No Doubt, Lady Saw’s ‘Underneath It All’ Certified Platinum In The US
No Doubt, Lady Saw, and Sly & Robbie‘s 2001 collab, Underneath It All, is now certified Platinum in the United States.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the song has reached the sales and streaming equivalent of 1,000,000 units sold in the US.
The Platinum milestone follows a Gold certification earned in March 2021, marking 500,000 units shifted in the US at the time.
Underneath It All is the highest charting US single for No Doubt, Lady Saw, and Sly & Robbie. It peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 but was less successful elsewhere—reaching No. 18 on the UK Singles chart and top 40 standings in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Sweden.
The song’s music video has over 53 million views on YouTube.
It appeared on the rock band’s Rock Steady album in December 2001.
The album, which reached No. 8 on the Billboard 200 and is currently certified 2X Platinum in the US, had also featured Hey Baby with Bounty Killer, produced by Sly & Robbie, and the song Start A Fire, produced by Steely & Clevie. Jamaican brothers Wayne ‘Native Wayne’ Jobson and Brian Jobson also have production credits on these three songs.
Hey Baby and Underneath It All won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 2003 and 2004, respectively.
Initially written by the band’s lead singer Gwen Stefani and David Stewart, Underneath It All was inspired by Stefani’s relationship with her then-boyfriend, Gavin Rossdale. Lady Saw’s toast was added when the band was working on the album in Jamaica.
In a 2007 interview with WhereItzAt Magazine, Lady Saw, now known as Minister Marion Hall, recalled the recording process.
“[Sly & Robbie] called me up and told me that No Doubt was in Jamaica and that they would love to do something with me. I went to the studio and that’s where it all happened. Gwen Stefani’s part was already done. I just went in, listened to the track and put my vocals on it,” she said.
“Man, it was wonderful. Not for me alone, but for Sly and Robbie because they had never won a Grammy before, yunno? For No Doubt to come to Jamaica and for me Sly, Robbie, and Bounty Killer to be a part of them winning a Grammy—that was wonderful.”
More recently, Hall listed Underneath It All as her greatest accomplishment during her secular days as the Queen of Dancehall. However, she also pointed out that her prized Grammy was lost to a dishonest acquaintance.
“My greatest accomplishment was getting a Grammy with No Doubt and selling platinum,” she recounted to Tamara McKayle during a 2021 interview on The Trailblazers Show. “That Grammy. I left it somewhere. Remember when I went to the Grammy awards…remember we had an issue in getting an actual Grammy in hand?”
“But I left it somewhere. I had it at someone’s house and left and didn’t remember it. When I called and told them that I have something there can I come pick it up? Where it is, it nobody would know cause nobody go up there – and the person tell a friend to tell me it’s not there,” she explained.
She continued: “I said ‘OK. Keep it’. If I was Lady Saw I would be at war with them. But I’m like OKok, keep it. Cause one day I know it’s gonna turn up, maybe when I pass but, I left it where I left it and no devil in hell can tell me it’s not where it was. Nobody knew where it was until I said it’s there.”
Underneath It All was featured on the soundtrack for the 2004 movie 50 First Dates, which starred Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.
Lady Saw’s second most successful single in the US is the 1999 hit Smile, a collaboration with United States artist Vitamin C. It peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is currently certified gold by the RIAA for selling more than 500,000 copies.
On the UK Singles chart, she also reached No. 40 with UB40 on Since I Met You Lady, and No. 78 with Beenie Man and Sean Paul on Bossman.
In Jamaica, Saw was also known for her hits Hice It Up, If Him Lef, Woman Wi Name, Good Man, I’ve Got Your Man, Man Is The Least, Sycamore Tree, Backshot with Spragga Benz, Heels On, Give Me the Reason, Hardcore Lover with T.O.K., and Healing with Beenie Man.
She released her first album in 1994, titled Lover Girl, followed by Walk Out, Strip Tease, 99 Ways, Passion, Alter Ego, and Give Me A Reason.
Since 2015, when she gave up being Lady Saw, Hall has released two Reggae gospel albums, namely When God Speaks (2016) and His Grace (2018) which included the fan-favorite track, Tun Back Christians.