Shine and the Moonbeams to Release First Album, 6/18

NYC's Shine and the Moonbeams took the kindie world by storm in 2011 with a live performance at the annual Kindiefest conference and the release of a nationally acclaimed radio hit called "High Five." Since then, lead singer Shawana Kemp has taken her band and fans on a musical adventure, performing shows for enthusiastic crowds at NYC's Summerstage, Symphony Space and Carnegie Kids and recording a batch of original and hooky songs. The happy result is Shine and the Moonbeams, the band's first self-titled album release, available digitally and in hard copy on June 18, 2013 from CDBaby and other retailers.

Shawana Kemp grew up in New York City, benefiting from all of the rich sounds and sights that the global city has to offer. She grew up singing and enjoying all sorts of popular music, from disco to Steve Wonder, Puccini to Broadway musicals. Her family recognized her strong mezzo-soprano vocal talent early on, and by the time she was 13, she was singing arias. Later, she won the "Showtime at the Apollo" talent contest five times. Shawana performed in various musicals, including touring with Eric Idle's "Monty Python" musical. After living in California, where she was signed as a Sony Music artist, she returned to New York, had a child (Zachary, now 6), and pursued a master's degree in education. "Becoming a mother completely changed my direction," she says.

Before her recent completion of a master's degree in education, Kemp was a teaching artist specializing in conflict resolution in NYC public schools, writing songs to complement her work in fostering social-emotional management with her students, who are mostly in urban, under-served communities. Her story-song "Bully Bully" grew out of that work. Friends encouraged her to write more children's songs. A chance subway meeting with musician Jonathan Heagle and collaboration with artists Russell Carter II (drums), Rashaan Carter (bass) Ondrej Pivee (keyboards), Lavondo Thomas and Grant Smith led to the creating of nine original songs for the recording.

As her song "High Five" got national attention and play on SiriusXM Satellite Radio, Shawana was invited to perform on Dan Zanes' 2011 rootsy release Little Nut Tree. Her soaring vocals also add a certain celestial quality to "Connect the Stars," a song on The Pop Ups' Grammy-nominated kid-pop album Radio Jungle. Shawana also appeared on The Sugar Free Allstars' 2012 funky release All on a Sunday Afternoon.

Jeff Bogle of MommyPoppins describes Shine and the Moonbeam songs as "heartfelt, insightful and emotional, with brilliant musicianship to boot."

Shine and the Moonbeam's unique combination of sweetness and power offers something genuinely new to the burgeoning genre of family music.

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