Shawn Mendes became an overnight megastar, simply through a six-second Vine video of himself singing. Both musically and vocally talented, multi-lingual and still finishing secondary school online, Shawn Mendes is tipped to become a superstar bigger than Justin Bieber. Here are 50 interesting facts about the brilliant, sometimes shy, and modestly humble Canadian popstar.
- Shawn Mendes was born in Toronto, Ontario in Canada on the 8th of August 1998.
- His full name is Shaun Peter Raul Mendes.
- His mother Karen is a real estate agent, and his father Manuel is a business man.
- He gets his second name from his father, who has Portuguese heritage.
- His mother was born in England.
- He went to the Pine Ridge Secondary School in the Pickering suburb of Ontario.
- At School he enjoyed playing Ice Hockey and Football (Soccer, if you’re American) and he enjoyed longboarding.
- He can play both the piano and the guitar.
- He is 6’1″ tall.
- Shawn Mendes gained his popularity through video-sharing app Vine, where he would release six-second snippets of him singing renditions of popular songs.
- Within months of Vineing, Shawn had a following of millions of subscribers, as well as millions of views on each of his videos.
- In 2014, Shawn caught the eye of artist manager Andrew Gertler and Island Records A&R Ziggy Chareton, leading him to sign a record deal with them.
- Before becoming a singer, Shawn said he wanted to become an actor.
- Shawn got verified on Twitter the same day he got signed to Island Records.
- Shawn released his debut single “The Life of the Party” in June 2014, which went on to become a massive hit.
- This record earned him the title of the youngest person to debut in the top 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, at just 15 years, 11 months and 4 days of age.
- Shawn Mendes is the youngest artist since Justin Bieber to have a Number One album!
- Shawn released his debut EP, The Shawn Mendes EP, in July 2014.
- The Shawn Mendes EP reached Number 1 on iTunes in 37 minutes.
- In some of his videos that he has uploaded to YouTube, Shawn just sings in them and lets other musicians collaborate with him by playing instruments.
- Shawn only started learning how to play guitar when he was 13, tutoring himself by using videos on YouTube.
- Shawn’s first ever concert was on 26th October 2013.
- Before his signing to Island Records, Shawn was a member of the MagCon Tour along with other young musicians and social media stars including Nash Grier, Cameron Dallas and Jack Johnson & Jack Gilinsky.
- Shawn was also on an nationwide tour opening for young superstar Austin Mahone.
- Shawn released his first studio album, Handwritten, in April 2015.