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Shawn Desman

Shawn Bosco Fernandes (born January 12, 1982), known by his stage name Shawn Desman, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, dancer, and choreographer.

Early life

Shawn Desman attended St. Francis of Assisi Elementary School in Toronto. After discovering his passion for performing, Desman's parents encouraged him to pursue a career in music. From age nine to 16, he made Portuguese albums and toured under his legal name, Shawn Fernandes. In 1998, Shawn was in The Boomtang Boys video for their song "Squeeze Toy" as a dancer.

Career

2002–2005: Debut Album and Back for More

At 18, Desman was signed to BMG Music Canada and started recording an album, which was released in 2002. The self-titled breakthrough album featured three top ten singles ("Shook", "Spread My Wings" and "Get Ready") on the Canadian charts. The album went on to achieve gold certification in Canada. The single, "Spread My Wings", is a cover of the unreleased group Vega, featuring Chilli of TLC.

His follow-up album, Back for More garnered a Juno Award for Best R&B Recording#R&B/Soul Recording of the Year (2003_-_Present) which featured the single "Let's Go". After the release of his second album, BMG dropped him from the label. He was then signed to Universal Music Canada.

2010–2015: Fresh and Alive

His 2010 album Fresh garnered two gold singles, one platinum single, Video of the Year at the Much Music Video Awards, Canadian Dance/Pop Song of the year at the Stylus Awards, as well as SOCAN Number 1 Award for Electric/Night Like This.

Desman is also a producer and has worked with various artists producing hit singles for Nick Carter, Kreesha Turner, Keshia Chanté as well as contestants on YTV's The Next Star, where he produced the song (One More First Chance) for Brock Zanrosso in 2009 and "It Might Be You" for contestant Parker Schmidt in 2011.

In 2013, Shawn Desman released his fourth studio album, Alive, along with an accompanying short film of the same name. The album spawned two singles; "Nobody Does It Like You" and "Dum Da Dum". In 2015, he released the songs "Victoria" and "Obsession", and was dropped by Universal Music.

2020–present: Resurgence

After coming to terms with the end of his music career, he received a call from Canadian country music singer Tebey, who suggested they collaborate on a project called RadioClub. With RadioClub, Desman released a dance remix of Rick Astley's song "Never Gonna Give You Up".

In July 2022, Desman performed at Drake's All Canadian North Stars concert at OVO Fest, featuring a dozen Canadian hip-hop and R&B artists. After the show, Drake approached him in the hallway outside of the green room, praising him for his performance and had encouraged him to continue making music. A few months later he released a new single called "Maniac", his first single since 2015's "Obsession".

In 2023, he participated in an all-star recording of Serena Ryder's single "What I Wouldn't Do", which was released as a charity single to benefit Kids Help Phone's Feel Out Loud campaign for youth mental health.

Personal life

Desman is of Portuguese and Italian descent. He has two younger brothers. He is also a cousin to another Canadian singer Tyler Medeiros.

In 2015, Desman's wife became ill, so he made the difficult decision to step away from his music career to focus on his family. He credits his appearance at Drake's 2022 OVO Fest concert celebrating a legacy of Canadian hip-hop and R&B musicians as one reason why he returned to making solo music. A conversation with Drake and response from the audience gave him the conviction to return to the recording studio.

Accolades

Eponymous was certified Gold by the Canadian Recording Industry Association.
In 2006, won a Juno Award for "R&B/Soul Recording of the Year".
In 2011, won "Video of the year" at the Much Music Video Awards for his video "Electric/Night Like This".
In 2011, won Canadian Dance/Pop Single of the Year at the Stylus Awards.
In 2011, awarded SOCAN No. 1 Award for Electric/Night Like This reaching No. 1.
In 2013, Alive awarded Best Outstanding Short Film at Reel World Film Festival