Kisean Anderson, best known by the stage name Sean Kingston, is a Jamaican-American reggae fusion rapper and songwriter. Known for his dark lyrics, Kingston won the 2007 MOBO award for Best Reggae Act and a Teen Choice award for Best R&B track. Born in Florida, Kingston grew up in Jamaica with his grandfather, reggae producer Lawrence “Jack Ruby” Lindo. In 2007 at the age of 17, Kingston was discovered on Myspace by Tommy Rotem, of Britney Spears and 50 Cent fame, who signed Kingston with Beluga Heights Records. In a joint venture between Sony, Epic Records and Koch Records, Kingston released his first single, “Beautiful Girl”. It was an instant success, reaching number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 and topping international charts. His next single, “Me Love”, released at number one in Australia. Later that same year, Kingston toured with Gwen Stefani and Beyoncé as an opening act. The collection of singles was released as his self-titled first album later that year. In 2009, Kingston released his second album, “Tomorrow” with Lady Gaga, produced by RedOne. The single “Fire Burning” debuted at #5 on Billboard while “Face Drop” climbed to #61. In 2010, he joined the UK group Sugarbabies to record “Miss Everything” and was featured on Bow Wow’s single “For My Hood”. Over the next two years, Kingston released multiple singles featuring guest appearances from T-Pain, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, Akon and Dr. Dre. He appeared on Justin Bieber’s single “Eenie Meenie” and his cover of “Pretty Boy Swag” and “Billionaire”. In 2011, Kingston released his free online mixtape “Kings of Kong” which featured Akon, Soulja Boy and Justin Bieber. His most recent album, 2012’s “Back 2 Life”, peaked at number 33 on the R&B Album charts and #52 on Billboard’s Hot 100. The single “Beat It” with Chris Brown and Wiz Khalifa reach number 17 on Hot R&B charts.

P O R T R A I T S, my new album out now 💜
Listen now: https://birdy.lnk.to/Portraits

Throughout the week BBC World Service offers a wide range of documentaries and other factual programmes. This podcast offers you the chance to access landmark series from our archive.

Podcast of 20th Century China by bbcchinese.com gives you the most vivid accounts of witnesses and historians on China's 20th century history.

Witness - history as told by the people who were there. Five days a week we will be talking to people who lived through moments of history to bring you a personal perspective on world events.

From Alice Walker to Chinua Achebe, the world's greatest authors discuss their best known novel. This monthly programme, presented by Harriett Gilbert, includes questions from BBC World Service listeners.

As previously secret government files are released to the public, former government ministers reveal the truth behind the headlines. With presenters Martha Kearney & Sue McGregor.

Tera Thomas 1 is following