Shaggy, Livingston part ways - Fiery relationship ends after nearly 20 years of success

Scikron/Big Yard CEO Robert Livingston has confirmed that he and reggae/dancehall icon Shaggy are moving on after almost two decades during which they produced one of the best-selling albums of all time.

On the split, Livingston said he was unaware of any specific reason why he and Shaggy have parted ways but revealed that it was a long time coming.

"I don't know exactly," he said in response to queries about why he and Shaggy were no longer a team. "To give you a specific reason, I can't. I think we just grew apart and Shaggy just got tired of hearing my voice, whether positive or negative. I think Shaggy has decided that he wants to do something different. It has been happening for a long time. Most people didn't know, but we don't see eye to eye on many things."

He also suggested that the fact that Shaggy hadn't been with a major label for a while may have had something to do with what has come to pass. Shaggy was last signed to MCA Records in the early part of the last decade.

Livingston told The Sunday Gleaner that the entertainer didn't call and tell him that their 18-year musical relationship was over. It was, he said, more about the way the entertainer went about things.

"Shaggy was just vibsing. He would say things and do things ... . He started to do things that I wasn't aware of, including seeking new management," Livingston confided.

"If there was no tension in the camp, he would have said it to me because we talk about everything."

Not opposed to change

The Big Yard CEO said he doesn't have a problem accepting that things change because, in the grand scheme of things, people do change but he wished Shaggy had handled the situation better.

"Maybe he had his reasons. Maybe he is looking for better in his career or wants to move up the ladder, but I think the respect I should have got from him, his approach to everything, should have been much different."

It is an unfortunate end to one of the most successful partnerships in reggae/dancehall history. Livingston signed an aspiring young entertainer called Orville Burrell back in 1993. At the time, Livingston had just parted ways with another hugely successful dancehall act Super Cat and said he was not very interested in signing another. However, in late 1992, record producer Sting International introduced him to a young ex-Marine named Orville Burrell. Months later, Livingston signed him to a record deal.

Making hits

In the years following, they released hits that included Oh Carolina, a remake of the ska hit by the Folkes Brothers, and Boombastic, a song that featured as the theme tune of a popular Levi's commercial in the mid-1990s. However, it was five years later that they mined platinum with the release of the Hot Shots album that contained hits like It Wasn't Me and Angel, songs that went to number one worldwide. The album that was re-released in 2001 went on to sell an estimated 20 million copies worldwide.

But instead of making Livingston and the now superstar Shaggy closer, Livingston feels that was when their relationship began to deteriorate. He explained that after the success of Hot Shots, there were deals that he (Livingston) presented to Shaggy that he did not think was good for him anymore. "I would bring him a deal for, say, a million dollars and he wanted to know why it wasn't two million or 10 million," Livingston said. That brought about tension between them, he conceded.

Livingston said he may have also changed too back then, trying to meet Shaggy's demands. He was also experiencing legal troubles and a bout with Bell's palsy, a form of facial paralysis resulting from dysfunction of the facial nerve. The condition results in the inability to control facial muscles on the affected side.

"I was going through hell and nobody came to see me and asked me how I felt," he said. "I was always the one to visit everybody, make sure everybody was alright but nobody else did the same."

There were also battles over songs that he thought were good for the entertainer, but Shaggy thought otherwise. Livingston said he didn't like It Wasn't Me because he felt it was more of a gimmick song and not a danceable one. Shaggy thought otherwise. He also said Shaggy did not like Sexy Lady, a song that eventually went on to become a hit.

Drifting apart

During the intervening years, the two continued to drift apart.

"There was a lot of separation in the camp for many years," Livingston said. "I built a studio for everybody. Shaggy built a studio for himself at his house in Miami. Sometimes I would be producing a song and he would produce one to compete with that song," he said.

Their relationship deteriorated further following the 2009 Shaggy and Friends Benefit Concert held on the lawns of King's House. The concert was staged to raise funds for the Bustamante Hospital for Children.

"After that concert, he gained so much power and new friends uptown, big corporates. I don't know what it is but it was more like the changes in him became more pronounced at that time."

Now that the partnership is over, Livingston said he wishes Shaggy all the best. His only regret, he says, was that things did not end differently.

Attempts to contact Shaggy proved futile, as the artiste was in transit.