Shaun Frank is May's 'One to Watch' Artist!

Canadian DJ Shaun Frank has had tremendous success as a singer-songwriter and a producer and we think he’s definitely someone to watch for.

At the beginning of his career, Shaun was the lead singer of a rock band called  The Envy. They were signed to Simmons Records, KISS legend Gene Simmons’ label.

The group even opened for KISS back in 2010 during their Hottest Show on Earth Tour. Check out some video of that below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQPpg-bj_08

Check out three of The Envy’s singles, ‘Don’t Let Go’, ‘Music to my Ears’ and ‘You’re the Sex’ below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZy_ADwViBo

Shaun spoke to Billboard about his start in music and how The Envy came together.

He said, “I started in about three bands. Since I was 13, I was playing in bands. I grew up in the basement of my parents’ house — playing drums, playing keys, singing. A couple of my bands had success around the world, I was touring in Asia. I was the singer. My last band, the one before I Started doing this, we actually signed to Gene Simmons’ record label and toured with Kiss.”

Why did things with The Envy end? Well, it appears as though music politics played a role according to Shaun, “it went a little south. We got a little f***ed by the record company. I don’t want to blame them completely, but it was one of those things. And people started asking me to sing on their dance records. I was dead broke, sleeping on my friends floor in Toronto, and singing on people’s dance records for cash. One of those records turned out to be really big. 

I was always a big fan of house music, and I was always making it in my laptop, but I had never really gone out and experienced the whole scene. I went on this tour in Europe with the DJ, Marien Baker, whose song I sang, and I was like, I think this is actually what I need to be doing. So I came home, I pulled a bunch of the ideas out of my laptop, and I started to finish them up. That led to the Shaun Frank project. “

Fast forward a few years, Shaun has collaborations with some of the biggest names in EDM including Steve Aoki, DVBBS and The Chainsmokers!

In fact, he helped co-write The Chainsmokers hit song ‘Closer’ with Andrew Taggart on the back of a tour bus.

He recalled, “I felt like, because the lyrics were so interesting, it had the potential to be a hit. And because [the Chainsmokers] were doing so well with everything. But you have to remember, this was back when ‘Roses’ was just breaking. We wrote this song when ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ was just getting released.” 

Shaun also convinced Drew that he should lend his vocals on the track, “I told Drew that he should sing it, and he wasn’t sure at first but we ended up recording the vocals that night on the tour bus. I did vocals with him, we recorded the whole thing, they got Halsey on it and yeah here we are. It was one of those things that we knew as soon as we got the vocals in that this was gonna be big.”

He recently performed with the EDM tour on their Memories: Do Not Open tour.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTXJP9gFwfg/

Today, Shaun has a brand new single called, ‘No Future’ featuring Dyson, check that out below and learn more about this month’s ‘One to Watch’ artist HERE.