Shaggy Becomes Hospital's 'Angel'
Taking a cue from his second single off Hotshot, "Angel," Shaggy must seem like one to sick children in Kingston, Jamaica.
The Jamaican-born reggae-pop singer recently donated $25,000 to Kingston's Bustamante Hospital for Children to enable the facility to purchase a much-needed ventilator, according to Shaggy's publicist at MCA Records. Before Shaggy's gift, the hospital needed six — but only had one — of the life-saving devices, which are used to help patients breathe in times of distress.
The dancehall singer raised $12,000 for the medical center at a Christmas Eve concert in New Kingston. The check he presented to the hospital last week added $13,000 to the total, to cover the roughly $20,000 cost of a ventilator.
Shaggy, whose Hotshot has been a top-five staple on the Billboard 200 albums chart for more than two months, said his generosity towards the hospital will continue — he intends to take the hospital under his wing, according to the publicist.
Bustamante is the only medical center in the English-speaking Caribbean that specializes in treating children.