Shannon Rae Bex (born March 22, 1980) is a singer, dancer, and a former member of the musical group Danity Kane.

The group was founded by P. Diddy through the MTV reality television series Making the Band 3. Danity Kane's debut album debuted at #1 on August 22, 2006, as did their second album Welcome to the Dollhouse on March 18, 2008.


Early life

Bex was born in Gresham, Oregon, and has an older brother. She started dancing at the age of six and began training in ballet. A year later, she danced in The Nutcracker under James Canfield for the Oregon Ballet Theatre. It was not until the age of twelve that Bex started to train in other styles of dance like lyrical, modern, and jazz. Her family moved to Bend, Oregon for her high school years, where she attended Mountain View High School. In school, Bex was involved in drama, dance team, and choir. At nineteen, Bex learned more about performing with a group when she was a Portland Trail Blazers cheerleader.

Career

Bex danced and sang for five seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers. She appeared on the 2003 series Fame, finishing as the runner-up to Harlemm Lee. During the finale, Johnny Wright said he would sign her. In December 2005, she was featured as a potential "band" member on MTV's Making the Band 3, Season two, before finally making the group.

Bex was the only married member of Danity Kane.Being the oldest member of the group, she was sometimes referred to as "the mother of the group".

In January 2009, bandmate Dawn Richard confirmed Danity Kane's demise. She stated that the remaining girls were all invited back to the Making the Band series and the group, but that only she and fellow band member Aundrea Fimbres showed up.Bex had already explicitly voiced her discontent about the dismissal of bandmates Aubrey O'Day and D. Woods from the group. Richard stated that she was not sure of Bex's reason for not returning.Bex was "officially" released from her Bad Boy recording contract by Bad Boy Records founder and president Sean "Diddy" Combs in the April 16, 2009 episode of Making the Band.During the April 23, 2009 finale of the series, Bex said that her not showing up for the 2009 season of the show was a "personal choice" and was nothing against the fans. In addition, she hinted at pursuing a country music solo career.

In March 2011, Shannon announced the formation of her new band, Bex, with several of the members of the pop-rock group Elliot.