Shawn Desman

Shawn Bosco Fernandes (born January 12, 1982), known by his stage name Shawn Desman, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, dancer, actor, and choreographer.

Early life Desman attended St. Francis of Assisi Elementary School in Toronto. After discovering his passion for performing, Desman's parents encouraged him to pursue a career in music. From age nine to 16, he made Portuguese albums and toured under his legal name, Shawn Fernandes. In 1998, Shawn was in The Boomtang Boys video for their song "Squeeze Toy" as a dancer.

Career

2002–2005: Debut album and Back for More At 18, Desman was signed to BMG Music Canada and started recording an album, which was released in 2002. The self-titled breakthrough album featured three top ten singles ("Shook", "Spread My Wings" and "Get Ready") on the Canadian charts. The album went on to achieve gold certification in Canada. The single, "Spread My Wings", is a cover of the unreleased group Vega, featuring Chilli of TLC.

His follow-up album, Back for More garnered a Juno Award for the R&B/Soul Recording of the Year which featured the single "Let's Go". After the release of his second album, BMG dropped him from the label. He was then signed to Universal Music Canada.

2010–2015: Fresh and Alive His 2010 album Fresh garnered two gold singles, one platinum single, Video of the Year at the Much Music Video Awards, Canadian Dance/Pop Song of the year at the Stylus Awards, as well as SOCAN Number 1 Award for Electric/Night Like This.

Desman is also a producer and has worked with various artists producing hit singles for Nick Carter, Kreesha Turner, Keshia Chanté as well as contestants on YTV's The Next Star, where he produced the song "One More First Chance" for Brock Zanrosso in 2009 and "It Might Be You" for contestant Parker Schmidt in 2011.

In 2013, Desman released his fourth studio album, Alive, along with an accompanying short film of the same name. The album spawned two singles; "Nobody Does It Like You" and "Dum Da Dum". In 2015, he released the songs "Victoria" and "Obsession", and was dropped by Universal Music.

2022–present: Resurgence In July 2022, Desman performed at Drake's All Canadian North Stars concert at OVO Fest, featuring a dozen Canadian hip-hop and R&B artists. After the show, Drake approached him in the hallway outside of the green room, praising him for his performance and had encouraged him to continue making music. A few months later he had signed a new deal with Wax Records and released a new single called "Maniac", his first single since 2015's "Obsession". In January 2023, the single debuted at number 99 on the Canadian Hot 100, making it his first appearance on the chart in 10 years, it would then peak at number 71.

In 2023, he participated in an all-star recording of Serena Ryder's single "What I Wouldn't Do", which was released as a charity single to benefit Kids Help Phone's Feel Out Loud campaign for youth mental health. In November 2025, Desman collaborated with Canadian country singer Dallas Smith on the song "One Good Life".

Personal life Desman is of Portuguese and Italian descent. He has two younger brothers (one of them being fellow Canadian singer Danny Fernandes). He is also a cousin to another Canadian singer Tyler Medeiros.

In 2015, Desman's wife became ill, so he made the difficult decision to step away from his music career to focus on his family. He credits his appearance at Drake's 2022 OVO Fest concert celebrating a legacy of Canadian hip-hop and R&B musicians as one reason why he returned to making solo music.

Released: October 30, 2002 Label: UOMO, Sony BMG Format: CD 38 MC: Platinum

Released: May 3, 2005 Label: UOMO, Sony BMG Format: CD, digital download 14 MC: Gold Label: Wax Format: CD, digital download, streaming

Singles

MC: Gold — — — — — — "Sexy" — — — — — — Back For More 2005 "Let's Go" — — 3 — — 27 "Red Hair" — — 9 — — — "Man in Me" — — 16 — — — 2010 "Shiver" 18 33 16 18 — — MC: Gold — — — — — — 2012 "Nobody Does It Like You" 18 12 23 12 — — MC: Gold — — — — — — "Stuck" — — — — — — 2015 "Victoria" — — 31 48 — — "Obsession" — — 24 — — — 2022 "Maniac" 71 — 48 — — — 2023 "Love Me with the Lights On" — — — — — — 2024 "Beautiful Day" — — — — — — "Heels on the Ground" — — — — — — "Never Fall in Love Again" — — — — — — 2025 "Body" 85 20 10 5 — — "Miami" — — — — — — "One Good Life" — — — — — — "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released to that territory or format.