About Sean Paul
Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques OD is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall singer and rapper. Paul's first album, Stage One, was released in 2000. He gained international fame with his second album, Dutty Rock, in 2002. Its single "Get Busy" topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, as did "Temperature", off his third album, The Trinity .
Paul frequently invokes the nickname "Chanderpaul", originating from the similarity between his first two names and cricketer Shivnarine Chanderpaul. In the Vice documentary The Story of 'Get Busy' by Sean Paul, when asked "How did you become 'Sean Da Paul'", Paul recalls how others would call him Chan-der-paul, and the name stuck. He then started saying it in shows and recordings.
Most of his albums have been nominated for Grammy Awards for Best Reggae Album, with Dutty Rock winning the award. Paul has been featured in many other singles, including chart-toppers "Baby Boy" by Beyoncé, "Breathe" by Blu Cantrell, "What About Us" by The Saturdays, "Rockabye" by Clean Bandit, "Cheap Thrills" by Sia, and "Fuego" by DJ Snake. "Cheap Thrills" and "Rockabye", along with Paul's own "No Lie" , each have over 1 billion views on YouTube, with "Rockabye" having reached over 2.7 billion views.
Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques was born in Kingston on 9 January 1973. His mother Frances, a painter, is of White English and Chinese Jamaican descent. His Portuguese paternal great-grandfather's Sephardic Jewish family emigrated from Portugal to Jamaica in the 17th century, while his paternal grandmother was Afro-European. Paul's father, Garth Henriques, was believed to be descended from Portuguese horse thieves who were fleeing from bounty hunters in a ship that sank in Jamaica.
Paul was raised as a Catholic, although he also attended the Jewish private school Hillel Academy in Jamaica. Several members of his 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 Paul's mother was a butterfly swimmer. When Paul was 15, his father was arrested on charges of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in prison; he was released for good behavior when Paul was 19.
Paul played for the national water polo team from the age of 13 to 21, when he gave up the sport in order to launch his musical career. He attended Wolmer's Boys' School and the College of Arts, Science, and Technology, now known as the University of Technology, where he was trained in commerce with an aim of pursuing an occupation in swimming. In 1992, Paul worked as a bank teller and enrolled in a hotel-management program, learning the basics of French cuisine.
Map & Directions To Venue
