Shawnee Taylor works with a who’s who in the world of dance such as Erick Morillo, Junior Sanchez, Todd Terry, Richard Grey, Harry Romero, Jose Nunez, Sandy Rivera, Greg Cerrone and more. Needless to say, with the overflow of talent she possesses, universal acclaim is almost a formality. Music is in Shawnee’s blood, literally. Born in LA but raised in the vibrant melting pot that is New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, Shawnee’s father, as jazz bassist, paid the rent by playing in chat show king Johnnie Carson’s band while her mother sang with the legendary John Coltrane and dapper crooner Lou Rawls.
It was during a weekend break from boarding school that Shawnee ran into DJ Romain who heard the teenager casually singing a tune in a Manhattan record store. Through Romain, her retinue of producers increased to include Todd Terry, Sandy Rivera, Roland Clarke and Michael Moog amongst others and non-stop writing and background work that saw her through her college years. It was Shawnee’s work on the Tanagachicks’ remix of ‘Brasil Over Zurich’ featuring Dimitri and Tom that first acquainted her with Erick Morillo. By the time she had sung on Kid Creme’s ‘Austin’s Groove’ and Richard Grey’s ‘Do What You Wanna Do’, Morillo knew that Shawnee Taylor was more than just a session singer. She was a solo star and by signing her on Subliminal Records, he aimed to prove the point. Her recent tracks include the spectacular collaboration with Erick Morillo and Eddie Thoneick on ‘Live Your Life’ and ‘Stronger’ released on Subliminal and D:Vision Records respectively. It seems, then, that Shawnee Taylor is already an international star.
