Artist description I am a singer/songwriter/guitarist. I write and record all my own stuff. I am looking for musicians to gig locally, but I am mostly into writing and recording and I am looking for a record deal.

Music Style ELECTRO RETRO

Musical Influences rock/blues/glam/american country/chuck berry/70s+80s pop

Similar Artists Chuck Berry, Dave Edmunds, Jerry Williams, and 70s and 80s Rock'n'Roll and Country in general

Artist History Shawn was born in Plymouth,UK. He learned to play guitar age 13 on an old beaten up accoustic.Shawn recalls:" I replaced the nylon strings with steel ones for that authentic Rock'n'Roll sound, tuned it 2 octaves too high to match my young voice and wondered why the bridge ripped off! So I just nailed it back down with about 20 pannel pins and continued to abuse the poor instrument until I got my first decent tune out of it, a rather off-key version of Carl Perkins' 'Honey Don't'".Shawn learned totally by ear, never had a music lesson in his life and his earliest recordings were made in good old fashioned Rockabilly style in the bathroom because of the great accoustics on an old tape recorder. Appart from giving his parents bladder trouble by denying them access to the toilet for hours, he learned the basics of overdubbing by experimenting that way. "I was proud to have had 'invented' the process, until I found out years later that Les Paul had done it in 1954! - Ah well, we can't all be Rock'n'Roll geniuses!" laughs Shawn today. Over the years, Shawn rehearsed with quite a few guys and sang at every opportunity from holiday camps to the first ever audition for 'Stars In Their Eyes' in 1988. "I never realised that it was for impersonators only. I turned up with my old guitar and done my own version of an old Shaky song called 'I'm Lookin'. The producer was impressed enough to advise me to go out there and do my own thing, and I have done so ever since."In 1990, Shawn formed his first band with his wife Silke, who he had met at a concert in 1988 in Nottingham and who had been a pen pal since. The name was 'Ricky Fentone And The Flat Top Cats' which was taken from a line in the Little Richard classic 'Ready Teddy'. They played mainly Rock'n'Roll covers by Burnette, Cochran, Holly, Presley etc., but as the years went by, Shawn introduced more and more of his own material into the set. In 1995, the band, Shawn alias Ricky Fentone on vocals and guitar, Silke alias Little Lena on bass and Alan Nott alias Swingin' Chuck on drums, recorded their first of several albums all containing Shawn's original work only, called 'Night Of Passion'. It was sponsored by a £200 Princes Youth Business Trust test marketing grant and was recorded over 3 days at Meyday Music in Blackwood, Gwent, Wales, home of the Manic Street Preachers. "I recall a very brief meeting with the Manics in a studio in Mounmouthshire." says Shawn, "I turned up in a Rock'n'Roll car and they didn't say a lot." In 1996 came a second album 'Don't Knock Me, Don't Rock Me', recorded at the YMCA recording studio in Hirwaun, Wales, and in 1997 'Cadillac Man' and a Christmas EP called 'Rock'n'Rollin' Christmas', both recorded at the YMCA as well. 1997 was a busy year for the band with Shawn being interviewed on Valleys Radio and the band taking part in the yearly local carnival on the back of a massive articulated truck. They raised over £700 for the local Cancer Research Campaign that day and were made executive members of the Cancer Research Committee. They also launched their own fan club, and the rest of the year was spent fund raising, doing signings of their latest album etc. The end of 1997 also saw Shawn's first self produced album 'Ricky Rocks And Ricky Rolls' which was recorded at home on Shawn's reel to reel 4-tracker which he favours to this day to record demos and ideas on. The band also recorded several videos to various of the songs on the album in early 1998. In 1998, Shawn and Silke wrote a musical called 'Zog'. After listening to Earth's radio transmissions for the last 50 years or so, the Zoggians have developed their own futuristic Rock'n'Roll culture. Shawn and Silke are currently re-vamping the musical and updating the story line as they are planning to develop the musical into a computer game and a comic strip to make it more appealing to the younger generation of today. With so many song writing and recording projects on the go, Shawn decided to call the band a day in 1998 and concentrate on his song writing only for a while. He has recorded now over 300 songs in various stages from demos only to finished products, all in his unique style. He combines the sounds from the 50's to the 70's, which he loves, with modern beats and sounds to give his music a more up-to-date feel. He feels that he has developed a different sound and is confident that he can record Rock'n'Roll for the new millenium. Shawn has now moved back home to Cornwall after staying in Wales for several years. Now living in St. Austell, near his birth place Plymouth, Shawn is thinking about going back live, this time under his real name as a solo artist performing his own material to backing tracks which he has recorded himself. "I think it will be a good way of showcasing my material to the public and the music industry." Shawn has also established a solid web presence over the last year and has had a very good response. Signed up after only 2 weeks on-line by an american promoter and entering the charts on several of his mp3 sites regularly, he has attracted interest from several music industry links and radio stations around the world. With a bit of luck, a record deal will be just around the corner.

Group Members Just myself at the moment. My wife Silke plays the keyboard on some of my recordings and helps to write some of the lyrics as well as mixing and mastering. Special thanks to my dad Arthur who provides many great lyrics.

Instruments vocals/guitar/bass/keyboard/electronic drums

Albums Too many to list, visit www.shawnharvey.com for full discography.

Press Reviews Over the years there has been several articles and reviews about the activities of "Ricky Fentone and the Flat Top Cats" in the Cynon Valley Leader and the South Wales Echo, and more recently I have been featured in the Cornish Guardian. I have also been on Valleys Radio and BBC Cornwall Radio, as well as several TV appearances, mostly on Sky and local TV.

Location Brightlingsea, Essex - United Kingdom

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