Shawn Hlookoff (born 5 September 1984), known as Shawn Hook, is a Canadian singer, songwriter and producer.

Career

Hook studied piano through the Royal Conservatory from as early as age 4. In high school, he played piano and trombone in a jazz combo and jazz big band under the guidance of Rick Lingard. Shawn enrolled in a music composition course at Mount Sentinel Secondary School and started writing and recording his own music. His first release using his real name Shawn Hlookoff was in 2004 after Colin Davison (a.k.a. Jude Davison, his vocal teacher at

Selkirk College Selkirk College is a public college founded in 1966 with its main campus in Castlegar, British Columbia, Canada. The college has student housing at its Castlegar and Nelson campuses. Students frequently struggle to find accommodation. The col ...

Music School) offered to produce it. He also gigged with the disco cover band Shag as a trombone player and back-up vocalist. Enrolling at The Art Institute of Vancouver, he studied audio engineering. He released a second independent 11-track album in 2006 titled ''Both Sides,'' also credited as Shawn Hlookoff. He was the first artist/songwriter to sign to

ABC Studios ABC Signature was a production arm of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a sub-division of the Disney Entertainment business segment and division of The Walt Disney Company. The studio's ...

in Los Angeles in 2008. During that time, he made a live appearance on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

''. His compositions were featured on several

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

TV shows including "Life in Faith" on ''

Eli Stone ''Eli Stone'' is an American Legal drama, legal Musical film, musical comedy drama television series that was created by Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim, who also served as executive producers alongside Ken Olin who directed the pilot, with M ...

'', "She Could Be You" on ''

Kyle XY ''Kyle XY'' is an American science fiction television series created by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber and produced by ABC Signature, ABC Studios. The central character is a teenage boy (Matt Dallas) who awakens naked in a forest outside Seattl ...

'' and "Be Myself" in ''

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''. His song "Without You" premiered on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's series '' The Hills''. His music was also featured in other series like ''Samurai Girl'', ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera created by Frank and Doris Hursley which has been broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC since April 1, 1963. Originally a half-hour seria ...

'' etc. During his time in Los Angeles, he landed his first acting role as a guest star on the

Fox TV Fox Broadcasting Company, LLC (commonly known as Fox; stylized in all caps) is an American commercial broadcast television network serving as the flagship property of Fox Corporation and operated through Fox Entertainment. Fox is based at Fo ...

show ''

Bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...

''. Adopting the artistic name Shawn Hook, he released his official debut album ''Cosmonaut and the Girl'' produced by Jon Levine on

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

with "So Close", "Every Red Light" and "Two Hearts Set on Fire" as singles from the album. He released a holiday song called "Follow the Lights" in 2012. In 2013, he collaborated with DJ Poet Name Life and Chebacca on a song called "Laser Ray", released on Listen Deep Records. It was his 2014 hit single "Million Ways", released on 2 September 2014, that helped him gain popularity and a following. It became his then most successful charting single on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

, giving him three simultaneous hits on the Canadian Hot 100. His highest charting single is " Sound of Your Heart", which has peaked at No. 23 as of 6 June 2015. "Sound of Your Heart" was featured in promotional commercials for Season 20 of '' The Bachelor''. On 21 December 2015, it was announced that Hook had signed a deal with major US label

Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group which focuses on pop, rock, alternative, hip hop and country genres, also specializing in recordings for a more mature audience not suitable for the flagship Wal ...

. Hollywood and ABC share the same Parent company, bringing Hook's US Songwriting and Recording contracts together under one deal. In the fall of 2016, Hook joined

Lindsey Stirling Lindsey Stirling (born September 21, 1986) is an American violinist, songwriter and dancer. She presents choreographed violin performances, in live and music videos found on her official YouTube channel, which she created in 2007. Stirling per ...

on her North American tour. In February 2016, he was picked as

Elvis Duran Elvis Duran (born Barry Brian Cope; August 5, 1964) is an American radio personality. He is the host of the daily morning radio program ''Elvis Duran and the Morning Show'' in New York on Z100 and in syndication on Premiere Networks. Before h ...

's Artist of the Month and was featured on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'' show hosted by Kathy Lee Gifford and

Hoda Kotb Hoda Kotb ( ; born August 9, 1964) is an American broadcast journalist, television personality, and author. She was the main co-anchor of the NBC News breakfast television, morning show ''Today (American TV program), Today'' from 2018 to 2025, ...

and broadcast nationally where he performed live his single " Sound of Your Heart". Later in 2016, he opened for

Marianas Trench The Mariana Trench is an oceanic trench located in the western Pacific Ocean, about east of the Mariana Islands; it is the deepest oceanic trench on Earth. It is crescent-shaped and measures about in length and in width. The maximum known ...

on their North American tour. In April 2017, Hook released the single " Reminding Me" featuring

Vanessa Hudgens Vanessa Anne Hudgens ( ; born December 14, 1988) is an American actress and singer. After making her feature film debut in '' Thirteen'' (2003), Hudgens rose to fame portraying Gabriella Montez in the ''High School Musical'' film series (200 ...

. The two star in the music video, which was also released that month. They performed the duet on the season 14 finale of ''

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and has ...

''. Hook is signed to Kreative Soul Entertainment, Inc. under exclusive license to EMI Music Canada. He has a worldwide deal with

for releases outside of Canada.

Personal life

He grew up in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada with his parents. He established the charity "Feed The Need" with longtime friend Kara Martin, and collected donations for various charities as well as performing at various regional high schools to raise food for the local food bank. Today, he continues with the charity registered and it's been rebranded as "Live To Give". In February 2023, he announced he was diagnosed with

throat cancer Head and neck cancer is a general term encompassing multiple cancers that can develop in the head and neck region. These include cancers of the mouth, tongue, gums and lips ( oral cancer), voice box ( laryngeal), throat ( nasopharyngeal, orophar ...

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

Notes

Featured singles

Soundtrack contributions

as Shawn Hlookoff

* 2008: ''

'' – "She Could Be You" * 2008: ''

'' – "Life in Faith" * 2009: '' The Hills'' – "Without You" * 2009: ''

'' – "Be Myself" * 2009: '' Bitter/Sweet'' – "Straight to You" * 2009: ''

The Suite Life on Deck ''The Suite Life on Deck'' is an American teen sitcom created by Danny Kallis and Jim Geoghan, and developed by Kallis and Pamela Eells O'Connell. The series aired on Disney Channel from September 26, 2008, to May 6, 2011. It is a sequel/ spi ...

'' – "Wonderful Surprise"

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hook, Shawn 1984 births Living people 21st-century Canadian male singers 21st-century Canadian singers Canadian male singers Canadian male songwriters Singers from British Columbia People from Castlegar, British Columbia People from Nelson, British Columbia