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By Annika Allen

Shaun Escoffery is a talented singer/songwriter whose debut self-entitled album has recently been released and is in stores now. Pitched as the new Seal / Omar, twenty six-year-old Shaun, is embarking on the rocky path to fame and fortune determined to fly the British flag and reach the top.

Having had a presence in the music industry for sometime, Shaun has somewhat lacked exposure, however all that is about to change. Sitting across from him in a quiet West End bar, his honey-dipped complexion seems to glow when he smiles, recalling the birth of his musical journey. Born and bred in East London, the sounds of Motown and Reggae flooded the Escoffery household. His mother was a singer and his dad a DJ, which were fertile grounds for the growth of a star. Aware of the difficulty in achieving success within the music industry, his parents encouraged him to follow a more academic career path.
"They wanted me to be a lawyer or a doctor, you know what I mean. But did I have the brains for it No (laughs)! They were convinced that's what I was going to be, even though I was always singing down the house."

From an early age, Shaun's interest in music grew, and when, during his early teens, his aunt, a struggling singer, asked him to sing some backing vocals for her, he jumped at the chance. Impressed at his own voice on the final product, Shaun began writing and recording tracks for himself and others during his time at college. He was even able to secure a part in the West End musical, 'Mum I Wanna Sing' featuring Chakka Khan, though he yearned for something more.
"I was always kind of doing stuff that I wasn't really comfortable with or I didn't really want to do it at the time. The Chaka khan thing, was good, I mean I learnt my trade, I learnt to sing and control my voice, but what I really wanted to do was make my own music."

Fast forward, four years of painful lows and rejected demo tapes. Shaun's luck eventually became wheels in motion when the Indie label 'Oyster Music', began showing an interest in his independently released track, 'Space Rider', subsequently signing him in 2001. Re-releasing the single, that same year, the track and it's follow up single, 'Days Like This', quickly gained underground cult success and was played by the likes of the Dreem Team and MTV presenter/DJ Trevor Nelson.
"The thing that first appealed to me about Space Ryder was that people couldn't really define which genre it was. And I like that. I wanted the album to be left of centre."
Listening to it, you'll most certainly agree that he has fufilled his objective. Shaun Escoffery has a unique sound that cannot be pigeonholed to one genre or era, rather it is a mix of soul, jazz, funk, hip hop and R 'n' B, which bares testament to Shaun's varied influences. "It [The album] kind of stems back to my influences growing up, on the whole soul and Brit pop thing. It was all kind of exposed to me. On the album, you have broken beats, you’ve got a slight Hip Hop thing in there, a slight garage thing, so it just encompasses all of my influences."

Determined for recognition, as a unique British artist, Shaun sought and collaborated with top studio talent, 4 Hero, Geoffrey Williams, Jonny Bull, as well as garage producers MJ Cole and Ed Case.
"People often ask me why the album has been so long coming and I tell em it's because I've been trying to get it right. I was trying to get it British sounding. I love America, but I'm from East London: I don't know about the Ghetto fabulous thing."
In the initially stages of seeking a record deal, Shaun found that record labels assumed that being young, black and from East London, his musical preference would rare more towards commercial R 'n' B, than the retro and experimental material that he now has the opportunity to make."Why should I be in a box? Music is bigger than I am; it's bigger than everybody, I don't want to limit myself in anyway whatsoever. I'm quite lucky because my record company has given me a lot of space for me to create. So they've basically left me alone. I'll come to them with a few tracks and they'll just say which one they like. I'm really left to my own devices. I think it's because I put out Space Rider and a couple of other bits and pieces before I got signed, so they thought, we love what he's doing and let me just get on with it."
When asked why he self entitled his album, he replied,
"It's my first album. 'Shaun Escoffery' was nice and simple, it let people know my name, that this is me, I've landed, this is my time."

Describing himself in two words as a 'passionate nutter', Shaun sips at his cup of coffee, looks down at the floor, as if to be thinking about his life and experiences, chuckles, and then explains, "I'm passionate about my music and my performances, music is my baby. It's the things that I like doing, the diving off cliffs, the bungee jumps, the martial arts, that make me a nutter (laughs)." Despite being skilled in Thai Boxing, Karate and Gracie Jujitsu, Shaun admits he does not float like a butterfly on the dance floor, bluntly stating: "I'm not a dancer. I don't dance! I just want my voice and my music to tell the story. Not everyone has to jump up and down." He continued, "I was watching the Bob Marley, 'Rainbow' video from the seventies and he was doing his thing, skanking with his locks flowing and it was a spiritual thing, but he weren't dancing. He never had a routine". Having sang the National Anthem at the Lewis and Tyson fight last year, Shaun has since performed with Erykah Badu and Angie Stone.

Gaining recognition for his alternative approach to music, Shaun is being spoken of as Britain's next significant breakthrough artist. If you haven't seen him yet, you can catch him performing with his live band at London's Jazz Café on the 27th & 28th of March 03. If you haven't heard him yet, then buy his album. You know the name.

Shaun Escoffery The Album, Out Now.