The Man in Black

The Man in Black is a tribute to Johnny Cash. Shawn Barker’s first Man In Black show was held in 2004 at a casino in Niagara Falls and has since performed over 1,000 shows in 12 countries, selling more than half a million tickets over the course of his career. Born and raised in a working-class suburb of St. Louis, Barker took a schoolboy love for singing in church with his family and turned it into a career. The path to his current success wasn’t a straight line from gospel choir to Johnny Cash tribute act. After serving his country in the Army, Barker returned home to Missouri, took a job as a carpenter, and spent all of his free time learning how to play the guitar. He developed strength and versatility in his voice by modeling his crooning on a cast of legends – Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly and Gene Vincent. His performances quickly turned from hobby to profession, but oddly enough, Barker’s first touring gigs were portraying Elvis, not Johnny Cash. Everything changed, however, when Barker was asked to audition for the part of Cash in a Hollywood production, as it became evident to the director and Barker himself that Johnny Cash was his true calling. From that point there was no turning back.