SHAWN MENDES, SINGER / SONGWRITER & VIRAL INTERNET SENSATION, SIGNED TO ISLAND RECORDS
Shawn Mendes (June 4, 2014 – New York, NY) Teenage singer-songwriter and viral online sensation Shawn Mendes, whose videos have amassed over 11 million YouTube views and have earned him the spot as the third most followed musician on Vine, has signed an exclusive worldwide contract with Island Records, a division of Universal Music Group. The signing was announced today on Billboard.com(Click HERE to read). Shawn is the second major label signing of an artist originating from the increasingly popular social network Vine and is also the first signing to the new Island Records “Life of The Party,” Shawn’s Island debut single, as well as his first original composition, will arrive in stores late-June. It is also the first advance track from his Island debut EP of all original compositions to be released this summer.
Within just 15 minutes of Shawn making the#ShawnsFirstSingle announcement last week on twitter, the hashtag was trending worldwide with over 300,000 mentions. “Life of The Party” will be Shawn’s first original song release, following his rise to notoriety in the past few months from acoustic renditions of popular songs that spread quickly across the internet and caught the attention of many including Ed Sheeran, Vine-Celebrity Nash Grier, amongst others.
“Life of The Party” is also the prelude to Shawn’s first major North American tour run, when he hits the road later this summer supporting Austin Mahone on the Secret Tour, alongside The Vamps, Fifth Harmony and Alex Angelo. Shawn’s limited $50 VIP meet-and-greet ticket packages for the tour sold out within one hour of going on sale, creating a twitter frenzy and multiple trending topics of fans demanding for more to go on sale. (For tour dates & regular tickets visithttp://www.shawnmendesofficial.com)
In less than one year, since he first began using the digital platform Vine to record himself singing covers, Shawn Mendeshas become one of today’s most buzzed-about young artists. In March 2014, he beat over 30 young YouTubers to win RyanSeacrest.com’s “Best Cover Song” Contest with his rendition of A Great Big World’s “Say Something”.
Born and raised in the suburbs of Toronto to a Portuguese father and British mother, Shawn Mendes is a high school sophomore who will turn 16 on August 8th. A self-taught guitarist, he found his voice by spending hours after school every day watching covers on the web. The first clip that he posted on Vine took off like wildfire, revealing a singer with the soul of a young John Mayer, and the inspirations of someone far beyond his years.
Shawn worked at a prolific pace, posting a mix of covers and his own creative vocal and guitar riffs, on such songs as “Wanted” (Hunter Hayes), “Hallelujah” (Leonard Cohen), “Sweater Weather” (the Neighbourhood), “Counting Stars” (OneRepublic), “Give Me Love” (Ed Sheeran), “Free Fallin’ (Tom Petty), “Skyscraper” (Demi Lovato), and more (all of which can be viewed on YouTube). Shawn has amassed millions of views as his clips have spread across Vine (over 2.4 million followers), YouTube (over 534,000 subscribers and 10 million+ views), Instagram (over 1.2 million followers), Twitter (over 1.1 million followers), Facebook (over 285,000 followers), and every online social outlet imaginable.
With the fast rise of his cover videos online, Shawn’s rapidly growing fan-base began to develop and take on a life of its own. In late 2013, over 2,000 fans showed up to his first public appearance in Toronto’s Dundas Square, and his first headline show in Toronto sold out in under 24 hours. Now thousands of teenage girls are showing up throughout North America to see him perform at MAGCON – a tour for social media celebrities that takes place in different cities each month. Now headed into this summer, Shawn is just getting started, writing and recording his own records and growing into one of music’s brightest new stars.
