Shaggy, a Jamaican-American reggae rapper and songwriter famous for his breakout hit single “It Wasn’t Me” in 2000, is also a U.S. military veteran. He served in the Gulf War with the Marine Corps as Orville Richard Burrell.
Early Life of Shaggy
Born Oct. 22, 1968, in Kingston, Jamaica, he was nicknamed "Shaggy" by his friends after the cartoon dog from "Scooby Doo."
He was raised by his grandmother, who had eclectic musical tastes. Listening to the radio and playing with her records provided young Shaggy with his earliest forays into a lifelong love for music. He became a fan not only of reggae but also ska, dancehall and rhythm and blues. He also once told an interviewer he got into music to impress girls.
A turning point came during a performance by Jamaican dance-hall DJ King Yellowman. Shaggy decided at that moment that he, too, would become a performer.
Shaggy left Jamaica for the United States in 1986 when he turned 18, joining his mother in Brooklyn. As soon as he arrived in New York, he began actively pursuing a music career. He found success quickly. Two singles, "Mampie" and "Big Up," hit No. 1 on the New York reggae charts, but he was still unknown in the wider music world.
Shaggy’s Military Service
After spending a tough year in New York trying to find work, Shaggy enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1988 as a way to get out of New York's Flatbush neighborhood and find some stability.
Two years later, he found himself in the Gulf War. In 1990, he was sent to the Persian Gulf.
- Unit: Marine Corps' 5th Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment
- MOS: Artilleryman
- Years of service: 1988-1992
- Deployment: December 1990 to April 1991 in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Shaggy would leave the Marines as a lance corporal after being demoted twice for unauthorized absences; he kept leaving his duty station to work on his music career in New York.
"The Marines [were] a good setup for everything I was about to encounter in life that I didn't," Shaggy told Billboard's web series "Growing Up."
He had no idea how right he was.
Music Career
In a roundabout way, it was actually his military service that helped boost Shaggy’s music career. To ease the tension of drills, he said in a video posted to TikTok that he used to mock drill instructors’ booming voices.
“The drill instructors would go, 'Yeah, boy, drop and give it 20; let's go, boy,' and I would mock him as a form of joking because it motivated, you know, your platoon,” Shaggy recalled.
Later, he would use that voice in his songs, such as his 1993 hit “'Oh Carolina.”
"I just sang that song in that voice because it sounded cool,” Shaggy said. “All of a sudden, 'Oh Carolina' blew up, and I'm faced with this situation that I'm going to have to sing every song like that."
At 25 years old, he had developed a signature voice and style. The single, which became one of the biggest hit singles in U.K. history, was part of his debut album "Pure Pleasure."
His fifth studio album, "Hot Shot," which included “It Wasn’t Me,” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100.
Musical Achievements
In 2019, he won a Grammy for Best Reggae Album for “44/876,” a collaboration with Sting.
It was this impromptu vocal training that would lead to 17 studio albums, 11 top-10 singles and 40 million albums sold.
After "Oh Carolina" came "Boombastic" and "In the Summertime." His 2000 album "Hot Shot," which included hit songs "It Wasn't Me," "Luv Me Luv Me" and "Angel," went diamond (at least 10 million sales) worldwide and platinum (one million sales or more) six times in the United States. King Yellowman, the dance-hall DJ who inspired his musical career, is now a close friend.
And Shaggy doesn't just attribute his distinctive singing voice to his time in the Marine Corps, but his work ethic as well.
"The military prepared me for that. So I would get up really early in the morning, I would work really, really late. And it's just that kind of discipline," he recalled in a 2020 interview. "People say you go to the military to learn to fire a gun; I went to the military to learn to balance my checkbook. That's what that taught me to do."
- 2019 winner, Grammy, Best Reggae Album for "44/876"
- 1996 winner, Grammy, Best Reggae Album for "Boombastic"
- 2001 winner, Teen Choice Award, Music - Choice R&B/Hip-Hop Artist
- 2001 winner, Teen Choice Award, Music - Choice Love Song for the song "Angel"
- 2002 winner, Juno, Best Selling Album (Foreign or Domestic), for the album "Hot Shot"
- 2001 winner, MOBO Award, Best Reggae Act
Where Is Shaggy Now?
Shaggy married Rebecca Packer in 2014 and has three daughters with her, as well as two sons from a previous relationship.
Musically, he has been working on more collaborations, including teaming in 2021 with Sean Paul and Spice for "Go Down Deh," which was featured on Spice's debut album “10,” according to E! Online magazine.
In June 2025, The Sun newspaper reported Shaggy is working on another collaboration with Sting.
In between, in 2022, Shaggy received an honorary doctor of fine arts degree from Brown University for his status as a “reggae icon” and U.S. Marine veteran.
"The clarity I have now, I didn't have in my younger days," he told E! magazine. "I had youth and an incredible ride, but the knowledge I have now is amazing. As long as your health is great, you'll enjoy your older days. And passion -- you've got to have passion."
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