Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is an entertainment media brand owned by The Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group. It publishes news, video, opinion, reviews, events and style. It is known for music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular songs and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows.

Billboard was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegen's interest in 1900 for $500. In the 1900s, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows. It also created a mail service for travelling entertainers. Billboard began focusing more on the music industry as the jukebox, phonograph and radio became commonplace. Many topics it covered were spun-off into different magazines, including Amusement Business in 1961 to cover outdoor entertainment, so that it could focus on music.

Shawn Mendes

Shawn Peter Raul Mendes (born August 8, 1998) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. He attracted a following in 2013, when he began posting song covers on the popular video sharing application Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist manager Andrew Gertler and Island Records A&R Ziggy Chareton, which led to him signing a deal with the record label. Mendes went on to release an EP and his debut studio album Handwritten, whose single "Stitches" reached the top 10 in the U.S. and Canada, and number one in the UK.

Early life

Mendes was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and was raised in Pickering, a suburb of the city. He is the son of Karen, a real estate agent, and Manuel Mendes, a businessman, selling bar and restaurant supplies in Toronto. His father is Portuguese (from Algarve), while his mother is English. He attended Pine Ridge Secondary School in Pickering, Ontario.

Career

2014–present: Handwritten

He first started posting cover videos on the popular social video app Vine in 2013 and picked up millions of views and followers in a matter of months, becoming well known for his six-second snippets of renditions of many popular songs. By August 2014, he was the third most-followed musician on Vine. Artist manager Andrew Gertler discovered Mendes online in January 2014, bringing him to Island Records where he eventually signed and released his first single "Life of the Party" in June 2014. He is the youngest artist to debut in the top 25 with a debut song on the Billboard Hot 100, making to number 24 for the week ending July 12, 2014, at 15 years, 11 months and 4 days of age.

Billboard

A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians and drivers. Typically showing large, ostensibly witty slogans, and distinctive visuals, billboards are highly visible in the top designated market areas.

The largest standard-size billboards, known as Bulletins, are located primarily on major highways, expressways or principal arterials, and command high-density consumer exposure (mostly to vehicular traffic). Bulletins afford greatest visibility due not only to their size, but because they allow creative "customizing" through extensions and embellishments.

Posters are the other common form of billboard advertising, located mostly along primary and secondary arterial roads. Posters are a smaller format than bulletins and are viewed principally by residents and commuter traffic, with some pedestrian exposure.