Shawn James | |
|---|---|
 James performing in February 2017 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | September 23, 1986 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
|
| Instrument(s) |
|
| Years active | 2012–present |
| Labels |
|
| Website | shawnjamesmusic |
Shawn James (born September 23, 1986) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He performs both solo and with his backing band, The Shapeshifters.
James was born in Chicago on September 23, 1986, [1] and was raised by Greek immigrants [2] on Chicago's South Side. [3] As a child, he attended a local Pentecostal church, where he sang in the choir. He also took opera, orchestra, and singing lessons in high school. [4]
James started his career working as a sound engineer at music studios in Nashville, Tennessee. In 2012, he moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to pursue his own career as a musician. In the beginning, he busked around downtown Fayetteville. From there, he started playing in local venues and recording his own songs in a bedroom studio. [4] Later in 2012, he released his first studio album, Shadows. In 2013, he began working with his backing band, The Shapeshifters. [3] He has since released three more solo albums, a live album, and five albums with The Shapeshifters. [5] He also maintains his own record company, Shawn James Music. [3] He achieved some notability in October 2015 when the music video for his cover of A. A. Bondy's "American Hearts", which was filmed in a wolf sanctuary, went viral after being posted on Reddit. [6]
In December 2016, James had his biggest breakthrough when his 2012 song "Through the Valley" was covered by the character of Ellie in the reveal trailer for the 2020 video game The Last of Us Part II . [7] [8] This led to the song topping Spotify's viral chart in the UK, [9] [10] eventually garnering over 60 million streams across Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. [11] On June 5, 2020, he released a re-recorded version of the song in the run-up to the game's release two weeks later. [12] The day before the game's release, a cover of the song by Australian musician Tash Sultana debuted on PlayStation Australia's YouTube channel, accompanied by a Last of Us Part II-themed music video. [13] James' original recording of the song can briefly be heard playing on Ellie's headphones during the game's opening sequence. [14]
James' music has also been featured on Discovery Channel's reality show Yukon Men , [15] the CBS legal drama series Reckless , [16] and the Showtime comedy-drama series Shameless . [17] He currently has a publishing deal with Raleigh Music Group, [18] and signed to Parts + Labor Records in 2018. [19]
James and his long-time girlfriend, Michelle, have been together since 2003 when they were both teenagers. They reside in Seattle.
"Dream On" is a power ballad by Aerosmith from their 1973 eponymous debut album. Written by lead singer Steven Tyler, this song was their first major hit and became a classic rock radio staple. Released in June 1973, it peaked at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 but hit big in the band's native Boston, where it was the number one single of the year on WBZ-FM, number five for the year on WRKO and number 16 on WMEX (AM). The song also received immediate heavy airplay on the former WVBF (FM), often showing up in the #1 position on "The Top Five at Five" in June 1973.
"Free Fallin" is the opening track from American musician Tom Petty's debut solo album, Full Moon Fever (1989). The song was written by Petty and his writing partner for the album, Jeff Lynne, and features Lynne on backing vocals and bass guitar. The duo wrote and recorded the single in two days, making it the first song completed for Full Moon Fever.
"River" is a song by Canadian singer songwriter Joni Mitchell, from her 1971 album Blue. Written on piano, it has become a standard for artists in many music styles, and has become popular as Christmas music. Although never released as a single, "River" holds second place among Mitchell's songs most recorded by other artists. In 2021, it was ranked at No. 247 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time".
Jordan William Fisher is an American actor, singer, and dancer. He began his career with recurring roles on several television series, including The Secret Life of the American Teenager in 2012 and Liv and Maddie from 2015 to 2017. He also had supporting roles in the television films Teen Beach Movie (2013), Teen Beach 2 (2015) and Grease Live (2016), The Flash (2021-2022) and starred in Rent: Live (2019).
Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll, known professionally as Kygo, is a Norwegian DJ and music producer. He garnered international attention with his December 2013 remix of the track "I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran and his December 2014 single "Firestone". In late 2015, he reached 1 billion streams on Spotify faster than any other artist, and by June 2016, he had reached 2 billion streams.
"Pokémon Theme" is a song written by John Siegler and John Loeffler and performed by Jason Paige. It is the original theme song for the first season of the English adaptation of the Pokémon anime. Since its release, the song has been virtually synonymous with the Pokémon franchise because the line "Gotta catch ’em all!" has become its official English slogan; it is derived from the Japanese ポケモンGETだぜ!.
Charles Otto Puth Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. His initial exposure came through the viral success of his song covers uploaded to YouTube. Puth signed with the record label eleveneleven in 2011 after performing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, while also songwriting and producing material for other artists.
Timothy Jude Smith, known by his stage name Timmy Trumpet, is an Australian musician, DJ, songwriter and record producer. He has become known internationally for playing the trumpet live and making use of jazz elements in dance music.
Shawn Peter Raul Mendes is a Canadian singer-songwriter. He gained a following in 2013, when he posted song covers on the video sharing platform Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist manager Andrew Gertler and Island Records A&R Ziggy Chareton, which led to him signing a deal with the record label. Mendes' self-titled debut EP was released in 2014, followed by his debut studio album Handwritten in 2015. Handwritten debuted atop the US Billboard 200, making Mendes one of five artists ever to debut at number one before the age of 18. The single "Stitches" reached number one in the UK and the top 10 in the US and Canada.
"Take Me to Church" is a song by Irish singer-songwriter Hozier. It was released as his debut single on 13 September 2013, originally featuring on his extended play of the same name, before being featured as the opening track of his 2014 debut album Hozier. A struggling musician at the time of its composition, Hozier wrote and recorded the song in the attic of his parents' home in County Wicklow. A mid-tempo soul song, its lyrics use religious terminology to describe a romantic relationship in the face of Church discrimination. The song caught the attention of Rubyworks Records, where producer Rob Kirwan collaborated with Hozier on the final recording.
Jetta is an English singer-songwriter and record producer from Liverpool who is based in London. She is best known for her songs "I'd Love to Change the World " and "Feels Like Coming Home".
Claire Rachel Wilkinson, known by her stage name 7Chariot and previously known as Clairity, is an American singer and songwriter.
Alessia Caracciolo, known professionally as Alessia Cara, is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She began posting covers of songs on YouTube at age 13. After uploading acoustic covers of songs such as "Love Yourself" and "Sweater Weather" online, she signed with EP Entertainment and Def Jam Recordings in 2014 and released her debut single, "Here", the following year. It peaked at number 19 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart and was a sleeper hit in the US, peaking at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Alan Olav Walker is a Norwegian DJ and music producer, primarily known for his single "Faded" (2015), which was certified platinum in 14 countries. He has also released several known songs including "Force" (2015), "Sing Me to Sleep" (2016), "All Falls Down" featuring Noah Cyrus and Digital Farm Animals (2017), "Darkside" (2018), "Diamond Heart" (2018), "On My Way" featuring Sabrina Carpenter and Farruko (2019), and "Alone, Pt. II" featuring Ava Max (2019), all of which attracted hundreds of millions of views on YouTube. Three of his songs—"Faded", "Alone" (2016) and "The Spectre" (2017)—have garnered over a billion views on YouTube.
Tom Rosenthal is an English singer-songwriter and composer. His music has been described as "short, expertly crafted pop songs".
James Taylor-Watts, better known as James TW, is an English singer-songwriter. His single "When You Love Someone" peaked at number 28 on the Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart.
Joel Gustaf Berghult, better known as Roomie, is a Swedish YouTuber, singer-songwriter, and producer based in Los Angeles, California.
Approximately 2,100 people developed The Last of Us Part II over more than five years, led by the 350-person team at Naughty Dog. Sony Interactive Entertainment published the action-adventure game in June 2020 for the PlayStation 4; a remastered version is scheduled to release in January 2024 for the PlayStation 5. A sequel to the 2013 game The Last of Us, core development on Part II began after the 2014 release of The Last of Us Remastered. Neil Druckmann returned as creative director, co-writing the story with Halley Gross, while Anthony Newman and Kurt Margenau were selected to be co-game directors.
Nicklaus Robert Shoulders is an American country singer-songwriter from Fayetteville, Arkansas. After achieving local success with his punk rock band Thunderlizards in the early 2010s and playing harmonica and banjo with Shawn James and the Shapeshifters, in 2017 Shoulders began releasing country music as a solo artist. His solo work has reached a much wider audience, beginning with a performance of his original song "Rather Low" gathering considerable momentum on YouTube. Shoulders has been praised for his distinctive vocal style, which incorporates influences from early country music in the form of yodelling and whistling.
The music for the 2020 action-adventure survival horror video game The Last of Us Part II, developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, was composed by musician Gustavo Santaolalla, with additional music composed by Mac Quayle. The original score album was released digitally alongside the game in June 2020, featuring the work of Santaolalla and Quayle. An additional extended play, Covers and Rarities, was released in September 2021, featuring five cover songs from the game and its marketing performed by Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, who portrayed Joel and Ellie, respectively. The game also received two single releases as vinyl records: one in June 2018 featuring music from the trailers, and one in the Ellie Edition of the game in June 2020.
| Authority control databases: Artists |
|---|
