Shannon Hurley
Photo: MF Dinan
Hand-picked as one of Rolling Stone’s top 25 best bands on MySpace, Shannon Hurley released her debut album "Ready to Wake Up" in 2007. An honest voice paired with pure and simple lyrics called to mind a young Carole King with the pop sensibility of Aimee Mann. When Shannon put out a call for remixes, the Creative Commons community responded with over 500 versions of her songs. She drew from the best of the tracks and compiled an album called "Second Light: The Ready to Wake Up Remixes".
In 2009 Shannon and husband Ben Eisen (also her long-standing bass player) moved to Nashville, TN. It was there they started a new band called Lovers & Poets, an electronic chill-pop project that garnered airplay on KCRW and Adam Carolla's ACE Broadcasting Network.
Shannon and Ben returned to L.A. in 2010 but not before Shannon was off to Vietnam to perform at the Hyatt Hotel in Saigon, Vietnam for three months. She performed as a pop lounge singer and came away with experience and a love for Asian culture. While in Vietnam the devastating earthquake in Haiti happened and Shannon called several artist friends into action and the resulting "Songs for Haiti" was born, with all proceeds from this digital compilation going to Oxfam America. Sadly, the day she returned to L.A. her mother passed away suddenly. She was the one who introduced Shannon to pop music, having sung in rock bands while growing up in South Bend, IN.
Determined to make the most personal album yet, she is following up with "California" (which started with a single self-titled track in January 2009). "Beg Steal Borrow", which will also be on the new album, appeared on the Emmy nominated web-based series "Venice". Many fans helped fund the recording through Kickstarter and with their help, the new album "California" was released in July 2011.
Her voice can be heard on the trance hit "Sun Gone Down" by Protoculture, which Armin Van Buuren has proclaimed one of the biggest trance songs of 2011.
Recently Shannon's songs have been placed on the Style Network's "Giuliana & Bill", "The Young and The Restless" (CBS), "So You Think You Can Dance" (Fox) and "The Lying Game" (ABC).
Shannon is a proud Yamaha artist and plays the Yamaha Motif 7 onstage and on recordings!
Shannon Trivia Madness!
She studied songwriting with Pat Leonard (hit writer for Madonna).
She played in a band with actress/musician Brie Larson (United States of Tara, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World).
She co-founded Don't Call Us Tori! (www.dontcallustori.com), a showcase for female singer-songwriters in L.A.
