Born in Seattle, WA Shimshai was raised in a family of musicians between rural Washington State and the Seattle area. His father, a carpenter and builder of church pipe organs, started teaching him piano at age 5. His Mother, an elementary school teacher and folk singer taught him his first chords on guitar. Raised on the Beatles and classic folk of the 60’s & 70’s Shimshai explored many musical genres including the now classic Seattle sounds of the 90’s, and eventually settled on reggae music as his preferred mode of expression. Influenced by the original Jamaican roots reggae movement and the teachings of the Ancient Essenes, Shimshai began recording his first album, ‘I Sense Your Presence’ on the Big Island of Hawaii in 2000 at the age of 19. He would continue to record 2 more albums in Hawaii, ‘Toward the One,’ and ‘Live on Maui’ before launching his perpetual world tour as a young traveler. Spending time in Europe and South America would continue to inspire and shape the eclectic blend of spiritual and multilingual music that Shimshai is known for. The solo acoustic album ‘Deliverance’ was recorded largely on site in sacred locations of Peru, from the Andes to the Amazon.

Shimshai became an underground west coast festival favorite by the mid 2000’s and traveled constantly with his band, mixing more of his older reggae material with newer folk and world music interpretations. Assimilating his world travels and interest in language and spirituality, Shimshai began working on ‘Alianza’ in Santa Cruz CA, the first of many recordings to be completed at his own recording studio. ‘Jaya Bhagavan,’ a collaboration with fellow artist Tina Malia, would showcase a passion for the sacred chants of India and result in creative friendships with artists such as Jai Uttal and Yair Dalal. Shimshai returned to more of his reggae roots with his live band on the 2012 release ‘True Heart’ and settled into his English based mystic folk with ‘Seer Prophet Son.’ Shimshai married his wife Susana in 2007 and have also released several albums and singles together, featuring medicinal and ceremonial music mostly in Spanish and Indigenous American languages. Aside from the music, Shimshai & Susana have become known for their nature based retreat programs and handcrafted herbal healing products, many of which are named after Shimshai’s songs. Currently residing between Northern CA and Southern OR with his wife and children, Shimshai continues to record and travel in addition to ongoing retreat programs and classes with Susana.

Shimshai has released 10 albums to date, and has been featured on a number of other artists’ projects. He has helped to produce and record albums for many other friends and artists in the spiritual / folk / medicine music genres. Shimshai has performed all over the world including concerts and festivals in Australia, Bermuda, Bahamas, England, Germany, Holland, Finland and throughout Europe, Israel, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Canada and across the USA. He has been lucky enough to share the stage and collaborate with artists such as Jai Uttal, Wah!, Manose, Snatam Kaur, Ram Das, Bhagavan Das, Deepak Chopra, Joan Baez, Xavier Rudd, Michael Franti, Tina Malia, Jah Levi, Tito la Rosa, Alonso del Rio and many more.