b. 18 November 1969, Montclair, New Jersey, USA. Sheik grew up in South Carolina and New Jersey, learning to play the piano and guitar. He played with Lisa Loeb while studying at Brown University, and later appeared with His Boy Elroy on a 1993 album for Epic Records. Sheik recorded his debut Atlantic Records album in 1996 - a suite of songs that was dominated by the recent ending of a personal relationship. The first single to be lifted from the self-titled album, the huge radio hit ‘Barely Breathing’, was typical of its contents, eschewing any distinctive pop content in its determinedly downbeat observations. Despite the absence of any quantifiable mass appeal, the debut album quickly gained a foothold in the Billboard Top 100, buoyed by the inclusion of Sheik’s song, ‘In The Absence Of Sun’, on the soundtrack to The Saint.
Appearances on The David Letterman Show and support dates with Frenté and Jars Of Clay further heightened his profile. In 1998, Sheik worked on the soundtrack to the remake of Great Expectations, and recorded his second album Humming. The latter reflected Sheik’s involvement with the Soka Gakkai organisation and marked a distinct progression from his debut. His next project, Phantom Moon, saw Sheik setting New York-based scriptwriter Steven Sater’s dialogue to music. The 2002 follow-up Daylight was intended to be an album of ‘pure pop’ and rewarded the artist with some commercial success through the tracks ‘On A High’ and ‘Half Life’. After spending a number of years working in the theatre and completing film soundtracks, Sheik returned to the recording studio to complete his fifth studio album. White Limousine was released at the start of 2006.
