Shaun Shankel is an American Grammy nominated, Dove Award songwriter and record producer, who has written and produced for some of the biggest selling artists in the Christian and pop music markets, selling over seven million albums and singles. He has had 12 #1 hits and song placements in over 15 film, television and commercial campaigns.

Early life

Shankel grew up playing music in his family and with his grandfather on harmonica (he made several albums singing in a quartet with the Gospel Harolds), his father on guitar and Shaun on piano, they would sing and harmonize old hymns. He started studying piano professionally at 7 and by 10 was writing and performing his own songs in school. In high school he wrote for the glee club and played in several Indianapolis area rock bands. Shaun went to Indiana University

Indiana University

Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...

, where he graduated with a double degree in Audio Technology and Music and Telecommunications. Also while at school, he wrote music for television shows on the PBS affiliate, WTUI.

Music career

After college, Shankel moved to Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, to work for writer/producer Keith Thomas

Keith Thomas

Keith Thomas may refer to:*Keith Thomas , Australian rules footballer*Keith Thomas , Welsh historian*Keith Thomas , Grammy Award-winning producer and songwriter*Keith Thomas , Saxophonist, writer and producer...

, in various capacities. He assisted him in all aspects including engineering, writing and production management. During that time he worked with Vanessa Williams

Vanessa L. Williams

Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...

, Amy Grant

Amy Grant

Amy Lee Grant is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, media personality and actress, best known for her Christian music. She has been referred to as "The Queen of Christian Pop"...

, Mandy Moore

Mandy Moore

Amanda Leigh "Mandy" Moore is an American singer-songwriter, actress and fashion designer. Moore became famous as a teenager in the late 1990s, after the release of her teen pop albums So Real, I Wanna Be with You, and Mandy Moore. In 2007, she took an adult pop-folk direction with the release of...

, 98 Degrees

98 Degrees

98 Degrees is an American adult contemporary boy band consisting of four vocalists: brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, Justin Jeffre, and Jeff Timmons. The group was formed by Timmons in Los Angeles, California....

, and Michael Bolton

Michael Bolton

Michael Bolton is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton originally performed in the hard rock and heavy metal genres from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, both on his early solo albums and those recorded as the frontman of the band Blackjack...

.

After five years, Shankel decided to leave and pursue his own production career, and set up shop at Lealand Studios.

During the next few years, Shankel became one of the most sought after producer/writers. Some of the artists he has worked with include Kimberley Locke

Kimberley Locke

Kimberley Dawn Locke is an American singer-songwriter and model. She has recorded in the dance, pop and adult contemporary music genres....

, Hilary Duff

Hilary Duff

Hilary Erhard Duff is an American actress, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, and author. After working in local theater plays and television commercials in her childhood, she achieved fame playing the title role in the Disney Channel television series Lizzie McGuire. She also reprised her role in...

, Clay Aiken

Clay Aiken

Clayton Holmes "Clay" Aiken is an American singer, songwriter, actor, producer and author who began his rise to fame on the second season of the television program American Idol in 2003. RCA Records offered him a recording contract, and his multi-platinum debut album Measure of a Man was released...

, Nicholas Jonas (and the Jonas Brothers

Jonas Brothers

The Jonas Brothers are an American boy band. The band gained its popularity from the Disney Channel children's television network. From the shore region of New Jersey, the band consists of three brothers: Paul Kevin Jonas II , Joseph Adam Jonas , and Nicholas Jerry Jonas...

) Jadyn Maria

Jadyn Maria

Joy Lynn Strand better known by her stage name Jadyn Maria is a Puerto Rican singer-songwriter. At the age of seventeen, Maria was signed to Sparrow Records for a Christian music singing career which did not take off. She was later signed separately to Virgin Records and Zomba Label Group, both of...

 (Herbal Essences

Herbal Essences

Herbal Essences is a brand of shampoo, hair conditioner, hair stylers, and hair coloring by Clairol. The brand was founded in 1972. There are eleven collections of product, each design for a different effect on the user's hair...

 national campaign), RJ Helton, Natalie Grant

Natalie Grant

Natalie Grant is a singer-songwriter of contemporary Christian music. Her work has gained prominence, including four consecutive Dove Awards for best female artist, and with her signature song, Held...

, Mandisa

Mandisa

Mandisa Hundley is an American gospel singer, who was the ninth-place finalist in the fifth season of American Idol.-Early life:...

, Chronicles of Narnia, Rebecca St. James

Rebecca St. James

Rebecca St. James , is a Christian pop rock singer, songwriter, musician, author, and actor. She began performing in Australia in the late 1980s and released her first full-length studio album in 1991. In 1993 she was signed to the record label ForeFront Records and released her major label debut a...

, Jump 5, Tyler Hilton

Tyler Hilton

Tyler James Hilton is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Hilton began his professional career in music in 2000. Rolling Stone Magazine compared him to his contemporary, Howie Day, while others have compared Hilton to Elton John, both vocally and instrumentally...

, Mark Schultz, Plumb

Plumb

Plumb may refer to:* Plumb, a carpentry term meaning a line which is exactly vertical, or perpendicular to a level horizontal line* Plumb-bob, a type of tool* Plumbing* Plumb, to measure the depth of water with a sounding line...

, Avalon

Avalon

Avalon is a legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 pseudohistorical account Historia Regum Britanniae as the place where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was forged and later where Arthur was...

, ZOEGirl

ZOEgirl

ZOEgirl was a Christian pop rock band. It was formed of singers Chrissy Conway-Katina, Alisa Childers and Kristin Swinford-Schweain. In 2002, ZOEgirl received a GMA Dove Award for New Artist of the Year. Before disbanding, the band released three more studio albums, as well as a remix album and a...

 and Michael English

Michael English

Michael English is an American Christian singer. Initially, he was a member of his family's singing group, and is currently a member of The Gaither Vocal Band. During his solo career, he recorded eight studio albums. English's highest-charting solo single was "Your Love Amazes Me", which reached No...

.

During this time he also spotted a talent in songwriter in Kyle Jacobs

Kyle Jacobs

Kyle Jacobs is an American country music songwriter, vocalist, guitarist, pianist as well as a staff writer for Curb Music since 2003. Jacobs writes music on piano and guitar....

 and signed him to a Joint Venture, Fortune Favors the Bold Music Publishing, with Curb Music Publishing. Jacobs has recorded with Tim McGraw

Tim McGraw

Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...

, Kellie Pickler

Kellie Pickler

Kellie Dawn Pickler is an American country music artist and television personality. She gained fame as a contestant on the fifth season of the Fox reality show American Idol, eventually finishing in sixth place. In 2006, she signed to 19 Recordings and BNA Records as a recording artist, releasing...

 and Garth Brooks

Garth Brooks

Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

, whose Jacobs penned hit single, "More Than a Memory

More Than a Memory

"More Than a Memory" is a song written by Lee Brice, Billy Montana and Kyle Jacobs. It was recorded by country music singer Garth Brooks and released in 2007 as his 51st single. It is the first single from his 2007 compilation The Ultimate Hits. On the U.S...

", is the only song in history to debut at #1 on the country charts.

In 2005, Shankel signed with Warner Chappell Music and while pursuing his own projects created another joint venture and signed Ben Glover, ASCAP's Christian writer of the Year, 2010, Joy Williams

Joy Williams

Joy Williams is an American singer-songwriter and a member of the folk duo The Civil Wars.-Studio albums:* Joy Williams, 2001 [Reunion]* By Surprise, 2002 [Reunion]* Genesis, 2005 [Reunion]...

 of the The Civil Wars

The CIVIL warS

The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down is an opera created in the early 1980s by director Robert Wilson to music by Philip Glass, David Byrne, Gavin Bryars and others...

, and For King & Country, whom he also produced.

Shankel's taste in music is varied, as he has completed an album for Chicago rock band, MadeAvail. He also released an EP for Luke Benward

Luke Benward

Luke Aaron Benward is an American teen actor and singer, best known for his starring role as Billy Forrester in How to Eat Fried Worms and as Charlie Tuttle in the 2008 Disney Channel Original Movie, Minutemen. He also played the role of "Nicky" in Mostly Ghostly: Who Let the Ghosts Out? and...

.

Current projects

Shankel is currently developing/managing an all girl group,and continuing to work with Benward.

Discography

Year	Album	Artist	Credit
1995	Greatest Hits	Expose	Production Coordination
1996	Kissing Rain	Roch Voisine	Production Coordination
1996	NBA at 50: A Musical Celebration	Various Artists	Production Coordination
1996	Miracle	Puff Johnson	Production Coordination
1996	This is the Time: Christmas Album	Michael Bolton	Production Coordination
1997	Takes a Little Time	Amy Grant	Production Coordination
1997	Speed 2: Cruise Control	Original Soundtrack	Production Coordination
1997	We Need a Little Christmas	Andy Williams	Engineer
1997	Next	Vanessa Williams	Production Coordination
1997	Behind the Eyes	Amy Grant	Production Coordination
1997	Anytime	Brian McKnight	Digital Editing
1997	One Night with You: The Best of Love, Vol. 2	Luther Vandross	Production Coordination
1997	All that Matters	Michael Bolton	Digital Editing
1997	Faith of Our Fathers	Various Artists	Producer
1998	Yours Faithfully	Rebbie Jackson	Production Coordination
1998	Audra & Alayna	Audra & Alayna	Production Coordination
1998	Everything’s Gonna Be Alright	Deana Carter	Digital Editing, Production Coordination
1998	Touched By an Angel: The Album	Original TV Soundtrack	Produciton Coordination
1998	Greatest Hits: The First Ten Years	Vanessa Williams	Production Coordination
1999	Mountain High…Valley Low	Yolanda Adams	Production Coordination
2000	Center Stage (Sony)	Original Soundtrack	Editing, Production Coordination
2000	I Wanna Be With You	Mandy Moore	Editing, Digital Editing, Production Coordination
2000	At Last	Gladys Knight	Production Coordination
2001	Jump5	Jump5	Digital Editing
2003	Beautiful Lumps of Coal	Plumb	Engineer, Programming, Producer, String Arrangements
2003	Simple Things	Amy Grant	Production Coordination
2003	For You	Jonathan Pierce	Producer, Digital Editing, Engineer, Synthesizer
2003	WOW Hits 2004	Various Artists	Producer
2003	Ultimate Christmas Hits, Vol. 2: This is Christmas	Various Aritsts	Arranger, Producer
2004	8th World Wonder	Kimberly Locke	Audio Production, Arranger, Producer
2004	Real Life	RJ Helton	Arranger, Synthesizer Programming, Engineer, Producer, Sound Design, Digital Editing, Vocals (Background), String Arrangements
2004	One Love	Kimberly Locke	Keyboards, Vocal Arrangement, Digital Editing, Bass, Keyboard Programming, Producer, Arranger, Drum Programming, Engineer, Programming
2004	Even More	Anthony Evans	Percussion, Keyboards, Piano, Arranger, Producer, Engineer, Digital Editing, Audio Production, Programming, String Arrangements
2004	Dreaming in Color	Jump5	Producer, Engineer, Synthesizer Programming, Digital Editing, Audio Production, Audio Engineer
2004	Hilary Duff	Hilary Duff	Mixing, Producer
2004	Best of Mandy Moore	Mandy Moore	Pro-Tools, Production Coordination
2005	You Raise Me Up (Curb)	Various Artists	Producer
2005	Love Rocks (Centaur)	Various Artists	Composer, Producer
2005	Undisguised	Kara Williamson	Composer
2005	Room to Breathe	ZOEgirl	writer/producer on: "About You" Keyboards, Composer
2005	Very Best of Jump5	Jump5	Producer, Audio Production
2005	Awaken	Natalie Grant	Keyboards, String Arrangements, Piano, Composer, Engineer, Producer, Arranger, Digital Editing. Producer: "Held", "What Are You Waiting For", "Another Day", writer/producer: "Bring It All Together"
2005	Women & Songs, Vol. 8 (Bonus DVD)	Various Artists	Composer
2005	Absolute Smash Hits, Vol. 2	Various Artists	Producer, Composer
2005	Music Inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia	Original Soundtrack	Composer, Producer, Keyboards, Arranger, Engineer, Programming, String Arrangements
2005	WOW Hits 2006	Various Artists	Composer, Producer
2005	If I Had One Chance to Tell You Something	Rebecca St. James	Audio Production, Programming, Engineer, Composer, Producer, Arranger, String Arrangements. songs, "I Need You", "Forgive Me", "Beautiful Stranger", "I Can Trust You"
2005	With All of My Heart: The Greatest Hits	ZOEgirl	Composer, Producer
2006	Absolute Modern Worship (2006)	Various Artists	Producer
2006	Stand	Avalon	Digital Editing, Producer, Composer, Arranger, String Arrangements, Engineer, Piano, Programming, Keyboards
2006	Chaotic Resolve	Plumb	Composer: "Better", "Jeckle & Hyde"
2006	WOW Worship: Aqua	Various Artists	Producer
2006	24 (2003)	Point of Grace	Drum Programming, Bass, Synthesizer, Overdub Engineer, Producer
2006	Absolute All Time Favorites	Various Artists	Producer
2006	Greatest Hits: In Christ Alone	Michael English	String Arrangements, Producer, Arranger, Keyboards
2006	Broken & Beautiful	Mark Schultz	Composer, Programming, Digital Editing, Engineer, Keyboards, Arranger
2006	WOW Hits 2007	Various Artists	Producer
2006	Faith: A Hymns Collection	Avalon	Producer, Programming, Engineer
2007	Worship Together: Favorites	Various Artists	Producer
2007	Gifted: Season One	Various Artists	Producer, Keyboards, Arranger, Programming, Digital Editing
2007	Alive in Florida (CD/DVD)	Rebecca St. James	Composer
2007	Only the World	Mandisa	Producer, Vocal Arrangement, Arranger, Engineer, Digital Editing. "Only the World", "Only You"
2007	True Beauty	Mandisa	Composer, Vocal Producer, Digital Editing, Programming, Producer, Engineer, Audio Production
2007	WOW Hits 2008	Various Artists	Producer
2007	Blink	Plumb	Composer, "My Sweet, My Lovely", "Always"
2007	Indigo Dying	Indigo Dying	Composer
2008	Grace Was Free	Danielle Marshall	Composer
2008	Two For One: Accelerate/Dreaming in Color	Jump5	Audio Production
2008	Two For One: Room to Breathe/With All of My Heart	ZOEgirl Composer, Producer
2008	Relentless	Natalie Grant	Engineer, Programming, Arranger, Keyboards, Digital Editing, Piano, Producer, Composer on: "Perfect People", "Wonderful Life", "Safe", "Let Go"
2008	Another Time, Another Place: Timeless Christian Classics	Avalon	Producer, Engineer, String Arrangements, Programming, Arranger, Digital Editing
2008	Prodigal Comes Home	Michael English	String Arrangements, Arranger, Keyboards, Producer
2008	Ultimate Collection	Rebecca St. James	Producer, Composer
2008	Phil Stacey	Phil Stacey	Composer, "What I'm Fighting For"
2008	Rynn	Rynn	Composer
2008	Awaken/Deeper Life	Natalie Grant	Digital Editing, Composer, Keyboards, Producer, Piano, Arranger, Engineer, String Arrangements
2008	Chaotic Resolve/Beautiful Lumps of Coal	Plumb	Producer, String Arrangements, Engineer, Programming, Composer
2008	WOW Essentials: All-Time Favorite Christian Songs	Various Artists	Producer
2008	Natalie Grant Collector’s Edition	Natalie Grant	String Arrangements, Composer, Arranger, Engineer, Piano, Keyboards, Producer, Digital Editing
2008	Greatest Hits	Jump5	Producer
2008	Greatest Hits	ZOEgirl	Composer, Producer
2008	Mark Schultz Gift Tin	Mark Schultz	Keyboards, Digital Editing, Composer, Programming, Producer, Arranger, Engineer
2009	Better Together: 17 Hit Duets and Collaborations by Your Favorite Christian Artists	Various Artists	Producer, Composer
2009	Crazy Days	Adam Gregory	Composer
2009	Dare to Love: Songs of Unconditional Love for Couples	Various Artists	Producer
2009	Love, Save the Empty	Erin McCarley	Composer, "Bobblehead"
2009	Greatest Hits	Avalon	Producer
2009	Ultimate Collection	ZOEgirl	Composer, Producer
2009	Gnome Groove	DJ Kimberly S.	Composer
2009	Let Your Love Out	Luke Benward	Keyboards, Bass, Composer, Digital Editing, Engineer, Arranger, Producer
2009	Stand/The Creed	Avalon	Composer, Producer
2009	Come Alive	Mark Schultz	String Arrangements, Keyboards, Producer, Bass
2009	Beautiful History: A Hits Collection (2 Disc)	Plumb	Composer
2009	Workout & Worship	Various Artists	Producer
2010	Christian Music’s Best: Pop	Various Artists	Producer
2010	Singer Songwriter Collection	Amy Grant	Production Coordination
2010	Love Like Crazy	Lee Brice	Composer, "Picture of Me"
2010	WOW: Best of 2004	Various Artists	Producer
2010	WOW: Best of 2007	Various Artists	Producer
2010	For King & Country	TBA	Album Producer/Co-writer
2010	Pawn Shop Kings	Revolution	Universal/Stetson
2011	Sidewalk Prophets	Deluxe Edition	Word Records/Curb/Warner Brothers