Chicken Soup for the Soul for Preteens with a chapter on overcoming challenges in youth.

Lewis has made several television appearances, including Late Night with David Letterman. Among many others, he has had cameo roles in the film Ocean's Eleven and the TV show Entourage. His film career includes a starring role in the independent feature, Johnny Was, and several producing credits. In 2008, he finished fourth out of 14 on Donald Trump's first airing of the Celebrity Apprentice. He was a ringside boxing analyst for HBO's Boxing After Dark for four years. In 2011, he received an honorary doctor of laws degree at the fall convocation of Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada

Lewis and his wife Violet are the proud parents of Landon, Ling, Leya and Leviah. In his spare time, he is passionate about boxing, chess, poker, and improving his golf game.