No man can be happy without a friend, nor be sure of his friend 'til he is unhappy.-
Thomas Fuller

Misha Lobban, Gleaner Writer

Grammy award-winning recording artiste Shaggy (Orville Richard Burrell) is one of the most successful dancehall artistes and an ambassador for Jamaica's reggae music.

With more than a decade in the music business, six albums and two multi-platinum, five No.1 hits, and 11 top 10 singles worldwide, he remains a driving force and a dancehall hit on the international stage.

Shaggy entered the music scene in 1993 with his first major hit, a remix of the ska classic, Oh Carolina, and soon after, with the platinum selling Boombastic, which made him a dancehall hit and earned him the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album.

His Hotshot album became the best-selling album in 2001, sold more than 13 million copies worldwide and topped the charts in the US, UK, Germany and Australia simultaneously. The album was seven times platinum certified in Canada and six times platinum in the US. The two phenomenal singles on the Hotshot album were It Wasn't Me and Angel. In 2007, he released another huge hit single, Church Heathen, followed by the full-length album, Intoxication, which has been doing very well all over the world.

Shaggy is widely recognised as one of few reggae artistes who continue to have a fresh new record that create waves on the reggae/dancehall scene. To date, he has sold more than 20 million albums and he continues to break barriers in reggae music.

The world-famous reggae artiste has also been using his fame to help make a difference to humanity. On January 3, 2009, he will stage a concert with a line-up of popular entertainers to raise US$2 million for the Bustamante Hospital for Children.

One of his closest friends is entertainer Red Fox (Gareth Shelton). Fox began honing his musical skills while attending St Catherine High School but got his professional break after migrating to New York City. He was a regular act at every major New York nightclub and went on to form the dancehall group, Ruff Entry Crew, with other New York-based dancehall artistes, such as Nikey Fungus, Mr Easy, Ravon, Screechy Dan and Shaggy.

He has recorded many hits, including the dancehall classic, Bashment Party with Ravon, on Dave Kelly's Mad House Records; Black Starline with the rap group Brand Nubians, and Wine Yuh Body with the king of Calypso, Arrow. His debut album, As A Matter of Fox, helped to bridge the gap between dancehall and hip hop with hit tracks such as Dem a Murderer and Ghetto Gospel. For more than eight years, he toured with reggae superstar, Maxi Priest, performing throughout South America, Asia, Australia, Africa and Europe.

In this week's feature, Red Fox tells us of Shaggy's generous spirit, his love for people and his dedication to help the poor and to serve humanity. He also shares his admiration for Shaggy's success and his strength in representing dancehall with class and intelligence.

How did you meet Shaggy,and how long have you been friends?

Our first encounter was in 1988. I had just released my first record, Come Boogie Down, and I was like the hot DJ in New York at the time, performing at clubs and all over. I was performing at a party one day and Shaggy was there and he took the mic and came on stage to battle me. After that we really bonded because of Paul Lee, who is now his tour manager. He was like the bridge between Shaggy and me because he would invite me over to his house where I would hang out with Shaggy and we would play music, deejay and just challenge each other. Eventually, we became like brothers, partying, performing and just playing music together.

One day he told me he was leaving to join the US Marines, but he was very interested in making it as a dancehall artiste, and I told him I would help by putting him on any shows that I was doing, etc. He was stationed in North Carolina but whenever I was doing a show I would invite him to perform with me and he would drive for nine hours from North Carolina to New York to do these shows with me.

He had a lot of charisma and he was very talented. I could see that he would be a success and that he had the drive to do it, and that's why I was interested in helping him to make it in the business. Even when he went to the war in Kuwait he would still call me from there to find out what was happening in the music business. When he returned from the war in 1991, he wasted no time in doing his first song, Big Up, which did very well, and then he went on to do Oh Carolina, and from then it has been up.

Tell us what you admire most about him and why you think you have remained friends all these years.

He's very generous, one of the most generous persons you could ever meet. He has a love for people in a way that he is always trying to help poor people, and he will always look out for people who have potential, to help them make it in the business.

I also admire is drive to be a success. He is very responsible, disciplined and has always had a business head. But one of the greatest things I admire is that he comes from the street, but he has achieved a lot and carries himself in such a way that he represents dancehall with class and intelligence. It would make you think that he went to college, but what he has is a ton load of acquired knowledge and one has to admire that.

We are both outspoken but other than that we don't have much in common. I am a somewhat laid-back and easy-going dude but Shaggy is different, and so we create a balance for each other. Because he is responsible and has a good business head, he has helped me with my own business and there are qualities that I have that he has benefited from, like the fact that I am spiritual and love to reflect deeply on life. The balance we have just helps us to have a good friendship.

Tell us something interesting about him.

Shaggy can act and impersonate anyone! He is so gifted in doing that, it's almost spooky. He also loves to spin music. He will stand for up to two hours or just selecting and playing music.

What are some of the things you talk about when you get together?

We talk about progressing, breaking down barriers in the music business and coming up with creative ideas to take dancehall to higher heights. We talk a lot about music and he is always looking at ways to challenge himself. We also talk about life, challenges we both face and relationships.

Share with us one of the happiest moments you have experienced with him.

I am very proud of what he is doing right now to raise money for the Bustamante Hospital for Children. I watched him doing an interview the other night and he was talking about various issues, and to see how he is using his fame to raise money to help the children made me feel proud. That's what life is all about. He is discovering his purpose and serving humanity, and he is also thinking of doing other charities, and that makes me feel really good.

Tell us the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Shaggy, and why.

Highly competitive. He will always challenge himself, and even when people believe that he can't he will prove to the world that he can. He has a strong faith in himself that will make the things he want to do happen, even when people count him out.

What are his favourite food, favourite music and favourite sport?

Steamed fish from Screechy's at Hellshire or a good steak from Mac's Chop House.

Reggae/dancehall music is a given but he likes all types of music.

He's very good at table tennis and bowling.

Tell us the colour that you associate with him:

Yellow - signifying someone you'll never forget

Orange - signifying someone you consider your true friend

Red - signifying someone you really love

Green - signifying someone who has had a significant impact on your life.

All of them, but I would say green because he has had a significant impact on my life. I feel that God ordained me to be a vessel to help him when he started out in the music business, and to help him become one of the biggest dancehall singers today, and that is significant for me.

It is not easy to maintain a strong friendship because we are both artistes and the reality is that sometimes we compete against each other. For years, we had some misunderstandings because of people in the music business who, because of their negativity, caused us to have disputes and to be at war with each other, but we eventually sat down and talked about the issues and ironed things out.

We have been able to get past it and for the past two years we have been going through a healing process from the scratches and bruises. Our friendship is getting stronger and stronger every day as it heals, and I think that our relationship has been made solid by all of that. I now look at our friendship from the perspective of how we can use our talent and fame to share ideas about how we can help people and fulfil our purpose in serving humanity.

Please send your feedback and comments to lobban_misha@yahoo.com.