The sing along ballad “Angel” by Shaggy featuring Barbadian singer Rayvon has surpassed 500 million streams on Spotify. it is Shaggy’s second song to reach the milestone and Rayvon’s first.
“Angel,” one of Shaggy’s best-selling tracks, was the 17th most successful song in the U.S. in 2001, with over 1.49 million digital copies sold as of April 2016.
Shaggy shared with World Music Views the process behind the creation of the song:
“Angel was written by me, Dave Kelly, and Rik Rok. Sting International had sampled Steve Miller Band’s ‘The Joker,’ and Dave and I thought the vibe of the beat felt similar to The Fugees’ ‘Killing Me Softly,’ so we wanted to create a similar atmosphere. The chorus of the track interpolates the melody of “Angel of the Morning,” a 1967 song written by American songwriter Chip Taylor which became hits for Merrilee Rush and Juice Newton.”
How those samples came about Shaggy recalls, “Dave and I wrote most of the song, and then Rik Rok walked into the studio singing Juice Newton’s ‘Just call me Angel in the morning.’ Dave and I really liked the melody and decided to use it for the chorus, making a few word changes to give it a more contemporary feel. The next day, Rik Rok and I met at my apartment and finished the last four bars of the second verse along with the bridge.”
Shaggy’s longtime collaborator, Sting International (Sean Pizzonia) is also largely responsible for the samples due to his musical taste. “Sean is a huge record collector and DJ, specializing in classics,” Shaggy says. “He has an extensive knowledge of old recordings, including the year, label, and artist, and he’s an avid vinyl collector and a master at sampling.”
Angel is certified Gold in the UK (400,000) by the British Phonographic Industry and eligible for platinum status in the US for sale surpassing 1 million units. Even with the success of the track, due to the heavy sampling the artist and producers have less rights of copy Shaggy explains.
“The drawback, however, is that sometimes we lose a significant portion of the publishing (writer’s share),” The Boombastic singer says.” In this case, because there were two interpolations (“Angel of the Morning” and “The Joker”), we lost 100% of the writer’s portion. This is why you might not see me, Dave Kelly, or Rik Rok listed in the writing credits. Despite this, there’s no denying the impact this recording had on the album’s sales.”
Still, the 54 year old hit maker is expressing gratitude for the career milestones the song has provided. “That song was one of, if not the driving force behind the Hot Shot album. It’s still one of my most streamed songs, and I am very fortunate to have a classic that remains highly recurrent on radio to this day.”
Shaggy released Hot Shot 2020, a remastered version of his iconic multi-Platinum album Hot Shot, on July 10 that year. The anniversary edition includes an updated version of “Angel” titled “Angel (Hot Shot 2020)” featuring Sting.
The song topped the charts in Australia, Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Canada, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK. It was Shaggy’s second and last No. 1 on he the US Billboard Hot 100 where it peaked for one week and stayed not eh chart for 28 days. Additionally, it held the number one spot on the Australian Urban chart, Eurochart Hot 100, UK Hip Hop/R&B chart, and the US Pop Airplay and Rhythmic charts.
In several other regions, the song also performed well, peaking at number two in Belgium (Wallonia), Denmark, Hungary, and Poland. It reached number eight in France, number ten in Finland, number 25 in Romania, and number 33 on the US Adult Pop Airplay chart. Although its chart performance in Italy and the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart was more modest, peaking at number 50 and 46, respectively, the song’s overall global dominance is evident.
Meanwhile Shaggy told WMV that he recently received his platinum plaque for Go Down Deh, a song he produced for Spice debut album 10 featuring Sean Paul that is now certified Platinum in Canada for sales and streams surpassing 80,000 units.
That track produced by Romanian Costi Ionita is has also sold 688,000 equivalent units in streams and sales in the US, according to data provided exclusively to World Music Views by Billboard sales tracker Luminate.
