Sean Kingston

Early life and education

Kisean Anderson was born on February 3, 1990, in Miami, Florida, and moved to Kingston, Jamaica, when he was six. He attended high school in Ocho Rios. His grandfather was the noted Jamaican reggae producer Lawrence Lindo, who worked under the stage name Jack Ruby.

2007–08: Sean Kingston

Kingston was discovered on Myspace by Tommy Rotem at Beluga Heights, and signed to the label in a partnership deal with Sony. In an interview with HitQuarters label head and producer J.R. Rotem described this process with regards to Kingston:

"Sean Kingston was a rapper when we found him and it was a development process to get him more melodic. At Beluga we essentially refine the talent so that it's more of a marketable product."

In a venture between Epic Records and Koch Records, Kingston recorded and released the single "Beautiful Girls" in May 2007. The song peaked at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. "Beautiful Girls" was a success internationally, topping the charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom. In the latter country, the song spent four weeks at the summit of the UK Singles Chart. In 2007, Kingston was the opening act for Gwen Stefani's The Sweet Escape Tour and for select dates on Beyoncé's The Beyoncé Experience Tour. In 2008, he was one of the opening acts for the Australian leg of Kelly Clarkson's My December Tour. Since Sean is a Jamaican singer, he got his stage name from the capital of Jamaica called Kingston.

2009–10: Tomorrow

The album Tomorrow was released on September 22, 2009. Producers involved in the album included former Fugee Wyclef Jean; RedOne (of recent Lady Gaga fame); plus Sean's original mentor, J. R. Rotem. "Fire Burning" and "Face Drop" were released as singles. Additionally, five promotional digital singles were released leading up to the album.

Kingston co-wrote Jason Derulo's "Whatcha Say". He also found the R&B-reggae singer Iyaz on MySpace and signed him to his record label. He also recorded the track "Miss Everything" for the UK girl-group Sugababes studio album Sweet 7 which was released March 15, 2010, in the UK. Kingston and DJ Khaled are being featured on Bow Wow's new single "For My Hood", from the movie, The Lottery Ticket.

2010–2013: Back 2 Life, King Of Kingz "Lee Strike" and other projects

The album features T-Pain, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, Flo Rida, Soulja Boy, Wyclef Jean, Cher Lloyd, Akon and Dr. Dre. The first single from the album is "Eenie Meenie" featuring Justin Bieber, released on March 23, 2010, which is also included on Bieber's My World 2.0 album. The second single from the album is "Letting Go (Dutty Love)", which features a verse from Nicki Minaj. It was released on iTunes August 3, while the third is "Dumb Love" and was released on iTunes September 8. Sean Kingston's new song "She Moves" samples Irena Cara's "What a Feeling" from the film Flashdance. This has not been release as a single. A fourth single "Party All Night (Sleep All Day)" was released on December 21, 2010.

Kingston represented the continents of North and South America to sing the Official Theme Song of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games, "Everyone". He collaborated with four other artists representing their continent, South African Jody Williams representing Africa, Singaporean Tabitha Nauser (Asia), Briton Steve Appleton (Europe) and Australian Jessica Mauboy representing Oceania. However, Kingston was unable to attend the Singapore Youth Olympics 2010 opening ceremony due to passport mix ups. Sean was invited to be featured with Cash Money Records/former So So Def member Bow Wow on his single "For My Hood". He performed it with him and DJ Khaled on BET's television program 106 & Park the day after release.

Kingston planned to release a mixtape with pop star Justin Bieber, called Our World. It featured about 12–14 songs and included their versions of songs like "Pretty Boy Swag" and "Billionaire". The mixtape was completed and Kingston showed his fans a preview on uStream on August 19, 2010. However, the album was never released. Kingston also went on to perform on first leg of Bieber's tour.

Kingston released his first mixtape, King of Kingz, on February 3, 2011, as a free download only. The mixtape includes guest appearances by Akon, Flo Rida, Soulja Boy, Justin Bieber, B.o.B and Tory Lanez.

Kingston has announced that his new album will be called Back 2 Life. He also said in an interview with MTV that he would be completely re-doing the album and that the previous singles will not be on it. Kingston linked up with T.I. on set of the video for "Back 2 Life", the street single off his upcoming album of the same name. The two shot the video in Los Angeles with comedian Mike Epps. In November 2012, Kingston performed in the Dubai Caribbean Carnival at Downtown Dubai with Jason Derülo and Bow Wow. On April 13, 2013 iTunes put up the preorder of Back 2 Life, its cover art and track listing as well as a release date of September 10, 2013.

2014–present: Upcoming fourth studio album

In March 2014, Kingston announced plans for his upcoming fourth studio album while stating that he will be recording with Disney and pop star Zendaya. At the same time, he said that they're both recording a song titled "Heart on Empty", which Kingston described as "a soulful ballad that you all will be sure to remember."

In November, Kingston also guest-starred, along with Chance the Rapper, Debra Wilson, Erykah Badu, Mel B, Rochelle Jordan, David Alan Grier and Christopher "Kid" Reid, in the Bob Marley episode of Black Dynamite on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

In March 2015, Kingston posted on Instagram a picture with Swedish record producer RedOne, confirming that they are working on the album. In May 2015, Sean Kingston posted a snippet of the then-upcoming lead single from his fourth studio album. On September 14, 2015, Kingston premiered his first single in two years titled "Wait Up", the lead single off his upcoming fourth studio album. Music videos were released for "One Away" and "All I Got" in January and March 2016, respectively. In March 2017 he announced the release of the "Made in Jamaica" mixtape, preceded by the single "Chance" that featured Vybz Kartel.

Activism

Kingston filmed a public service announcement with Do Something to encourage teens to become active in their communities by forming a Do Something club. In 2010, he appeared with one of his dogs in an ad for PETA, encouraging people not to chain their dogs outside.

Discography

Awards and nominations