“It’s good to know that it went platinum. Wow, that is good news,” was the response from Marion Hall (formerly Lady Saw), when the OBSERVER ONLINE caught up with her on Friday for a comment regarding the platinum certification that was issued by the RIAA for the song Underneath it All, her collaboration with No Doubt

Underneath it All, released in the summer of 2002, was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales and streaming equivalent exceeding 1 million units.

The song was featured on No Doubt’s double platinum-selling album Rock Steady. It was produced by Sly and Robbie, with Rory Baker providing additional engineering duties.

Hall recalled how the collaboration with No Doubt came about.

“This collaboration came about when Sly and Robbie called me because No Doubt was in Jamaica looking to work with the best of the best and I was one of them. I went into the studio, and I wrote the lyrics right there, really quick and they were like bravo, bravo, just applauding me because I was that quick at writing the lyrics,” said Hall.

She added, “It was wonderful working with Gwen (Stefani, No Doubt’s lead vocalist) I went on tour with them, and I did a few of the concerts and people were loving me so much, that they were asking why you can’t stay and do all of the dates cause you’re so good.”

Hall recently received a video of Stefani performing her lyrics to the song at a concert in Florida.

“I recently saw Gwen rapping my part in Florida. Somebody sent me the video, so I sent a message to her on Instagram. I said girl, if you had told me that you were coming here if I had known, I could’ve come and done that for you because it wouldn’t do anything with my Christianity. Its clean lyrics, its good music,” Hall disclosed.

Underneath It All was the third single issued from Rock Steady. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 2002. The song rose to number 18 in the United Kingdom and also charted in more than 15 countries including Ireland, Romania, Scotland, New Zealand, Canada and the Netherlands.

The song was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 46th Grammy Awards which was held on February 8, 2004.

Respected American trade publication Village Voice named the song one of The Singles of the Year for 2002.

Incidentally, Underneath It All is one of two collaborations from Rock Steady featuring Jamaican acts and produced by Sly and Robbie. Recorded at Geejam Studios in Portland was another song titled Hey Baby featuring Bounty Killer.

Hey Baby peaked at number five in March 2002 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Hey Baby was certified gold in the United States, Australia and Norway. It won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 45th Grammy Awards, which was held in February 2003.

Producers Steely and Clevie produced the track Start a Fire, which was featured on Rock Steady. Another track they worked on, New Friend, did not make the album’s final cut.