Roll down the windows and get ready to rock it in the T Dot and beyond. Vibrant, singing and dancing sensation Shawn Desman spreads his wings on his self-titled debut album. At the age of 19, Shawn is already a veteran performer, songwriter, recording artist and producer - whose talent, boundless energy and down-to-earth personality have built a loyal, ardent fan-base across Canada. This year, the unstoppable Shawn Desman is set to take on the world.  Shawn has definitely hit his creative stride. The 12 tracks on his new recording have a universal appeal, yet the overall vibe remains an uncompromising reflection of his personal musical taste.

"These songs represent what I'm about and all the styles of music I like," he enthuses. There's R&B with a hip-hop influence, big power ballads, straight-ahead pop songs, R&B ballads "something for everyone. On Bow, the high-energy opener, Shawn steps into the spotlight and declares himself a serious contender. He backs up the sentiment on the next track, Never Change Me, which bounces on a catchy Asian-flavored keyboard groove, just one example of the playfulness that flows throughout Shawn's music. He shifts gears on YoYo,
a riff on the up-and-down dynamic of romance, with a relentless, razor-sharp rhythm setting the tone. A gifted vocalist, Shawn brings an urgent passion to such sultry numbers as Shook, yet effortlessly switches to the gentle, earnest persuasion of a smooth crooner on ballads like Spread My Wings and the heart stopping Superman. Get Ready, the perfect Friday-night anthem to get the party started, reveals Shawn's devil-may care side as well as his unabashed confidence in who is he and where he's from. From the finger snapping intro, to its infectious chorus, Get Ready tells the world that the best party is the one you make in your own neighborhood, as Shawn sings: "This is how we rock it in the T Dot."

The moves are an equally important part of what Shawn is all about as an entertainer. "I started taking dance classes when I was 12 and started teaching when I was 15," he recalls. All of which eventually led to performances in videos by Alanis Morisette, Len and Boomtang Boys; plus, a role in the teen movie Get Over It, starring Kirsten Dunst, Martin Short and Sisqo. But these days Shawn sweats it out on his own stage, with a red-hot dance team that's incomparable. "We do a lot of interacting to illustrate the songs. We want to give everyone in the audience something to look at." Shawn has developed signature choreography moves that are an expression of an artist born to entertain. "You know that move by Michael Jackson, the one where he's on his toes? It looks so cool, and people know right away who it is," Shawn explains. "When you're a singer who also dances it's important to have a style that's all your own, something people can immediately identify with."

Like other talents before him, Shawn got an early start perfecting the art of performance. "When I was three-years-old, my mom would put on the Michael Jackson  Thriller video and that's all I wanted to watch," he recalls. "My parents friends would come over and watch me perform to the video. When I got to be eight or nine, my parents thought, this kid is really serious." At 15, he started building a home studio, allowing him to write, record and produce demo tracks for himself and several Toronto artists.  In this exciting new phase of his career, Shawn gives props to the fans who have been with him every step of the way. "I got my stage experience performing for the Portuguese community", he recalls. As a teenager, Shawn sang in front of 20,000 people every summer at festivals in Trinity Bellwood's, a large inner-city park near the street where he grew up, and traveled to similar festivals across North America and Europe.  The chorus of Bow pretty much sums up the early reaction to his talent: There ain't nobody like me, Shawn D.

Atlanta-based UOMO founder and president Camara Alford was in Toronto when he first heard about Shawn. "He called me up and said he wanted to meet me,"  Shawn recalls. "I said when, and he said, How about right now? I'm at BMG. I said, I'll be there in 20 minutes". History was made shortly after when Shawn officially became the first act signed to the UOMO imprint, through ViK.recordings/BMG Canada Inc.  The journey to writing and recording his 12-track debut took Shawn a little further a field. He traveled around the world to collaborate with top hit-making talent, known for writing and producing with artists such as TLC, Monica and The Backstreet Boys.  In all, Shawn wrote and produced more than half of the album; proving that he's not afraid to put aside R&B party grooves or seductive love ballads to look at the bigger picture; a skill that is particularly evident on the closing track, Difference. "It's a song about everyone getting along in the here and now and how important it is to make a difference," he explains. "We wrote it six months before Sept. 11, and after that tragedy happened I was listening to the song and realized it was expressing a lot of ideas people were talking about around that time."

Time, at least time to himself, is not something Shawn has much of these days. His duet with Brazilian-based Latin superstar Alexandre Pires on the single Amor de Mujer, helped earn the singer's album a Latin Grammy nomination earlier this year. "There's so much going on, I don't know where I'm going to be tomorrow. I try not to think too far ahead. I like to take things day by day" When he does have down time, Shawn indulges his love of "stupid guy movies like Corky Romano and American Pie" and enjoys chilling at home with family and friends.  "You've got to stay grounded and I've been brought up that way," reflects Shawn with characteristic modesty, adding with determination: "I'm always going to remember where I came from and appreciate my fans." With his new music hitting the airwaves and the dance floors this year and the full Shawn Desman experience landing this fall, this consummate artist looks forward to his favourite pastime, performing for fans, old and new. "When I'm on stage I'm the happiest, Shawn says. "I could not sleep for four days straight and still be able to perform every night. That's the kind of energy I get from people. It's incredible."

*sympatico.ca resemblance country

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