Pop reggae star Shaggy [ tickets ] isn’t shy about sharing his feelings about success. During an appearance on the television show "Regis and Kelly," he implied that he was co-headlining the forthcoming tour with Backstreet Boys [ tickets ].

In fact, he, along with newcomer Krystal, are opening for the boy group. But if it were up to Shaggy, things would be different.

"It should be," Shaggy [ tickets ] said with a laugh when asked if he is co-headlining. "It should be, but I don’t think they’re going to go for that at all. At least Ticketmaster knows. At least SFX know. They know what the situation is and when the tickets start selling." (Ticketmaster is liveDaily's parent company.)

Shaggy is implying that the powers that be know that he will bolster the success of the tour. After all, his record, "Hot Shot" (MCA), spent six non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 albums chart and sold more than five million copies.

Shaggy talked with liveDaily contributing writer Christina Fuoco about success, infidelity and the Persian Gulf War.

LiveDaily: Did you expect that your record would be so successful?

Shaggy: I certainly felt like the album would do well, because we certainly didn’t make it a flop. But six, seven million records is overwhelming.

One of your biggest hits is "It Wasn’t Me," during which a man, who was caught cheating, denies his part in it. Have you heard complaints from parents who say that the song shares the wrong message? Especially those who didn’t listen to the message at the end of the song.

I told a lot of people that, hey, they should play "It Wasn’t Me" in every classroom and in front of every little kid because it’s actually teaching something. The song is by no means condoning infidelity. Listen to the end of it, when he [rapper Rayvon] says, "I’m gonna tell her that I’m sorry/For the pain that I’ve caused/You may think that you’re a player/But you’re completely lost." They don’t pick that up. He got caught red-handed. ... In other words, if you say "It wasn’t me," you’re sleeping on the couch. [laughs]

I found it interesting that you covered the Juice Newton and Chip Taylor song "Angel of the Morning" in "Angel," a song that I’m sure most of your fans--and fans of Backstreet Boys [ tickets ]--don’t remember. How did that come about?

Basically, RikRok [vocalist Ricardo "RikRok" Ducent, who sings on the song] just kind of walked in and started hummin’ it and I thought it sounded great. I just thought, "Hey, let’s change up the lyrics and that and make it [sound] more street." And it felt right, especially on the bass line. But I’m glad for the opportunity to actually open the kids’ minds to something different.

A lot has been made of your military career, which included a stint in the Persian Gulf War. Do you think too much has been made of that?

It’s certainly part of my history. It’s nothing I’m ashamed of.

... I was born in Jamaica [and] am actually a Jamaican citizen. I’m a resident of the U.S. You can join the Marines if you’re not a U.S. citizen. I just needed to get off the streets. That was the way out for me. The jobs weren’t really coming my way. It certainly was instrumental as far as shaping up my character. I don’t think it had a lot to do with me musically.

Were you surprised that it was the basis for a question on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"

[laughs] I was pleased. I was pleased.

How long have you been writing songs?

I’ve always been a writer. I think that was my main thing. The funniest thing is, I used to make up these songs off the top of my head. I never used to actually write them down. I just had them in my head. That’s the only thing I focus on. Everything else, I’m not very focused. That’s the only thing my heart is on.