Shawn Amos Quotes

Powerful Shawn Amos for Daily Growth

About Shawn Amos

Shawn Amos is an American author, musician, record producer, and entrepreneur, whose diverse career spans music, literature, and social activism. Born on February 19, 1965, in Los Angeles, California, Amos grew up surrounded by the rich musical heritage of the city, which greatly influenced his future endeavors. Amos's love for music led him to become a professional drummer, touring and recording with various artists throughout the 1980s and '90s. He co-founded the record label, Sack O' Wax Records, in 1992, and has since produced albums for artists like Keb' Mo', Corey Harris, and The Holmes Brothers. In the early 2000s, Amos turned his attention to writing. His debut book, "A Change is Gonna Come: Music, Race & the Soul of America," published in 2010, explores the intersection of race, music, and social justice in America, weaving together personal stories, historical context, and commentary on contemporary issues. Amos's second book, "Burn It Blue: An American Memoir," published in 2015, is a deeply personal account of his life growing up as the son of a white father and African-American mother during the tumultuous era of the Civil Rights Movement. The memoir sheds light on the complexities of identity and the challenges faced by multiracial families in America. In addition to his writing and music, Amos is actively involved in social activism, particularly focusing on issues related to racial equality and social justice. He serves as a board member for various organizations, including the National Museum of African American Music and the Nashville-based nonprofit, The Waking Dream. Amos's work, both in music and literature, is marked by a deep sense of social consciousness and a commitment to using his talents to shed light on issues that matter. His contributions to American culture continue to resonate and inspire.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Chase the dream, not the competition."

This quote by Shawn Amos emphasizes the importance of pursuing personal passions and aspirations, rather than focusing on competing against others. It encourages individuals to follow their dreams wholeheartedly, instead of getting lost in the rat race or striving for success merely to outdo others. The underlying message is about authenticity, self-discovery, and fulfillment, rather than seeking validation through competition. It's a call to focus on personal growth and happiness over external achievements.

"Everyday is a new canvas, create something beautiful."

This quote encourages us to embrace each day as an opportunity for fresh beginnings and creativity. It suggests that life, like a blank canvas, offers potential for self-expression, growth, and the creation of beauty in our thoughts, actions, and interactions with others. Embracing this mindset invites positivity, productivity, and personal fulfillment.

"The magic starts when you believe in yourself."

This quote suggests that self-belief is a crucial catalyst for the manifestation of magical or extraordinary things in life. It underscores the importance of having confidence in one's abilities, talents, and potential to set goals and pursue them with passion and determination. Essentially, when you believe in yourself, you unlock your inner power and creativity, enabling you to overcome challenges, achieve success, and make a positive impact on the world.

"Life is short, love deeply, forgive quickly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that makes you smile."

This quote encourages an attitude toward life that cherishes strong emotions, learning from past experiences, and finding joy in every moment. Embrace deep connections with others through love, show compassion by forgiving swiftly, let go of inhibitions to laugh freely, and do not dwell on past actions that bring happiness, as these form the recipe for a rich and fulfilling life.

"Embrace your weirdness, it's your gift to the world."

This quote encourages individuals to accept and celebrate their unique qualities, quirks, or non-conformities, often collectively referred to as 'weirdness.' Embracing one's uniqueness means acknowledging that everyone has distinct traits and recognizing that these differences make us special and enrich the world. By openly embracing our own individuality, we allow ourselves to contribute our unique perspectives, talents, and passions to the broader community in a meaningful way. In essence, this quote calls on us to be authentic, to celebrate our uniqueness, and to use it as a gift to positively impact the world around us.

Throughout the '50s, tons of unknown locals came through Sun to record their demos. Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis all made their first recordings at the former Memphis Recording Service.

- Shawn Amos

Through, Recording, Demos, Memphis

Memphis is the place where rock was born and Martin Luther King, Jr., was killed. It's full of contradictions, abject poverty, and riches that only music can provide.

- Shawn Amos

King, Born, Martin Luther, Memphis

When Woodstock ended on Monday morning, over 600 acres of garbage was left behind on Max Yasgur's farm. It took over 400 volunteers and $100,000 to remove it all.

- Shawn Amos

Behind, Over, Took, Monday Morning

While my six-song EP is unlikely to set any sales records, it's one of my biggest personal achievements - on par with starting my own company. On par with selling my own company.

- Shawn Amos

Achievements, Set, Par, Unlikely

A few performances have been left out of the various Woodstock soundtracks and film edits over the years, most notably The Grateful Dead.

- Shawn Amos

Grateful, Over, Been, Grateful Dead

Susan Boyle having a meltdown is not controversial. It's human for a 48-year-old recluse to get a little wigged out when she finds herself on the world stage overnight.

- Shawn Amos

Out, Recluse, Having, World Stage

There was a time when a musician was forced to act in a video. Seeing a singer step too far outside of his comfort zone to pour all of his high-school-drama angst into a poorly scripted scenario was a sight to behold.

- Shawn Amos

Singer, Poorly, Forced, Comfort Zone

Protest is patriotic. Since the beginning of musical time, American singers and songwriters have used their talent and bully pulpits to show us America's strengths and shortcomings.

- Shawn Amos

Singers, Patriotic, Musical, Bully

My father's very public life as Famous Amos was the opposite of that of his ex-wife, my mother Shirley, who was fighting a very private, solitary battle with mental illness.

- Shawn Amos

Famous, Private, Very, Ex-Wife

I live in the social purgatory of the San Fernando Valley, while my eldest daughter is bused to a charter school in the fantasy land of Bel Air.

- Shawn Amos

Fantasy, Social, San, Fernando

In my early performing days, I played gigs under the pseudonym Whitey McFearsun. I painted my face blue, wore crimson lipstick, and strung on some tight silver latex pants.

- Shawn Amos

Some, Pants, Painted, Strung

For years, I've felt like the loneliest brother on the planet. I don't play basketball, I can't dance, and I'd rather listen to Harry Nilsson than hip hop.

- Shawn Amos

Play, Like, Rather, Play Basketball

Technology has the benefit of being easily scalable. A few weeks or months of coding can result in solutions that reap huge benefits. The global success of Facebook, Twitter, and Google are all triumphs of technology.

- Shawn Amos

Benefits, Weeks, Months, Coding

Leave a movie audience inspired, and they will want to ingrain that movie into their lives with the toys, branded food products, soundtracks, and clothing they buy.

- Shawn Amos

Audience, Toys, Movie, Branded

Despite the sometimes sordid turns his life took, Michael Jackson always held my fascination, like he did for most of us.

- Shawn Amos

Always, Took, Held, Sordid

From chain gangs to folk songs to intelligent soul, America has created musicians dedicated to truth, justice, and a better American Way.

- Shawn Amos

Soul, Chain, Dedicated, Folk Songs

Chrissie Hynde is the blueprint for any teenage pop star wannabe looking to have some real cred.

- Shawn Amos

Star, Some, Pop Star, Blueprint

Of course, screwed up families are not the exclusive province of the famous. Still, most families get to screw up in private.

- Shawn Amos

Private, Screwed, Still, Screw

Rock stars should be able to tune their own guitars, apply their own eyeliner, and pick out their own leather pants.

- Shawn Amos

Own, Apply, Pants, Rock Stars

Chrissie Hynde is the coolest woman alive, and no man can have her.

- Shawn Amos

Woman, Alive, Her, Coolest

The same basic tools we've used for thousands of years to connect with people, to draw them in and to hold their attention will always work, even if we're telling our stories 140 characters at a time.

- Shawn Amos

Tools, Used, Telling, Thousands Of Years

Long before Wesley Snipes decided he didn't need to pay the IRS, Willie Nelson was dodging the tax men.

- Shawn Amos

Need, Before, Willie, Nelson

'Morsel' is a perfect word. Forming those six letters on the lips and tongue prompts an instantaneous physiological reaction. The mouth waters. The lips purse.

- Shawn Amos

Six, Forming, Waters, Instantaneous

Schizoaffective disorder is a big mental mash-up of a disease. It combines just about every disorder, from depression, delusions, and paranoia to mania, schizophrenia and hallucinations. My mother bounced between all of these regularly while raising me alone in our Hollywood home.

- Shawn Amos

Big, Hollywood, About, Paranoia

The blues is deceptively simple. Verse and chorus. Sometimes not even a chorus. Four bars that repeat, no Auto-Tune, electricity optional. It is the most direct, bare-bones of content. There is no interference between the head and heart.

- Shawn Amos

Simple, Sometimes, Direct, Chorus

The Woodstock dove on the iconic poster is really a catbird. And it was originally perched on a flute.

- Shawn Amos

Iconic, Dove, Flute, Poster

Google+ will never have a user base to rival Facebook's. It just won't. Not even if you include the 'users' who create accounts so that they can use other Google services.

- Shawn Amos

Will, Other, Include, Accounts

We all love to sing along with our favorite songs. We sing in the car, in the shower, and at the karaoke bar. The problem is that half the time we don't know what we're singing. We're making up lyrics as we go along and hoping no one will notice.

- Shawn Amos

Love, Shower, Half, Making Up

The rise of digital technology put marketers in a bind. No longer a captive audience, consumers were splitting their time across devices, social networks and websites.

- Shawn Amos

Digital, Splitting, Bind

Music and philanthropy have a long, benevolent relationship with one another. Record bins are rife with charity singles, and concert history is filled with benefit shows for every imaginable cause. Musicians like to give back.

- Shawn Amos

Musicians, Another, Rife, Imaginable

I know plenty of Hollywood kids who still struggle with being whole. Their lives are never fully their own - always in the grip of a parent who put celebrity ahead of them.

- Shawn Amos

Parent, Celebrity, Always, Struggle

Somewhere along the line, a concert became a variety show. It was no longer enough for four dudes to play together in front of some guitar amps. Costume changes, an army of dancers, and Broadway theatrics suddenly became standard for a 'concert.'

- Shawn Amos

Play, Standard, Became, Costume

I take my kids to a farmers' market each Sunday to buy organic produce.

- Shawn Amos

Sunday, Market, Take, Organic

Every single tune you know from the 1940s until the 1970s was written, arranged, and demoed in the Brill Building. OK, maybe not every song, but writers from Benny Goodman to Lieber & Stoller to Neil Diamond all kept offices there.

- Shawn Amos

Maybe, 1940s, Benny, OK

The Bangles are proof that short skirts and electric guitars go hand-in-hand. They are one of the great all-girl groups, backing up their looks with a serious pop-rock pedigree.

- Shawn Amos

Go, Electric, Pop-Rock, Guitars

The late, great Janis Joplin could drink ten men under the table, then sing loud enough to shake the teeth out of their head.

- Shawn Amos

Loud, Shake, Could, Table

Year after year, we see a new crop of musicians who do their best to look tough in lipstick and makeup. Maybe it's a cry for help, an admission of their strong feminine side, or the realization that they don't look so good any other way. Whatever the reason, makeup is as rock n' roll as a Marshall stack.

- Shawn Amos

Strong, Makeup, Reason, Any Other Way

At the height of his popularity in 1977, Cat Stevens converted to Islam and dedicated his life to educational and philanthropic causes.

- Shawn Amos

Life, Dedicated, Educational, Philanthropic

Social media is social. We're looking to touch one heart at a time. With one great story at a time.

- Shawn Amos

Touch, Social, Great Story, Social Media

You can talk about Michael Jackson all you want, but John Hughes was the soundtrack to my 1980s life.

- Shawn Amos

Want, Soundtrack, Hughes, None

In Los Angeles, parenting is a competitive sport. From Beverly Hills baby boutiques to kids' yoga classes, L.A. fuses high style, industrial-strength materialism, and parental outsourcing into our own unique version of child-rearing.

- Shawn Amos

Own, Yoga, Classes, Parental

Fresh content doesn't exist to game the SEO system. It's the words, images, and stories that truly engage us, make us want to share with others, and creates a bond between us and a brand.

- Shawn Amos

Game, Stories, Images, Fresh

The combination of cheaper and more widespread broadband and increased mobile usage is turning us all into independent viewers.

- Shawn Amos

More, Cheaper, Increased, Broadband

There's a reason for Art Garfunkel's oddly shaped hair. It hides a very big brain.

- Shawn Amos

Reason, Big, Very, Hides

Early 1900s Hollywood was full of farmers battling to hold onto their land against a new influx of filmmakers who dug Hollywood's reliable weather and diverse landscape.

- Shawn Amos

New, Hollywood, Battling, Diverse

If you're going to write an anthem for an old man who's up at political bat for the last time, give him a decent song. Send him off with something that creates some chills or something.

- Shawn Amos

Political, Some, Anthem, Send

The Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie was an unexpected, unplanned pop culture phenomena. My father went from star-maker to star.

- Shawn Amos

Famous, Cookie, Chip, Phenomena

Her makeup, hair and general quirkiness overshadow the fact that Cyndi Lauper was one the most soulful chicks to come out of the '80s.

- Shawn Amos

Makeup, Fact, Come, Soulful

Depending on your political orientation, the Dixie Chicks are either the great defenders of free speech or American traitors.

- Shawn Amos

Free Speech, Orientation, Chicks

We are more than the work we perform. In fact, I'd say that our work is a mere representation of who we are underneath.

- Shawn Amos

Work, Fact, More, Underneath

Woodstock was a business. A very poorly run business.

- Shawn Amos

Business, Very, Poorly, Woodstock

Despite all of our technological advances, content creation still requires time, inspiration, and a certain amount of sweat. There aren't any shortcuts. You can't write an algorithm for it. You can't predict it. You can't code it.

- Shawn Amos

Code, Still, Amount, Technological

Musicians burn through more cash than the Federal Reserve.

- Shawn Amos

Burn, Through, More, Cash

As a child, I experienced black culture as many people did in America: on the TV, radio, and stages.

- Shawn Amos

Culture, Black, TV, Stages

Thomas Dolby is part mad scientist, part nature boy, and entirely moved by the power of music.

- Shawn Amos

Nature, Music, Mad, Entirely

My stroller of choice is the Graco Classic. It's the '70s Buick of strollers, bulky with a complete absence of style. There are no good lines on the Graco. Yes, it has cup holders, like any self-respecting car or stroller does these days, but the luxuries stop there.

- Shawn Amos

Good, Absence, Luxuries, Lines

I spent years shaking the damage that comes with being burned by living near someone else's spotlight.

- Shawn Amos

Living, Damage, Spent, Burned

If I were a rock star, I'd design my own clothes. I'd do it because that's the mark of a true rock star.

- Shawn Amos

Star, Rock Star, My Own, Mark

We're all posting and clicking and sharing, but we're not devoting enough attention to get anything meaningful from it all.

- Shawn Amos

Enough, Attention, Get, Posting

In the world of celebrity, there is one universal law: if there's a scandal or death, Al Sharpton will be there.

- Shawn Amos

Law, World, Celebrity, Al

At its best, American music is the soundtrack of our long - and often painful - march toward a more perfect union.

- Shawn Amos

Perfect, More, Soundtrack, Painful

The Dolls were the forefathers of glam. You never knew if they were going to kiss you or punch you. More than likely, they'd do both.

- Shawn Amos

Going, Glam, Likely, Dolls

Brands frantically tried to compete for users' fragmented attention, spraying content on every platform in a 24/7 race to stay relevant.

- Shawn Amos

Race, Compete, Brands, Users

Every major summer blockbuster that is released is essentially a product line being launched across multiple verticals. However, the centerpiece of the product launch is a big, beautiful story whose job is to entertain.

- Shawn Amos

Big, However, Entertain, Blockbuster

Blues became rock, rock became soul, and all of it was colorblind.

- Shawn Amos

Soul, Rock, Became, Blues

Just as many people flee Hollywood as those who flock to it. Hollywood can be an acquired taste.

- Shawn Amos

Hollywood, Taste, Flock, Acquired

Many cities make music, but no city breathes music quite like Memphis. The songs and sounds that come from here are uniquely American.

- Shawn Amos

Here, Memphis, Cities, Uniquely

I get my clothes from three sources: Target, thrift shops, and friends. It's simple and it's cheap.

- Shawn Amos

Simple, Cheap, Sources, Target

From their '61 Cavern Club debut to their last rooftop concert eight years later, The Beatles gave every serious artist in their wake the songbook and sound for their career. It's the musical trough from which nearly every musician drinks.

- Shawn Amos

Career, Artist, Sound, Debut

New York City has more rock history in its 305 square miles than most of America combined.

- Shawn Amos

City, New, More, Square Miles

When I started Amos Content Group in 2009, I made a simple bet: our handmade, contextual, and authentic content will stand out in an increasingly information-saturated world.

- Shawn Amos

Will, Made, Increasingly, Authentic

While not a musician, my father was a music agent for years before becoming pop culture icon Famous Amos.

- Shawn Amos

Famous, Becoming, Agent, Musician

The world moves fast. Business moves fast. Digital media moves extremely fast. It is far too easy to allow ourselves to be constantly blown from one trend to the next.

- Shawn Amos

Digital, Next, Allow, Blown

Black people cannot look to government to solve their problems.

- Shawn Amos

Government, Black, Cannot, Solve

In the '60s, my father, Wally Amos, had been a talent agent and a personal manager before taking a major career detour in 1975, when he opened a store selling chocolate chip cookies.

- Shawn Amos

Career, Been, Agent, Chocolate

Harlem's Apollo is probably the most well-known music hall in the world.

- Shawn Amos

Music, Most, Well-Known, Harlem

The Republicans need all the entertainment help they can get. When Charlie Daniels was one of your convention headliners, you know you need some serious help.

- Shawn Amos

Need, Some, Convention, Charlie

Men of my father's generation were perpetual hustlers, always on the make and always on the move.

- Shawn Amos

Generation, Always, Move, Perpetual

Brands' products should be the manifestation of a company's values. Those values should be the subject of all sorts of wonderful stories that comprise your company's narrative.

- Shawn Amos

Stories, Brands, Subject, Manifestation

Like any self-governing group of people, the Recording Academy has made missteps over the years. Still, it has corrected course and done more to open its arms to the future than nearly any other industry group around.

- Shawn Amos

Other, Over, Still, Academy

When I was growing up in L.A. in the late '70s and early '80s, Michael Jackson's was the first face on TV that looked like mine.

- Shawn Amos

TV, Mine, Looked, Jackson

We all know the record biz don't pay. All musicians have day jobs - no matter how big they are.

- Shawn Amos

Big, Pay, Jobs, Musicians

There is a difference between a hand out and a help up. Brothers need to help brothers. They don't do it enough.

- Shawn Amos

Help, Need, Difference, Brothers

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