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Shawn Mendes
Shawn Peter Raul Mendes is a Canadian singer and songwriter. He attracted a following in 2013
when he began posting song covers on the video-sharing application Vine. The following year,
he caught the attention of artist managers Andrew Gertler and Island Records A&R Ziggy Chareton, which led to him signing a deal
with the record label. Mendes went on to release an EP in July 2014 and his debut studio album Handwritten, whose single "Stitches"
reached the top 10 in the US and Canada, and number one in the United Kingdom. His second album, Illuminate, was preceded by the single
"Treat You Better". Both albums debuted atop of the US Billboard 200, making Mendes one of five artists to ever debut
at number one before the age of eighteen. Mendes has headlined three world tours: ShawnsFirstHeadlines, Shawn Mendes World Tour
and the Illuminate World Tour.
Early life
Mendes was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Karen, a real estate agent, and Manuel Mendes, a businessman, selling bar
and restaurant supplies in Toronto. His father is Portuguese, while his mother is English. He has a younger sister named Aaliyah.
Mendes was raised in Pickering, Ontario, where he attended Pine Ridge Secondary School.
2013–2015: Handwritten
 [^]  Mendes learned to play guitar by watching YouTube tutorial videos at the age of 13 in 2012. Less
than a year later he started posting cover videos on the social video app Vine in 2013 and gained millions of views and followers in a few months,
becoming well known for his six-second snippets of renditions of many popular songs. By August 2014,
he was the third most-followed musician on Vine. Artist manager Andrew Gertler discovered Mendes online in November 2013, bringing him
to Island Records in January 2014. He officially signed in May 2014 and released his first single "Life of the Party" on June 26, 2014.
He became the youngest to debut in the top 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100, making it to number 24 for the week ending July 12, 2014. Prior
to his signing, Mendes toured as a member of the Magcon Tour alongside other young Viners with a large following on social media.
Mendes was also on a nationwide tour with Austin Mahone as an opening act, releasing his debut major label EP in July. The EP debuted and peaked
at number five on Billboard 200, selling 48,000 copies in its first week. He won a Teen Choice award in 2014 for Webstar in Music. On September 5,
2014, "Oh Cecilia " featuring Mendes was released as the fifth single from The Vamps' debut album, Meet the Vamps. On November 6, 2014,
"Something Big" was released as the second single. On April 14, 2015, Mendes released his full-length album Handwritten, which debuted
at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with 119,000 equivalent album units, selling 106,000 copies in its first week and was certified platinum.
Mendes then became the youngest artist to debut at number one since the release of Justin Bieber’s My World 2.0. The third single from the album,
"Stitches", peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming his first top 10 single in the US,
and reached the top position on the Mainstream Top 40 chart. The song later reached number one in the UK. Also in 2015, Mendes opened
for Taylor Swift during 1989 World Tour dates for North America. In late 2015 Mendes and Camila Cabello, who was
at the time a member of the group Fifth Harmony, released their collaborative single "I Know What You Did Last Summer".
The song was included on Mendes' Handwritten Revisited reissue. Mendes was listed among Times The 25 Most Influential Teens in 2014, 2015, and 2016.
2016–present: Illuminate
 [^]  On January 21, 2016, Mendes made his acting debut on The CW's The 100 third season premiere.
He later announced his second world tour as a headliner, the Shawn Mendes World Tour which started in March 2016
and sold out 38 shows in North America and Europe within minutes. Mendes signed with modeling agency Wilhelmina Models in early 2016.
He also made his first appearance on a Forbes list with their annual "30 Under 30", for 2016. Mendes released "Treat You Better", the lead single
from his second studio album Illuminate, in June 2016. Commercially, the single reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart
and was certified triple platinum. The album, released September 23, 2016, debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200
with 145,000 equivalent album units, including 121,000 in pure album sales and was certified platinum. The album foray into
"a soft classic-rock groove" in his new direction. "Mercy" was released as the second single on August 18, 2016,
which entered the top 20 in the US and the UK and was certified double platinum. Mendes released the live album Live
at Madison Square Garden in December 2016. He appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live December 3, 2016. In April 2017,
Mendes embarked on his Illuminate World Tour which sold out arenas around the world such as Los Angeles' Staples Center and The O2 Arena in London.
He released the single "There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back" on April 20, 2017, included on his Illuminate deluxe edition.
The song was Mendes' third single to reach the top 10 in the US and also reached number one on the Mainstream Top 40 airplay chart. In August 2017,
he became the first artist under 20 to have 3 number 1 songs on Billboard's Adult Pop Songs Chart.
Artistry
Mendes has cited John Mayer, Ed Sheeran, Justin Timberlake, and Bruno Mars as his musical influences.
Mendes has mainly been described as a pop singer. For Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone Mendes incorporates "catchy acoustic folk-pop tunes"
in his catalogue, while for Joe Coscarelli of The New York Times, "his soft, sometimes soulful pop-rock plays primarily to tweens and teenagers,
but has also found traction on adult contemporary radio stations." In an interview with Clash magazine, Mendes stated: "I want to create anthems
for people. I want to create anthems for big moments in their lives.I don’t want my music to play for a few months and then go away forever.
And not only that, I want to do incredible things that make a difference too. I think it’s not only about the music you release,
it’s about the things you do while you’re making the music."
Philanthropy
In 2014, Mendes and DoSomething.org launched their campaign called "Notes from Shawn". The campaign was inspired by the lyrics to his first single,
"Life of the Party", and addressed low self-esteem, depression and awareness of self-harm. They relaunched their campaign
for the second year in a row in 2015 and for a third year in a row in 2016. He has also worked with Pencils of Promise, raising $25,000
to build a school in Ghana. In September 2017, after witnessing the devastation of the earthquake in Mexico City,
Mendes created the Mexico Earthquake Relief Fund in conjunction with the American Red Cross and donated $100,000 towards relief efforts.
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