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Shawn Mullins

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Shawn Mullins

Shawn Mullins (born March 8, 1968 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American singer-songwriter who specializes in folk rock, instrumental rock, and adult alternative music. He is best known for the 1998 single, "Lullaby," which hit number one on the Adult Top 40 and was nominated for a Grammy Award.

History

Mullins cultivated an interest in music beginning in his days at Clarkston High School in Clarkston, Georgia (where he made the acquaintance of friend and mentor Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls). Later, he honed his craft in his college days at North Georgia College and State University as a solo acoustic musician and bandmaster of the military marching band. He attended North Georgia College and State University on an Army ROTC scholarship with an intention of possibly pursuing a military career. Although he quickly abandoned this notion in favor of songwriting, the contract nonetheless obliged him after graduation to serve a short term as an inactive Infantry officer in the Individual Ready Reserve component of the U.S. Army Reserve. He served in an inactive status, reaching the rank of 1st lieutenant before fulfilling his service obligation and resigning honorably. Soon, he added a drummer (Mickey Hendrix) and bassist (Carlton Brown) to form the power pop trio billed as "Shawn Eric Mullins with Twice Removed", a combo that would help carry him to campus-wide and regional notoriety. Eventually the "Twice Removed" trio parted ways under amicable terms, and Mullins began using a variety of collaborative lineups while building his reputation as a solo artist.

His critical breakthrough came when his song "Lullaby," from the album Soul's Core, became a radio and video hit. One of his more famous songs, "All In My Head," was featured on the hit television sitcom "Scrubs." This song was written after an e-mail was sent out by the producers of the new show Scrubs was searching for a theme song. Mullins wrote a demo version and sent it in within a 24 hour period. It wasn't selected as the theme song but the demo version was used in a season one episode of the series.

I actually wrote [All in My Head] for a TV show... called Scrubs. They were still looking for a theme song in their very first season. My friend who sometimes plays drums with me, a guy named Jerry Hansen, and I wrote this song real quick and we sent in a pretty bad demo. It was one of those quick things that you always hear that you're not supposed to record it for real and you just do it real fast and send it in to see if they'll like it. So we did and we never heard from them. A couple of weeks went by, I loved the show so I was watching the show and all of a sudden, there's my bad demo... And I [thought] 'Man! We should have recorded it right.' they didn't use it for their theme song, though but I was glad they used it at all and put it on their Scrubs soundtrack.

— Shawn Mullins, Concert, 17th September 2009

In the video for "Lullaby", directed by Roger Pistole, actress Dominique Swain appeared. Another single, "Shimmer," was included on the soundtrack for the TV show Dawson's Creek and was a minor hit. "Shimmer" was also used in Australia as part of its promotional campaign during the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics and it is still considered in Australia as the unofficial anthem of the games. To date, he has yet to match the overwhelming commercial success of "Lullaby," which was also released as a live performance on the charity album Live in the X Lounge II in 1999. In early 2002, he formed the supergroup The Thorns with Matthew Sweet and Pete Droge.

He supported John Kerry during the 2004 Presidential election campaign, playing a benefit for him in Georgia along with former Senator Max Cleland and others.

In 2006, Mullins released his first album on new label Vanguard Records, 9th Ward Pickin Parlor, as well as a new single, entitled "Beautiful Wreck", from the album. The single enjoyed modest success, and was featured in the Cities 97 Sampler, Volume 18.

On March 11, 2008, Mullins released his second album on Vanguard, entitled Honeydew.

Influences

Mullins's earlier work was influenced by acoustic and power-pop groups such as the Violent Femmes, The Producers and the Indigo Girls. However, his most significant and enduring influences are rock singer-songwriters like James Taylor and country musicians such as Kris Kristofferson.

He is known for playing many cover songs during his live performances, including "Copperhead Road" by Steve Earle as well as introducing some lighthearted, quirky elements into his studio and stage performances.

Selected events

Mullins was featured twice on Australia's Triple M Musical Challenge segment, in which musicians performed songs which were opposite of their usual style. Mullins performed Prince's 1999 and Wham!'s "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go". On January 20th, 2009, Mullins performed at Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony.

Discography

Albums

Collaborations

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