Sean Kingston

Kisean Paul Anderson (born February 3, 1990), known professionally as Sean Kingston, is a Jamaican-American singer. Born in Miami, Florida, and raised in Jamaica, he signed with J. R. Rotem's record label Beluga Heights Records, in a joint venture with Koch and Epic Records in 2007. The label released his 2007 debut single "Beautiful Girls", which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 and served as lead single for his eponymous debut studio album (2007). It peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 and spawned the top 40-single "Take You There", while his second album, Tomorrow (2009), saw a commercial decline, but spawned the top five-single "Fire Burning". His third album, Back 2 Life (2013), failed to chart and served as his final release on a major label, but spawned the moderate hit "Beat It" (featuring Chris Brown and Wiz Khalifa).

After his second album, Kingston launched the record label Time Is Money Entertainment, through which he signed then-unknown Canadian singer Tory Lanez in 2010.

In July 2024, Kingston and his mother were indicted on several federal wire fraud charges. They were convicted in March 2025. His mother was sentenced to five years in prison on July 23, 2025. Kingston was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on August 15, 2025.

Anderson was born in Miami, Florida, the first of three children of Janice Turner. Anderson's family moved to their native Kingston, Jamaica, when he was six. Anderson attended Ocho Rios High School in Ocho Rios for three years before immigrating back to the United States. His grandfather was the noted Jamaican reggae producer Lawrence "Jack Ruby" Lindo.

Kingston was discovered on YouTube by Matt Tobin at Beluga Heights Records, 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 regard 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. "Beautiful Girls" was a major hit internationally, topping the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and several other charts, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom. In the latter country, the song spent four weeks at the summit of the UK Singles Chart. His self-titled debut album was released on July 31, 2007, and has been certified gold by the RIAA for its 500,000 copies sold, while peaking at number 6 on the Billboard 200.

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.