Shannon was born and raised in beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia and has been working as a professional musician since she was 10 years old.
Shannon earned her music degree at the renowned Humber College music program in Toronto, and after graduating launched into a music career full time and hasn't looked back! She joined the Scottish group ‘The Paul McKenna Band’ and toured internationally with the group for three years. This included international performances in Canada, The US, England, Scotland, Germany and the Netherlands. This also included a year contract at Walt Disney World’s Epcot. Shannon's also performed with Cirque Du Soleil and the Chieftains in Canada, as well as several performances as a soloist with Symphony Nova Scotia.
Shannon has released four studio albums which have received multiple Music Nova Scotia Awards, ECMA awards, and multiple Canadian Folk Music Award nominations. She has also received the 'Music Educator of the Year' from Music Nova Scotia.
Shannon toured as the fiddler for Joel Plaskett’s ‘Solidarity’ tour with his father Bill, and has also performed as a side musician for Lennie Gallant, Jimmy Rankin, Port Cities, Kim Dunn and most recently played first violin for the world premiere of ‘Tell Tale Harbour’ at the Charlottetown Festival starring Alan Doyle.
As a composer and producer Shannon has arranged music for the Eastlink show ‘Slainte’ as well as having composed music for CBC’s show ‘Land & Sea’. As a producer Shannon has been hired to work on albums for other musicians, such as producing Jeremy Finney’s album ‘Tip the Bottle’ and Ellen Gibling’s solo harp album 'The Bend in the Light'.
Shannon can also be found all around North America playing at many Irish Dance competitions (feises) and is a featured musician on the well known ‘Feis App’.
For five years, Shannon was the owner of the very successful music school the ‘Lydian School of Music’ in Dartmouth, and has now shifted her focus to this original book series! She has a strong passion for youth music education, and particularly in encouraging every young fiddler's unique voice to shine through. By using tried and true techniques but also being keenly aware and supportive of how uniquely each student likes to learn music, she believes we can help guide young students along the path to a lifelong love of the fiddle.