Shawn Amos
Encyclopedia
Shawn Ellis Amos is an American songwriter, singer, record producer, web personality and content creator, and pop culture commentator.
Amos's songs are notable for their starkly poetic lyrics which incorporate social commentary, historical influences, philosophy, and expressionistic wordplay. His recordings owe much to the Americana
genre and often combine seemingly disparate musical influences such as country, soul and pop into the arrangements. His most well known album is Thank You Shirl-ee May
released in 2005. It was written as an homage to his mother, a nightclub singer who performed under the stage name "Shirl-ee May".
Amos has worked with an eclectic group of artists as a producer, ranging from stand-up comedians to jazz
musicians to R&B singers to mainstream pop culture icons.
chocolate chip cookie founder Wally Amos
and the only son of Shirlee Ellis (professionally known as Shirl-ee May in the early 1960s). His parents divorced when Amos was seven. He moved between New York, California, Hawaii, and Massachusetts as a child, attending the Williston Northampton School
, a boarding school in Easthampton, Massachusetts for his last two years of high school. After high school, Amos studied communications at Boston University
and then film at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts
.
Throughout Amos' childhood and adulthood, his mother suffered from schizoaffective disorder
and ultimately committed suicide in 2003. The trauma of the event and his subsequent discovery of her early singing career were the inspiration behind his 2005 album release Thank You Shirl-ee May. He has since donated his time to the mental health organizations Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center in Los Angeles and the Rita Project in New York. Amos has also dedicated much of his time to local non-profit organizations dedicated to working with at-risk youth. He also sits on the Board of Trustees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and the Los Angeles Board of Governors of the Recording Academy.
Amos married actress Marta Martin
in 1999. The couple have three children and reside in Los Angeles.
label. Frustrated with seeing his screenplay projects languish, Amos began songwriting and played in a series of Los Angeles bands. His first song, "Angel in Black," was placed in the Miramax film The Prophecy
during this time. The 1992 Los Angeles riots
had a profound impact on Amos and his work, leaving him questioning his own racial identity. This was manifested in Amos' alter ego, Whitey McFearsun. Amos performed and recorded under this name and persona during the second half of the decade.
Amos began producing record projects after a stint at Motown's publishing division, Jobette Music. He went to work at Rhino Entertainment
's A&R
department in 1997. While there he produced the Grammy nominated historical box set Rhapsodies in Black: Music and Words from the Harlem Renaissance which explored Amos' newfound passion for early 20th century African-American history.
In 2001, Amos was invited to produce Quincy Jones
career overview Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones. While working on the box set, Jones asked him to run his Listen Up Foundation as Executive Director. Amos spent the next year working on housing and economic development in Africa, speaking at the World Economic Forum and building homes in Durban, South Africa as part of Habitat for Humanity's Jimmy Carter Work Project.
Amos returned to songwriting and recording a year later, releasing his 2002 album In Between. In 2003, he was recruited by Rhino
co-founders Richard Foos, Garson Foos and Bob Emmer to oversee the A&R department of their newly formed entertainment company, Shout! Factory
. The label released his Thank You Shirl-ee May
album and his song "Vicious Circle" from Harlem was sung by label mate Solomon Burke
on his Nashville. Coincidentally, Amos' father was Solomon Burke's agent in the 1960s when his worked as the William Morris Agency
's first-ever African-American talent agent. Burke is also the godfather of the younger Amos's children.
2005-2006 was a prolific period for Amos. During this time, he performed his version of "Southern Man" (Harlem) alongside Joan Wasser
in Hal Willner's live concert tribute to Neil Young
at Brooklyn's Prospect Park. BET
aired a documentary of Shawn's Shirl-ee May album which told the story of his mother's life. Amos also conceived and co-produced a remake of the Marvin Gaye
album What's Going On performed by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band
(Marvin Gaye was an initial investor in Wally Amos' Famous Amos company). Amos also conceived and executive produced a remix album of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass' Whipped Cream and Other Delights. On March 16, 2006, Amos joined with Alpert and Ozomatli
for a performance of "Love Potion No. 9" on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno
.
Amos left Shout! Factory in 2007 to create content for its newly formed sister company, GetBack.com. One of his last Shout! Factory projects was an African tribute album to U2
entitled In The Name Of Love: Africa Celebrates U2. At GetBack, Amos serves as Senior Vice President of Content, editor-in-chief of their website, GetBack.com and producer their original content, including the daily web show Retro Minute, which he also hosts. Retro Minute is syndicated on out-of-home and online networks.
On November 4, 2009, Amos announced the formation of his own company, Amos Content Group
. The company intends to develop content for digital media and traditional companies. Amos will continue to oversee content on GetBack.com and remain host of its "Retro Minute" program.
The Amos Content Group
's weekly syndicated music review column PLAY > SKIP is published by The Huffington Post
, Fox411, and SodaHead.
On February 16, 2010 Amos Content Group announced it was selected by California sports brand K-Swiss
to develop an online marketing campaign around its vintage 2010 footwear line. As part of campaign, Amos will host a series of short-form music shows chronicling the history of California Music called "California Classics."
" will be released February 15, 2011.
On January 19, 2011, The Huffington Post
released the first installment of a four-part series chronicling his childhood in 1970s Los Angeles.
Amos's songs are notable for their starkly poetic lyrics which incorporate social commentary, historical influences, philosophy, and expressionistic wordplay. His recordings owe much to the Americana
Americana (music)
Americana is an amalgam of roots musics formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and other external influential styles...
genre and often combine seemingly disparate musical influences such as country, soul and pop into the arrangements. His most well known album is Thank You Shirl-ee May
Thank You Shirl-ee May
Thank You Shirl-ee May is Shawn Amos's second studio album. It was released in 2005 on Shout! Factory.With his second release, Amos chronicles the career of his mother, a club singer in the 1960s. Shawn discovered his mother’s professional life as Shirl-ee May only after her suicide in July 2003. ...
released in 2005. It was written as an homage to his mother, a nightclub singer who performed under the stage name "Shirl-ee May".
Amos has worked with an eclectic group of artists as a producer, ranging from stand-up comedians to jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musicians to R&B singers to mainstream pop culture icons.
Personal Background
Amos is the youngest son of Famous AmosFamous Amos
-History:Wally Amos, an Air Force veteran who worked as a talent agent with the William Morris Agency, would send home-baked chocolate chip cookies to celebrities to entice them to meet with him and maybe sign a deal to be represented by the William Morris Agency...
chocolate chip cookie founder Wally Amos
Wally Amos
Wallace "Wally" Amos, Jr. is an American actor and writer from Tallahassee, Florida. He is the founder of the "Famous Amos" chocolate chip cookie brand. He later co-founded Uncle Wally's muffins...
and the only son of Shirlee Ellis (professionally known as Shirl-ee May in the early 1960s). His parents divorced when Amos was seven. He moved between New York, California, Hawaii, and Massachusetts as a child, attending the Williston Northampton School
Williston Northampton School
The Williston Northampton School, or "Williston," is a private co-educational preparatory school for boarding and day students in seventh grade through postgraduate year located in Easthampton, Massachusetts. The campus offers a range of extra-curricular activities in the arts and athletics...
, a boarding school in Easthampton, Massachusetts for his last two years of high school. After high school, Amos studied communications at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
and then film at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
.
Throughout Amos' childhood and adulthood, his mother suffered from schizoaffective disorder
Schizoaffective disorder
Schizoaffective disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by recurring episodes of elevated or depressed mood, or of simultaneously elevated and depressed mood, that alternate with, or occur together with, distortions in perception.Schizoaffective disorder...
and ultimately committed suicide in 2003. The trauma of the event and his subsequent discovery of her early singing career were the inspiration behind his 2005 album release Thank You Shirl-ee May. He has since donated his time to the mental health organizations Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center in Los Angeles and the Rita Project in New York. Amos has also dedicated much of his time to local non-profit organizations dedicated to working with at-risk youth. He also sits on the Board of Trustees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and the Los Angeles Board of Governors of the Recording Academy.
Amos married actress Marta Martin
Marta Martin
Marta Alicia Martin is an American television and film actress.-Personal life:Martin was born in Medina, Ohio. She is of partial Mexican American heritage on her mother side. She is one of four children. She relocated to California at the age of 19. She married singer-songwriter, producer Shawn...
in 1999. The couple have three children and reside in Los Angeles.
Professional Background
In 1989, Amos left NYU film school after being offered a first-look deal with A&M Films, a division of the famed A&M RecordsA&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
label. Frustrated with seeing his screenplay projects languish, Amos began songwriting and played in a series of Los Angeles bands. His first song, "Angel in Black," was placed in the Miramax film The Prophecy
The Prophecy
The Prophecy is a 1995 fantasy horror-thriller film starring Elias Koteas, Virginia Madsen, Christopher Walken, Eric Stoltz, and Viggo Mortensen. It was written and directed by Gregory Widen, and is the first motion picture of The Prophecy series including four sequels...
during this time. The 1992 Los Angeles riots
1992 Los Angeles riots
The 1992 Los Angeles Riots or South Central Riots, also known as the 1992 Los Angeles Civil Unrest were sparked on April 29, 1992, when a jury acquitted three white and one hispanic Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King following a...
had a profound impact on Amos and his work, leaving him questioning his own racial identity. This was manifested in Amos' alter ego, Whitey McFearsun. Amos performed and recorded under this name and persona during the second half of the decade.
Amos began producing record projects after a stint at Motown's publishing division, Jobette Music. He went to work at Rhino Entertainment
Rhino Entertainment
Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company. It is owned by Warner Music Group.-History:Rhino was originally a novelty song and reissue company during the 1970s and 1980s, releasing compilation albums of pop, rock & roll, and rhythm & blues successes...
's A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
department in 1997. While there he produced the Grammy nominated historical box set Rhapsodies in Black: Music and Words from the Harlem Renaissance which explored Amos' newfound passion for early 20th century African-American history.
In 2001, Amos was invited to produce Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
career overview Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones. While working on the box set, Jones asked him to run his Listen Up Foundation as Executive Director. Amos spent the next year working on housing and economic development in Africa, speaking at the World Economic Forum and building homes in Durban, South Africa as part of Habitat for Humanity's Jimmy Carter Work Project.
Amos returned to songwriting and recording a year later, releasing his 2002 album In Between. In 2003, he was recruited by Rhino
Rhino Entertainment
Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company. It is owned by Warner Music Group.-History:Rhino was originally a novelty song and reissue company during the 1970s and 1980s, releasing compilation albums of pop, rock & roll, and rhythm & blues successes...
co-founders Richard Foos, Garson Foos and Bob Emmer to oversee the A&R department of their newly formed entertainment company, Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...
. The label released his Thank You Shirl-ee May
Thank You Shirl-ee May
Thank You Shirl-ee May is Shawn Amos's second studio album. It was released in 2005 on Shout! Factory.With his second release, Amos chronicles the career of his mother, a club singer in the 1960s. Shawn discovered his mother’s professional life as Shirl-ee May only after her suicide in July 2003. ...
album and his song "Vicious Circle" from Harlem was sung by label mate Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", and as the "Bishop of Soul", and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul", and as "the most...
on his Nashville. Coincidentally, Amos' father was Solomon Burke's agent in the 1960s when his worked as the William Morris Agency
William Morris Agency
WME is the largest talent agency in the world, with offices in Beverly Hills, New York City, Nashville, London, and Miami. WME represents elite artists from all facets of the entertainment industry, including motion pictures, television, music, theatre, publishing, and physical production...
's first-ever African-American talent agent. Burke is also the godfather of the younger Amos's children.
2005-2006 was a prolific period for Amos. During this time, he performed his version of "Southern Man" (Harlem) alongside Joan Wasser
Joan Wasser
Joan Wasser is a violinist and singer/songwriter in the indie rock world. She began her career playing violin with the Dambuilders. She has released three albums as a singer songwriter, the 2006 Real Life the 2008 To Survive and the 2011 The Deep Field...
in Hal Willner's live concert tribute to Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
at Brooklyn's Prospect Park. BET
Bet
Bet or BET may refer to:* A wager in gambling* Basic Economics Test * Bet , the second letter in many Semitic alphabets, including Aramaic, Hebrew, Phoenician and Syriac* Brunauer-Emmett-Teller isotherm. See BET_theory...
aired a documentary of Shawn's Shirl-ee May album which told the story of his mother's life. Amos also conceived and co-produced a remake of the Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
album What's Going On performed by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Dirty Dozen Brass Band
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a New Orleans, Louisiana, brass band. The ensemble was established in 1977 by Benny Jones together with members of the Tornado Brass Band...
(Marvin Gaye was an initial investor in Wally Amos' Famous Amos company). Amos also conceived and executive produced a remix album of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass' Whipped Cream and Other Delights. On March 16, 2006, Amos joined with Alpert and Ozomatli
Ozomatli
Ozomatli is a seven to ten piece band playing primarily Latin, hip hop, and rock music, formed in 1995 in Los Angeles. They are known both for their vocal activist viewpoints and their wide array of musical styles - including salsa, jazz, funk, reggae, rap, and others.In a 2007 NPR interview, band...
for a performance of "Love Potion No. 9" on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
.
Amos left Shout! Factory in 2007 to create content for its newly formed sister company, GetBack.com. One of his last Shout! Factory projects was an African tribute album to U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
entitled In The Name Of Love: Africa Celebrates U2. At GetBack, Amos serves as Senior Vice President of Content, editor-in-chief of their website, GetBack.com and producer their original content, including the daily web show Retro Minute, which he also hosts. Retro Minute is syndicated on out-of-home and online networks.
On November 4, 2009, Amos announced the formation of his own company, Amos Content Group
Amos Content Group
Amos Content Group provides a range of content creation services for digital media companies, traditional businesses, and individuals who want to increase their digital footprint and/or output...
. The company intends to develop content for digital media and traditional companies. Amos will continue to oversee content on GetBack.com and remain host of its "Retro Minute" program.
The Amos Content Group
Amos Content Group
Amos Content Group provides a range of content creation services for digital media companies, traditional businesses, and individuals who want to increase their digital footprint and/or output...
's weekly syndicated music review column PLAY > SKIP is published by The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
, Fox411, and SodaHead.
On February 16, 2010 Amos Content Group announced it was selected by California sports brand K-Swiss
K-Swiss
K-Swiss, Inc. is an American footwear company based in Westlake Village, California. The company designs, develops, and markets a range of athletic shoes under the K-Swiss brand.- History :...
to develop an online marketing campaign around its vintage 2010 footwear line. As part of campaign, Amos will host a series of short-form music shows chronicling the history of California Music called "California Classics."
Recent Activity
Amos announced that his new album "HarlemHarlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
" will be released February 15, 2011.
On January 19, 2011, The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
released the first installment of a four-part series chronicling his childhood in 1970s Los Angeles.
Studio albums
| Year | Title | Label | Format | Other Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | In Between | Unbreakable Records | CD | |
| 2005 | Thank You Shirl-ee May Thank You Shirl-ee May Thank You Shirl-ee May is Shawn Amos's second studio album. It was released in 2005 on Shout! Factory.With his second release, Amos chronicles the career of his mother, a club singer in the 1960s. Shawn discovered his mother’s professional life as Shirl-ee May only after her suicide in July 2003. ... |
Shout! Factory | CD | |
| 2011 | Harlem Harlem (album) Harlem is an album by artist Shawn Amos. Harlem was released on February 15, 2011.Shawn titled the album Harlem after being inspired by a museum exhibit dedicated to the Harlem Renaissance.-Track listing:-Players:... |
Unbreakable Records | CD | Mark Olson Mark W. Olson was a member of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve from 2001 to 2006. Filling an unexpired term to end on January 31, 2010, he resigned on June 21, 2006 in order to run the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.-Biography:In 1943, Mark W. Olson was born on March... of the Jayhawks and Crazy Horse guitarist Poncho Sampedro. |