Shaggy and long time manager Robert Livingston part ways

  Scikron/Big Yard CEO Robert Livingston has confirmed that he and reggae/dancehall icon Shaggy are moving on after almost two decades during which they produced one of the best-selling albums of all time. On the split, Livingston said he was unaware of any specific reason why he and Shaggy have parted ways but revealed that it was a long time coming. "I don't know exactly," he said in response to queries about why he and Shaggy were no longer a team. "To give you a specific reason, I can't. I think we just grew apart and Shaggy just got tired of hearing my voice, whether positive or negative. I think Shaggy has decided that he wants to do something different. It has been happening for a long time. Most people didn't know, but we don't see eye to eye on many things."   He also suggested that the fact that Shaggy hadn't been with a major label for a while may have had something to do with what has come to pass. Shaggy was last signed to MCA Records in the early part of the last decade. Livingston told The Sunday Gleaner that the entertainer didn't call and tell him that their 18-year musical relationship was over. It was, he said, more about the way the entertainer went about things. "Shaggy was just vibsing. He would say things and do things ... . He started to do things that I wasn't aware of, including seeking new management," Livingston confided. "If there was no tension in the camp, he would have said it to me because we talk about everything." Not opposed to change The Big Yard CEO said he doesn't have a problem accepting that things change because, in the grand scheme of things, people do change but he wished Shaggy had handled the situation better. "Maybe he had his reasons. Maybe he is looking for better in his career or wants to move up the ladder, but I think the respect I should have got from him, his approach to everything, should have been much different." It is an unfortunate end to one of the most successful partnerships in reggae/dancehall.