By Brian Bonitto,

SEAN Kingston’s single Fire Burning has been certified gold in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry. The milestone was reached after the song reached the 400,000 sales mark recently.

“It’s a blessing just to create supp’n that lasts over the years… After three to four years people forget ’bout them [songs] but for me fi inna di game so long and ah put out song weh kinda everlasting and for it to do weh it a do, it’s a blessing,” Sean Kingston told the Jamaica Observer from his Florida home.

Fire Burning is the lead single from his second studio album, Tomorrow. Used as the opening number for the Miss Universe 2009 contest in The Bahamas, it has sold more than two million copies in the United States.

“It’s the energy people love in the song. As soon as you play it, you waan listen to it again; you waan move. It gives you that high vibe, that positive vibe. It gives you that uplifting spirit,” said the rapper/singer. “I did that song in LA [Los Angeles] with [producer] RedOne. I recorded it in RedOne’s studio. I remember that night – we were catching a vibe and just having fun and saying that: ‘We wanna make a club anthem.’ That was the plan and we executed it.”

Sean Kingston stated that the novel coronavirus has severely disrupted the entertainment industry but he maintains close contact with fans.

“A lot of artistes right now is kinda stressed out because we make our income from shows; we make money off ah yuh merchandise; and we make money off ah streaming…What me would say is, the world is under a pandemic [so] we just have to pray and keep God first… Everybody is going through it, no matter how big you are, no matter how small you are. Some people can’t travel, some people can’t see dem family. It’s a mess right now. All we have to do is to stay together as one and count our blessings that we do have and keep it moving,” he said, adding that he is working on a project slated to be released next year.

Sean Kingston (real name Kisean Anderson) was born in Miami and moved to Jamaica at age six. His grandfather was producer Lawrence Lindo, more popularly known as Jack Ruby, who produced Burning Spear’s landmark Marcus Garvey album.

He hit it big with the single Beautiful Girls in May 2007. That song went number one on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom.

His subsequent hits also include Me Love, Take You There, Face Drop and Letting Go (Dutty Love) featuring Nicki Minaj.

Main Photo: Sean Kingston