Shaggy Reveals His ‘Real’ Voice and It’s Not What You’d Expect

Shaggy's distinctive singing voice is undoubtedly tied to his success, but would you believe us if we said it wasn't his real voice?

On TikTok, Shaggy revealed his real voice and explained where he got his signature vocal style from.

"I got this voice by mocking drill instructors in the military. Because in the Marines, the drill instructors would go, ‘Yeah boy, drop and give me 20. Let’s go.’ And I would mock them as a form of joking because it motivated, you know, your platoon," Shaggy explained.

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Shaggy experimented using the voice on his 1993 breakout single "Oh Carolina" — a dancehall cover of the 1960 song of the same name — and thanks to the song's success, he stuck with the voice on his future releases.

"‘Oh Carolina’ blew up and now I’m faced with the situation that I’m gonna have to sing every song like that," he joked.

Listen to Shaggy's Real Voice Below:

On YouTube, where The Independent shared Shaggy's TikTok clip, people in the comments section expressed their disbelief in hearing Shaggy's natural speaking voice for the first time ever.

"So we all just hearing Shaggy's real voice for the first time?" one person commented.

"Not Shaggy gaslighting us all these years," someone else joked.

Why Is the Singer Shaggy Called Shaggy? 

In 2020, Shaggy shared how he got his iconic stage name.

According to The Daily Mail, Shaggy got his nickname in high school.

"My hair was all over the place, and so they called me Shaggy, like a Shaggy dog. I didn't like it," Shaggy explained.

"When I went to England. I was in a cab, and the guy driving the taxi said, 'Oh my God... I can't believe they're playing a song from a bloke with a name Shaggy!'" Shaggy continued.

When Shaggy asked the driver why he didn't like the name, the taxi operator explained what "shagging" means in British slang. (Spoiler alert: It means having sex.)

"I thought It was the coolest name after that!" Shaggy, whose real name is Orville Richard Burrell, said.