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.[1] The single, "Spread My Wings", is a cover of the unreleased group Vega, featuring Chilli of TLC.
Desman performing at the Mod Club in Toronto, November 2013
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",[2] 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.[3] A few months later he had signed a new deal with Wax Records and released a new single called "Maniac", his first single since 2015's "Obsession".[4][5] In January 2023, the single debuted at number 99 on the Canadian Hot 100, making it his first appearance on the chart in 10 years, it would then peak at number 71.[6][7]
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.[8]
Personal life
Desman is of Portuguese and Italian descent. He has two younger brothers (one of them being fellow Canadian singer Danny Fernandes). 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.[9] 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.[9] A conversation with Drake and response from the audience gave him the conviction to return to the recording studio.
