Rolling Stone: Inside Sting and Shaggy's Unlikely, Caribbean-Inflected New Album...

January 24, 2018

"Sup' Sumner," says the Jamaican-American dancehall-reggae star Shaggy, as he emerges from the elevator at New York's Sear Sound studios and greets the bass player he's been working with on a new album.

This particular Sumner – also a singer and songwriter whose real first name is Gordon – is much better known by the nickname he's employed since he formed the Police four decades ago: Sting. He and Shaggy are in Manhattan – where Sting lives and Shaggy often records, although his family is based in Kingston, Jamaica – to put the finishing touches on the Caribbean-inflected album 44/876 (out April 20th) that they're been crafting together on and off for the last few months. "The most important thing to me in any kind of music is surprise," says Sting, whose distinctive tenor, it turns out, is a highly appealing match for Shaggy's gruffly melodic dancehall toasting. "And everybody is surprised by this collaboration – by what they're hearing. We're surprising."

Read the rest of the interview here...

RECENT STORIES

Jan 22, 2018

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell today announced the music lineup for the 2018 Festival scheduled for April 27 - 29 and May 3 - 6. The Festival annually celebrates the unique culture and heritage of New Orleans and Louisiana, alongside unforgettable performances by nationally and internationally renowned guest artists. With thirteen stages and over 500 bands performing virtually every style of music, Jazz Fest presents one of the world’s most diverse music festival lineups. Hundreds of thousands of fans annually flock to the New Orleans Fair Grounds Race Course for Jazz Fest, which has been called America’s best festival. 

Jan 11, 2018

The pair debuted their first collaboration at a charity concert in Jamaica last week Sting and Shaggy have worked together on several “Caribbean-flavoured” tracks, the first of which has been revealed.