Introduction
Shawn Bosco Fernandes (born January 12, 1982), better known by his stage name Shawn Desman, is a Canadian pop/R&B singer, songwriter, dancer, television personality, and actor of Portuguese descent. He is signed to Universal Music Canada.
Career
Shawn Desman attended St. Francis of Assisi Elementary School in Toronto where he took part in many talent shows and events. In 1998, Shawn Fernandes was in the Boomtang Boys video for their song "Squeezetoy" as a dancer. He had a few recordings in English and Portuguese under his real name Shawn Fernandes before adopting the name Desman. According to his own account, he adopted the name Desman because in his youth his friends referred to him as "Dez, man" - thus creating his artistic pseudonym Desman.
His self-titled breakthrough album in 2002 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. The single, "Spread My Wings", is a cover of the unreleased male group, Vega, featuring Chilli of TLC.
His follow-up album, Back for More garnered a Juno Award for Best R&B Recording which featured the number one hit single "Let's Go".
His recent 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.
Shawn Desman is also a producer and has worked with various artists producing hit singles for Nick Carter, Kreesha Turner, Keshia Chante, Danny Fernandes, 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 hit singles; "Nobody Does It Like You" and "Dum Da Dum".
Collaborations
- Shawn Desman contributed "Spread My Wings" to Jerry Bruckheimer's Kangaroo Jack (on Warner).
- He has collaborated with producers Tricky Stewart, Rodney Jerkins and The Dream.
- Collaborated with his brother Danny Fernandes on the single "Feel It" featured on Shawn's album Fresh.
Awards
- Shawn Desman's eponymous debut album was certified Gold by the Canadian Recording Industry Association.
- In 2006, won a Juno Award for "R&B/Soul Recording of the Year".
- In 2011, won "Video of the year" at the Much Music Video Awards for his video "Electric/Night Like This".
- In 2011, won Canadian Dance/Pop Single of the Year at the Stylus Awards.
- In 2011, awarded SOCAN #1 Award for Electric/Night Like This reaching #1.
- In 2013, ALIVE movie awarded Best Outstanding Short Film at Reel World Film Festival
Free the Children
Inspired by the commitment and passion of the youth at his first We Day performance in 2010, Shawn became a Free the Children ambassador and has regularly appeared on the We Day stage since then. He also choreographed the We Day dance in 2011 and designed the “This Is How We Do It” T-shirt for Me to We, which was one of the best selling shirts at We Day. In the summer of 2013, Shawn travelled to Kenya to witness first-hand the impact FTC initiatives are making. While there, he collaborated with the Kenyan Boys Choir for the first time. Later that year, Shawn hosted the Canadian leg of the We Day tour, where he debuted a special rendition of “Won’t Give Up On You” (Alive) with the Kenyan Boys Choir.
Personal life
Desman is of Portuguese descent. Desman is the oldest of three brothers. His brothers are Canadian singer Danny Fernandes and Jonathan Fernandes. Canadian singer Tyler Medeiros is his cousin. On August 25, 2007, he married longtime girlfriend and fellow Canadian dancer, Chantelle Leonardo of whom was featured in many of his earlier music videos and has made appearances in films such as Honey and Shall We Dance. Together they have two sons, Owen Fernandes and Cayden Fernandes.
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Album details | Peak | Certifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAN |
|||
| Shawn Desman |
|
38 |
|
| Back for More |
|
— | |
| Fresh |
|
29 | |
| Alive |
|
— | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||
Singles
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN |
GER |
AUS |
||||
| 1995 | "Tu és Minha" | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |
| 1999 | "Don't Want to Lose You" | 19 | — | — | ||
| 2002 | "Get Ready" | 1 | — | 37 | Shawn Desman | |
| "Shook" | 3 | 64 | — |
|
||
| 2003 | "Spread My Wings" | — | — | — | ||
| "Sexy" | — | — | — | Back For More | ||
| 2005 | "Let's Go" | 6 | 27 | — | ||
| "Red Hair" | — | — | — | |||
| 2010 | "Shiver" | 18 | — | — |
|
Fresh |
| "Night Like This" | 22 | — | — |
|
||
| "Electric" | 23 | — | — |
|
||
| 2011 | "Moneyshot" / "Something Stupid" | — | — | — | ||
| 2012 | "Nobody Does It Like You" | 18 | — | — |
|
Alive |
| "Dum Da Dum" | 32 | — | — | |||
| 2013 | "Too Young to Care" | — | — | — | ||
| "Stuck" | — | — | — | |||
| 2015 | "Victoria" | — | — | — | TBA | |
| "Obsession" | — | — | — | |||
- Notes
Features
- 2003: "Movie Star (Remix)" Rascalz feat. Shawn Desman
- 2006: "All Eyes on Me" Puppet feat. Shawn Desman
- 2010: "Feel It" Danny Fernandes feat. Shawn Desman
- Collaborations
- 2009: "One More First Chance" (as producer for Brock Zanrosso on YTV's The Next Star)
- Shawn Desman:
- Fresh:
Selected filmography
- 2001: Get Over It as himself
- 2003: Honey as himself
- 2007: How She Move as Trey