Shannon Curtis

Shannon Curtis
Shannon Curtis performing at the Hotel Café, Los Angeles. Photo by Paul Franco.
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, US
Genres	Dreampop
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, musician, author
Instruments	Vocals, keyboard
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Saint Cloud Records
Website	shannoncurtis.net

Shannon Curtis is an American dreampop singer, songwriter, pianist, and author.

Curtis grew up in , and was raised Baptist. Curtis grew up listening to Contemporary Christian Music, as well as singing along to her dad playing 40s-era standards on the family's baby grand piano.

Curtis learned to sing in church, and began playing the piano at age four. A piano teacher once told her she played the piano "like a boy." After college, Curtis formed the rock/pop group Paradigm, which became a popular act on the college touring circuit. The band separated in 2006.

After dissolving Paradigm, Curtis turned her attention full-time to writing, and in 2007 released her debut solo EP, Boomerangs & Seesaws. Curtis began touring nationally in support of this EP, which was followed by a second EP, Paris Can't Have You, in March 2008. Both EPs were produced by Curtis's husband, producer/engineer Jamie Hill. Curtis's song "Before the Sun," from Boomerangs & Seesaws, was featured on MTV's hit show "The Hills."

In 2008, Grammy-winning producer Charlie Peacock (Civil Wars, Amy Grant, Sixpence None The Richer) heard Curtis's track "Boomerangs & Seesaws" on her MySpace page, and contacted Curtis and offered to work on her next recording at his studio in Nashville. To finance the project, Curtis released a limited-edition fan club single of her song "Get Outta Town," the sales of which paid for her travel and recording expenses.

Peacock produced Curtis's third EP Why Don't You Stay?, which was released in July 2009. Why Don't You Stay? was mixed by Joe Zook (OneRepublic, Modest Mouse, Katy Perry).

2010 and 2011 saw Curtis retrenching, writing, touring, and developing her sound. Writing on her website in 2011, she said, "I grew up in a pretty traditional musical environment, and when I started writing songs, I gravitated to the piano, because that's what I grew up playing. But my husband, Jamie, has a whole bunch of non-traditional instruments sitting around our house, and finally my curiosity got the better of me and I started playing around with them. We did 'Brightest Light' with that in mind, and wow! I feel like it's a huge step forward. It's like I have more colors to paint my little scenes with. It's really exciting."