page_title: Mem Shannon
section_title: Beginnings
hierarchical_section_title: Mem Shannon / Career / Beginnings
caption_attribution_description: Mem Shannon &amp; the Membership playing in the French Market, New Orleans
context_page_description: Mem Shannon is an American blues musician. He is currently signed to Toronto's NorthernBlues Music. Shannon is a former taxi-cab driver turned bluesman.
context_section_description: After playing in local bands for several years and enjoying local success, his father died in 1981 and he took a job driving a cab in order to help his family pay bills.  His music career was put on hold until 1990, when he began playing in local clubs at the urging of a former bassist.
  In the early 1990s, he formed a group called Mem Shannon and the Membership, who won a spot playing at the 1991 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.  Later in 1991, they competed for a spot at the Long Beach Blues Festival, but lost in the final round of the talent contest and did not get to appear.
caption: Mem Shannon and the Membership playing a WWOZ event in the French Market, New Orleans, 2009
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