Queensland Performing Arts Centre has announced that Shaggy – yes, that Shaggy – will swap the dancehall for the dockyard when he joins the cast of The Last Ship at Brisbane’s new Glasshouse Theatre from 9 April to 3 May 2026.

Sting and Shaggy backstage at The Last Ship in Amsterdam. Photo © Samuel van Leeuwen.

Orville Richard Burrell, the only diamond-selling artist in reggae history, first blasted out of New York’s dancehall scene in the early ’90s with a cheeky cover of Oh Carolina, before releasing the humour-spiked hit singles Boombastic, It Wasn’t Me – surely, the most complete denial song in pop history – and the swoony duet Angel. He collected two Grammy Awards and has sold more more than 40 million albums. In 2007, he was made a Commander of Jamaica’s Order of Distinction.

He has since collaborated so frequently with