Shawn Z. is an American folk rock/Americana singer and guitarist. He is a member of the Americana Music Association. Early years Shawn had a band called "Elmo Lincoln" that played local bars and clubs and later changing the name to "South 40". One afternoon, while playing a benefit show, his father was also playing with his band at the same show. Shawn and his father finally got together and decided to leave their bands and form a new band called "BFD". The band became popular in the Northeast region rapidly. Finally, Shawn and his father were together and doing what they love. After ongoing disputes with other band members, they both left the band 8 years later and formed "The Cojones Brothers" – an acoustic duo. Finally performing originals along with favorite cover songs. "The Cojones Brothers" rose fast on the scene and their schedule became even more demanding for performing. In 2003, after a drunken dispute at a New Year's Eve show, "The Cojones Brothers" were no more. It was then that Shawn began performing more solo shows. Radio In Shawn's teenage years, he started DJ’ing at a local teen center after school and on weekend nights. He then got introduced the chance to be an actual radio DJ. “Shawn Shannon” was then brought to the airwaves. While in his early high school years, he was asked to come to another radio station for overnights on weekends and help with promotions. After his position at that station had ended, he applied for another position at another radio station. He was accepted immediately for weeknights. Years later, that station was bought out by the national corporate radio company Citadel Broadcasting. Citadel had decided to abandon the format and station(s) direction and went to simulcast one of their other stations on the Newly acquired frequencies. Along with the format, many of the staff of were also let go. Citadel, however, wanted to keep Shawn on their staff. So they moved him to their Northeast Pennsylvania headquarters to help with current station buyouts, format changes, on-air duties, commercial/imaging production and more. It was then that Shawn started feeling 'something wasn't right' with his health, but he let it go. After dealing with his increasing health concerns, Shawn finally went to see a doctor. Then discovered he had Lupus and Emphysema. Those diagnoses forced Shawn to take time off of his daily work