Shu has been described in the press as "undeniable," "outstanding,""fresh," and "in a class of his own," with a leading music monthly calling his debut, 'Shusic', "one of the strongest male indie releases this year." 'Shusic' has so far sold 3,000 units and counting, earning Shu an ASCAP award for the activity it has generated. Shu has been consistently ranked as a top unsigned male R&B/Soul act on MySpace, where he has rapidly gained over 80,000 song-plays. He has played to packed houses in New York, Boston, Washington DC, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Kenya, Paris and London, and was recently added to the roster of a national booking agency. Shu is an accomplished pianist and vocalist, and a multiple-award-winning songwriter. Born and raised in Nairobi, schooled at Harvard and then Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and now based in New York, Shu is young, talented, intelligent, driven and already has a dedicated team behind him. Shu is here to stay.
Similar Artists
Alicia Keys, Prince, D'angelo, Andre 3000, John Legend
Influences
Paul Robeson, James Brown, Prince, D'angelo, Curtis Mayfield, Bill Withers, Donny Hathaway, Lauryn Hill, Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke, Coldplay, Van Hunt, Brian McKnight, The Neptunes, The Rolling Stones,
Bio
Shu grew up in Nairobi, Kenya, with the strains of his father's guitar, and simple Swahili songs about love and loss serving as his first musical backdrop. At the age of seven, Shu began training as a classical pianist, going on to win numerous national awards, including recognition as a finalist in the prestigious, and multi-instrumental "Young Classical Musicians of Kenya" competition. Shu was also a successful actor, playing lead roles and winning regional best actor awards. Despite this instrumental and stage success, however, Shu has always been called to singing. As a teenager, he performed with male close-harmony groups, for which he wrote most of the music. This love of live performance and harmony grew as Shu left home for Harvard, where he again wrote, accompanied, arranged and gigged extensively with a new group of guys. Shu also served as a soloist and the musical director of his college?s popular gospel choir. Still only 24, Shu has translated his extensive songwriting, piano and performance experience into a solo career in New York, performing intimate acoustic sets with self-accompanied piano, or jamming with a full band at packed venues in Brooklyn and Manhattan, including a headlining show at S.O.B.'s. He has just completed an independent album - "Shusic" - which brings a fresh, sexy, funky, soulful vibe to popular R&B, and will be released in late 2004/early 2005 in Europe and the USA. Shu was named a top writer in the 2003 Billboard International Songwriting Competition, and is currently a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University.