Celebrated recording artist and NAACP Image Award-winning author Shawn Amos, best known as joyful bluesman The Reverend Shawn Amos is an astute storyteller of multiple mediums. He first honed these skills—and a restless entrepreneurial spirit— as a child of 1970s Hollywood, helping his father Wally “Famous” Amos launch a now-iconic cookie brand on then-gritty Sunset Boulevard.
Following a stint at NYU film school, Shawn wrote scripts for A & M films by day, recording and performing original music focusing on race and identity by night. As a record company executive, he conceived and produced multiple releases for both Rhino Entertainment and Shout! Factory, including Grammy-nominated box set Rhapsodies in Black: Music & Words From the Harlem Renaissance and Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones. The legendary Jones subsequently enlisted Shawn to oversee his Listen Up Foundation.
His ninth studio album, The Reverend Shawn Amos Dance Party, an album of originals and 1960s dance classics, is forthcoming. He is executive producer of the animated series, Cookies & Milk (based upon his debut book), in development at Disney, and author of middle-grade novel, Franklin and the Fabulous 5ive (2026 publication). blackbox, the jazz and blues series he curates for Santa Monica performing arts center BroadStage, is entering its 8th year.
