About Sean Paul
Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques OD is a Jamaican dancehall deejay. He released his first album, Stage One, in 2000. However, it was in 2002 that he gained international fame after releasing his next album, Dutty Rock. The single "Get Busy" topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, as did "Temperature" , off his third album, The Trinity. Paul frequently invokes the nickname "Sean da Paul", originating from the similarity between his stage name and cricketer Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
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 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-Jamaican.
Paul was raised as a Catholic, though he also attended the Jewish private school, Hillel Academy in Jamaica. Several members of his family are swimmers. His grandfather was on the first Sri Lankan 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.
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