Shannon was born in Washington D.C. and spent a lengthy portion of her childhood there before moving to New York City. It was in New York where she began her music career. While enrolled at York College Shannon participated in a local Jazz Ensemble and occasionally sung in other local groups.
Her talent was eventually spotted by the production team Liggett and Barbosa, who took her under their wings and helped release her studio debut “Let the Music Play”. The album was released in 1984 and contained four singles (one of them being the title track, which became a dance pop sensation).
Shannon’s debut landed at No.8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No.1 on the Billboard Dance Chart. It has also achieved gold status in the US and has earned her a grammy nomination. The album’s 2nd single “Give Me Tonight” shot to No.1 on the R&B and Hot Dance Club Play Charts, certifying her as one of the most original and successful artists of the genre.
She issued her 2nd studio album “Do You Wanna Get Away” in 1985. The album was spearheaded by the self-titled track, which became her 3rd consecutive single to reach No.1 on the dance chart. This song also crossed over to the soul charts breaching the top 20. Shannon also included a cover of Foreigner’s song “Urgent”, which proved to be yet another success for her.
In 1986 Shannon released her 3rd studio album “Love Goes All the Way”, which marked her last release for Atlantic. Her next album “The Best Is Yet to Come” did not come out until 14 years later. Within this span of time she participated in several commercial jingles and also recorded the song “Criminal” exclusively for the Tom Holland film “Fatal Beauty”. She also kept busy touring and eventually went on to pursue a degree at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
In 2004 Shannon issued a compilation album entitled “Let the Music Play: The Best of Shannon” and two years later put out her 5th studio album “A Beauty Returns”.
Being dubbed the International Queen of Freestyle is a title that many, many people would love to be adorned with, but Shannon is the lucky artist who is referred to as this. With the release of the single Let the Music Play back in 1984, Shannon rocketed to fame, and enjoyed a successful career in freestyle, dance pop, and electronic music.
Shannnon’s stage presence was compelling and exciting, and her dance moves matched the almost Latin beat and style of the music. Her enthusiasm reached the audience as she shouted out to everyone to see if we were having a good time, and encouraged us to join in with her hits. She played a good selection of music from back in the 80s, rught up to the mist recent tracks from the album A Beauty Returns.
Her voice was powerful as ever, and her stage presence was commanding of the audiences enthusiasm. Everyone was dancing along from start to finish, and her band were also great at getting everyone motivated. When she played Stronger Together, she had everyone putting their arms in the air and swaying, which although a little corny, was fun to be united with the rest of the audience and the artist at a show.