Shaggy hailed as 'awesome example' after helping to raise $100m for sick children

Reggae superstar Shaggy has won legions of new fans after helping to raise $100m (£71m) for sick children.

The rapper, whose real name is Orville Burrell, organised a charity benefit for the Bustamante Hospital for Children in Kingston through his foundation Shaggy And Friends and was able to raise cash for the essential equipment needed for the only English-speaking paediatric hospital in the Caribbean.

"The ICU is very small and cannot even hold an extra bed so we have to find a way to move forward. We are still going to need partners, which includes a good and affordable construction company. We also have 150 pieces of medical equipment to turn in but we need to have the building ready first," he said.

Shaggy, best known for his No 1 UK and US hit It Wasn't Me, enlisted the services of Sting, Wyclef Jean, Aidonia, Shenseea, Ding Dong and Dexta Daps, who travelled to Jamaica in January for the "Shaggy and Friends" charity concert.

"So Jamaica was a kind of refuge and obviously a great influence on my own musical DNA with reggae, so I felt I owed a debt to Jamaica," Sting told billboard. " When Shaggy said, 'Will you come do this show for the hospital that I fund,' I felt like it was an ideal opportunity to give back to this island that had given me so much."

Presenting the cheque to the hospital at the hand-over ceremony on 1 February, Shaggy complained about the cost of hosting the charity event, including charges from government agencies. "The good news is that we made the $100 million. The bad news is that our expenses were ridiculous. I want to just point out a bunch of things here," he told those gathered at the event.

"What we are doing is to help the hospital which is a government hospital ... we are trying to make it easier on the government to ease the burden and I just think they should look into that word a little bit more and kinda help us where that is concerned."

As news broke of his latest charitable endeavour fans took to Twitter in droves to praise Shaggy.

"What you won't see on mainstream media," one person wrote. " Awesome example of giving back."

Another said: "Buff respect to Shaggy for this amazing gesture, showing leadership to reggae artists."

A third called for him to be "awarded the highest National Honour a Jamaican citizen can receive...and to even go a step further...I think it should consider to even rename the children's hospital after him."