Jump to content

Shawn Mullins

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Getyourgoat (talk | contribs) at 17:38, 8 May 2011. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Shawn Mullins

Shawn Mullins (born March 8, 1968 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American singer-songwriter who specializes in folk rock, instrumental rock, adult alternative, and Americana 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 (Golden Eagle 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.

This next song [All in My Head] I actually wrote for a TV show – a TV show called Scrubs, you know that show? They were still looking for a theme song in their very first season and my friend who sometimes plays drums with me, a guy named Gerry 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 supposed to just not really record it for real and just do it real fast and send it in just to see if they’ll like it. So we did and we never heard from them. Then a couple of weeks went by and I loved the show so I was watching the show and all of a sudden, there’s my bad demo. Right there on the screen. And I was like ‘Man! I shoulda recorded it right!’ They didn’t use it for their theme song, though, but, you know, I was glad that they used it at all and put it on their Scrubs soundtrack which is kinda cool.

— Shawn Mullins, Concert September 17th, 2008[1]

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.

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 by reaching #1 on the Americana and AAA (Adult Album Alternative), and was featured in the Cities 97 Sampler, Volume 18.

On March 11, 2008, Mullins released his second album on Vanguard, entitled Honeydew. On October 12th, 2010 Mullins released his new album on Vanguard, entitled Light You Up.'

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.

Discography

Albums

Collaborations

  1. ^ Transcribed Shawn Mullins Quotes

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shawn_Mullins&oldid=428108668"