 | ... | As a songwriter, musician, producer, author, and keeper of the American blues music flame, The Reverend Shawn Amos has made a name as both a teller of tales and an astute shaper of others’ stories. |
The Rev comes by the storytelling chops naturally. The only child of William Morris agent-turned-cookie entrepreneur, Wally “Famous” Amos, and singer Shirley “Shirl-ee May” Ellis, young Shawn spent hours in shadowy nightclubs, on the funky streets of ‘70s Hollywood, and in his own broken home, listening intently to people’s stories. He helped make his father’s cookie hustle real.
In young adulthood, he jumped from screenwriting for A & M Films to the stage, crafting acclaimed Americana music that wrestled with race and identity. On the other side of the microphone, Shawn oversaw soul icon Solomon Burke’s last three albums, and produced seminal CD collections Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones, and Grammy-nominated box set Rhapsodies in Black: Music and Words from the Harlem Renaissance, among others.
| For his 2022 debut novel, Cookies & Milk (published by Little, Brown), Shawn delved into his past to concoct a wildly entertaining story about the strength of family, and the power of forgiveness – plus just the right amount of semisweet chocolate – to mend hearts. | ... |  |
Cookies & Milk was nominated for a 2023 NAACP Image Award and is currently in development for a Disney animated series with Laurence Fishburne as executive producer.