Thank You Shirl-ee May
Encyclopedia
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. Amos says album is a tender tribute to his mother, Shirlee Ellis Amos. Songs like " "New York City 1964" and "The Bottle Always Brings Me Down" explore the life of the singer known as Shir-lee May.
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.
Shawn Amos
Shawn Ellis Amos is an American songwriter, singer, record producer, web personality and content creator, and pop culture commentator....
'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. Amos says album is a tender tribute to his mother, Shirlee Ellis Amos. Songs like " "New York City 1964" and "The Bottle Always Brings Me Down" explore the life of the singer known as Shir-lee May.
Track listing
Background
Throughout Amos' childhood and adulthood, his mother suffered from schizoaffective disorderSchizoaffective 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.
Players
- Shawn AmosShawn AmosShawn Ellis Amos is an American songwriter, singer, record producer, web personality and content creator, and pop culture commentator....
(vocals) - Garrison StarrGarrison StarrGarrison Starr is a singer-songwriter who originally hails from Hernando, Mississippi, a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee. As a solo artist, she has recorded seven full-length albums, as well as two EPs and one live album...
, Solomon BurkeSolomon BurkeSolomon 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...
(vocals) - Ben Peeler (guitar, lap steel guitar)
- Patrick Milligan (acoustic guitar, banjo, bass guitar, background vocals)
- Clint Bennett (acoustic guitar)
- Ray Parker, Jr.Ray Parker, Jr.Ray Erskine Parker, Jr. , is an American guitarist, songwriter, producer and recording artist. Parker is known for writing and performing the theme song to the motion picture Ghostbusters, for his solo hits, and performing with his band Raydio as well as the late Barry White.-Early life and...
, David E. Williams (electric guitar) - David Henry (cello)
- Chuck FindleyChuck FindleyChuck Findley is an American session musician. Most widely-known as a trumpet player, he also plays other brass instruments such as flugelhorn and trombone...
(trumpet, flugelhorn) - Anthony Marinelli (piano, Wurlitzer piano, Mellotron, ARP synthesizer, Moog synthesizer)
- John Thomas (piano)
- Roger Len Smith (bass instrument)
- Tim LandersTim LandersTimothy Gerard Landers is an American bass guitarist, composer and record producer.He graduated from Brockton High School in 1975 and attended the Berklee College of Music from 1976 to 1977, studying under Neil Stubenhaus and Whit Browne...
(double bass, bass guitar) - Gregg BissonetteGregg BissonetteGregg Bissonette, is an American drummer. Gregg was born in a family of musicians. His father Bud Bissonette plays drums, his mother Phyllis plays piano and vibraphone, and brother Matt Bissonette plays bass guitar. Gregg started learning to play the drums at age 5 from his father...
(drums, tambourine) - Robert Jolly (drums)