Orville Richard Burrell (stage name Shaggy) was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1968. His parents moved to the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City soon after his birth and as a result Burrell was raised primarily in Flatbush, a vibrant multiethnic community that has produced a number of successful recording artists including Talib Kweli and Busta Rhymes. Burrell’s friends nicknamed him “Shaggy” in high school because his hair resembled that of the character Shaggy from the cartoon Scooby Doo; he ended up using this as his stage name later on in his singing career.

At the age of 20 Shaggy joined the United States Marine Corps, serving with distinction in the first Gulf War. He developed his deep, playful singing voice while singing Marine cadences during long marches. Upon his honorable discharge from the Marines following the Gulf War, Shaggy decided to seriously pursue a music career. He settled in Valley Stream, New York in 1993 and signed to a record deal with Virgin Records soon after. He released two successful dancehall albums on Virgin Records during this period, 1993’s Pure Pleasure and 1995’s Boombastic, but was dropped from the label after his third album Midnite Lover failed to sell. Standout tracks from this period include "Oh Carolina", "In The Summertime", and "Luv Me, Luv Me".

Though the lackluster success of Midnight Lover in 1997 might have derailed his career, Shaggy made a comeback in 2001 by releasing his fourth album Hot Shot on MCA. Hot Shot has sold over six million units in the United States, due mainly to the success of singles "It Wasn’t Me" and "Angel" His next two albums, 2002's Lucky Day and 2005's Clothes Drop failed to sell, and yet again Shaggy's career looked like it had taken a turn for the worse .

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