Shaun Skillin

His life in music

Shaun Raymond Skillin was born in Maryland on October 16, 1964, and grew up in Houston. He picked up his first guitar at 10, wrote his first song soon after, a blues-based rock number, and was playing gigs by 13.

In his early twenties he moved to Los Angeles and played the Hollywood clubs with Diamond Romeo, POWER and Gasoline Alley, on stages like the Whisky a Go Go, Gazzari's and the Troubadour, plus festivals in LA and Orange County. He was a serious writer from the start: he registered volumes of his own songs with the U.S. Copyright Office in 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1991, and in 1990 he and Greg Edelman registered the first volume of POWER songs.

In 1988 he and Greg started POWER. When the band reunited in 2012, Shaun produced the comeback album Restored from his own studio in Colorado, where he had settled and worked as a producer and recording engineer. In Colorado he also formed Hard Blue, a blues-rock trio with bassist Jim Hayek and drummer Craig DeWolf, which released Hard Blue in 2019 and Hard Blue 2 in 2022.

Shaun died suddenly of natural causes at his home in Sedalia, Colorado, on January 14, 2024. He was 59.

1. 1964

   Born in Maryland, October 16.

2. 1974

   First guitar, at 10.

3. 1986

   Registers his first volume of songs.

4. 1988

   Co-founds POWER with Greg Edelman.

5. 1991

   POWER voted best band on the Strip.

6. 2016

   Produces Restored.

7. 2019

   Hard Blue's debut album.

8. 2024

   Passes away January 14, in Sedalia, Colorado.