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A lot has been written and said about an “unlikely friendship” between Shaggy and Sting, the duo who won the Grammy in the Best Reggae Album category in 2019 for the album 44/876. They have subsequently toured together and even released another album Com Fly Wid Mi – a reggae version of Frank Sinatra’s classic songs – which was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Reggae Album category in 2023.
“On paper, it might seem unlikely, but when you see us together it looks natural. One song evolved into what became an album ... world tour ... Grammy win. We talk every week. It’s a brotherhood,” Shaggy told The Sunday Gleaner.
“We kinda recognised each other,” Sting added.
Shaggy shared that he has always been a fan of rock band the Police. Sting was their frontman, principal songwriter and bassist from 1977 until their breakup in 1986.
“The Police took the world by storm. When Sting came to Jamaica to perform at Shaggy and Friends, I did his set list because I knew which Police songs were popular here,” Shaggy explained.
The dynamic duo have teamed up again for a new single, Til A Mawnin, which was officially released last Friday, along with an accompanying music video. A high-energy celebration of reggae-dancehall sound system culture, it definitely hits the right notes, with fans gushing that “it looks like summer is arriving early this year!” and dropping a bag of fire emojis.
And, yes there is an “unlikely” element to this song, and this makes it even sweeter.
Sting croons in the most authentic way:
When my sound play big tunes, lighters in the air
The vibes up in the street and that’s just how, it feels
When reggae music play can’t help but move your feet
Pull up the vibes cause the music is sweet, yeah
Shaggy got lyrics to spit on this beat, yeah
One fan summed up the “unlikeliness” when she posted on YouTube, “In all my life, never thought I’d hear Sting say ‘Lighters in the air’.”
Sting, noting that he took precise instructions from Shaggy about the delivery of his lines, was full of praise for the song, which borrows from the catalogue of one of the architects of Jamaican music, Henry ‘Junjo’ Lawes.
“I’m always grateful for Shaggy’s information. My knowledge of West Indian music comes from calypso, ska, blue beats … that was all part of my growing up. But I didn’t know about this catalogue until Shaggy introduced me to it … and I love it. I feel that it is fantastic. Shaggy gave me this melody … and it is [a] joyful song, and that is what the world needs now,” said Sting.
Reaching into the musical past to construct a memorable future is an art form that Shaggy has excelled at. Just look at what he did with Oh Carolina, the Prince Buster-produced, Folkes Brothers 1958 landmark single, which he covered and was released in January 1993 as the lead single from his début album, Pure Pleasure (Virgin/Greensleeves Records).
The song became an international hit following its use in the 1993 film Sliver. It spent two weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart in March 1993 and received major crossover airplay on alternative rock radio, in the US. Oh Carolina peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song’s success, reports say, “returned reggae music to mainstream popularity in the UK”.
Oh Carolina was distributed by VP Records and, there must be something good about this relationship with the record label because decades later, VP Records is tapped to distribute Til A Mawnin.
“I’ve been friends with Chris [Chin, CEO of VP] for years. VP’s history goes back way before me … South Parade, Randy’s, Bob Marley. VP embodies the culture of Jamaican music – reggae and dancehall – they understand it best. They also own Junjo Lawes’ catalogue,” Shaggy told The Sunday Gleaner.
Lawes was a highly influential Jamaican record producer and sound engineer.
According to his bio, Lawes, who was born in Waterhouse, began working as a producer in the late 1970s doing projects with reggae, dancehall and dub artistes such as Linval Thompson, Scientist, Toyan, Barrington Levy, Don Carlos, Frankie Paul and Yellowman, for his Volcano record label and popular sound system of the same name. He used the Roots Radics as his regular studio band. Lawes served a prison term in the United States after being convicted of drug-related charges in the mid-1980s. He later worked with Beenie Man and Ninja Man. On June 14, 1999, he was shot dead in a drive-by in Harlesden, northwest London. The case remains unsolved.
Written by Shaggy, Sting and Henry Lawes, Til A Mawnin was produced by Shaggy and Shane Hoosong, mixed by four-time Grammy Award winner, Robert Orton and mastered by Gene Grimaldi at Oasis Mastering.
On March 11, Sting and Shaggy will perform Til A Mawnin on The Tonight Show followed by a co-headlining performance at the Reggae Rise Up Festival on March 13 in St Petersburg, Florida.
English (US) ·