Photo: Getty Images North America
Fans were extremely surprised to hear Shaggy's real voice "for the first time" during an interview that the "Angel" artist shared to TikTok on March 8th. Orville Richard Burrell (a.k.a Shaggy) is known around the globe for his signature sound present throughout hits like, "It Wasn't Me" and "Boombastic," but that's not the artist's real voice.
So, how exactly did Shaggy adopt this unique sound?
According to Daily Mail, the 55-year-old standout lived in Kingston, Jamaica until he was 18, and moved to New York with his mother. He joined the United States Armed Forces as a Marine in 1988, just five years before the release of his debut album, Pure Pleasure.
During the TikTok, Shaggy explains that his signature voice was derived from mocking drill sergeants during his time as an artilleryman with the Marines.
"I got this voice by mocking drill instructors in the military, 'cause in the marines, the drill instructors would go 'yeah boy drop and give me 20, lets go boy' and I would mock them as a form of joking because it motivated your platoon."
And once "the signature Shaggy voice" took off, there was no stopping it!
"I just sang that song in that voice because you know... it sounded cool. And all of a sudden 'Oh Carolina' blew up and now I'm faced with the situation that now I'm gonna have to sing every song like that."
He went on to describe that his music catalog features a variety of tones; a few where he uses his mock drill sergeant voice, and a few where he omits it. Singles such as, "Big Up," and "Mampie," featured in his debut album, do not use the voice, whereas singles like "Oh Carolina" and 2000's Hot Shot track "It Wasn't Me" do.
Fans sounded off in the comment section of the post, absolutely shocked to hear what the artist sounded like in real life.
"So, we all just hearing shaggy real voice for the first time," one comment said. Another TikTok user was stunned that Shaggy didn't use that voice all of the time. "Shaggy doesn't just like...sound like that all of the time??"
Fans can listen to the tonal variety present throughout Shaggy's extensive discography on iHeartRadio now!