About this artist
A performer who jumped from rock & roll to dance music, musician, vocalist, producer, and DJ Shaun Frank was born in Toronto, Canada on June 7, 1982. Frank began playing music in his early teens, dividing his time between singing in local punk rock bands and building beats using inexpensive sequencers. In time, Frank landed a gig as the lead vocalist with alternative rock band the Envy, who were discovered by Gene Simmons of Kiss. Simmons signed the Envy to his record label and took the band on tour as Kiss’ opening act, but despite releasing two albums — 2012′s Conception and 2013′s The Envy — the group failed to break through to a larger audience. While on tour with the Envy, Frank was reminded of his interest in dance music while attending a party in Bali on Indonesian Independence Day, where he was overwhelmed by the force of the music. During his downtime from the group, Frank began appearing as a guest vocalist on dance tracks; one of them, “Unbreakable” by Spanish DJ Marien Baker, became a major international hit, and soon Frank shifted his focus to dance music. After lending vocals to tracks by Arty, Lush & Simon, Nicky Romero, Glenn Morrison, and Dyro, Frank began touring as an EDM artist, combining live vocals with his DJ sets. He also found success as a remixer, working with Lorde and Down with Webster. Frank released his first headlining single in 2013, and in 2015 he enjoyed a major success with “Shades of Grey,” a collaboration with Oliver Heldens and Delaney Jane that was streamed over 16 million times. Frank and Jane topped that in 2016 with their song “La La Land,” which accumulated over 21 million streaming plays. Frank also enjoyed a major hit as a songwriter as one of the composers of the Chainsmokers’ 2016 success “Closer.” ~ Mark Deming