The Reverend Shawn Amos

Also known as the Reverend Shawn Amos, Shawn Amos is a singer, songwriter, NAACP award-winning author, and producer with a style that alternates blues, roots rock, country, and gospel. After releasing his first full-length, Whitey McFearsun, in 1996, he made his label debut with his third album, Harlem, in 2000. It featured members of Crazy Horse and the Jayhawks. After establishing himself as a solo artist, he also became known as a multi-faceted label and marketing executive, among other enterprises, while continuing to release music. He delivered his seventh album, Breaks It Down, in 2018 before collaborating on the 2020 blues release Blue Sky with his newly formed backing band the Brotherhood. Amos was born in New York City in 1967 to nightclub singer Shirl-ee May (Shirlee Ellis) and Wally Amos, founder of cookie brand Famous Amos. Raised mostly in Los Angeles, he returned to New York to study film as a college student, but segued from screenwriting to songwriting in the early '90s. After releasing the albums Whitey McFearsun and Be Real in 1996 and 1997, he signed with Unbreakable Records. Inspired by a museum exhibit dedicated to the Harlem Renaissance, his label debut, Harlem, was released in 2000. It featured guest appearances by the Jayhawks' Mark Olson and Crazy Horse guitarist Poncho Sampedro. The more acoustic-leaning In Between followed in 2002. -Marcy Donelson, AllMusic