Sheik is known for his 1996 debut single "Barely Breathing", which earned him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

[7] The album featured the hit single "Barely Breathing", which peaked at number 16[8] and remained on the Billboard Hot 100 for 55 consecutive weeks.

2 on the Adult Top 40 charts,[8] and garnered Sheik a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

[11] Sheik released Phantom Moon, a Nick Drake-influenced album on which he collaborated with poet and writer Steven Sater, in 2001.

[citation needed] The following year, Sheik released Daylight, a brighter, more modern-sounding album which included the singles, "On A High" and "Half-Life".

[citation needed] After a four-year recording break, Sheik released White Limousine (2006), an album which included companion software on a DVD-ROM to remix individual tracks.

The AllMusic reviewer wrote: "...takes the sensitivity and tension of the film's plot and crafts incidental music and new songs that complement the movie well.

[25] The guitar that Sheik used to compose songs for Spring Awakening was displayed at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.

[31] The musical ran at the Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam, Connecticut from July 2019 to September 2019, directed by John Rando.

It premiered as part of New York Stage and Film's season in July to August 2015 at the Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College.

[38][39][40][better source needed] In 2000, Sheik wrote the foreword to The Way of Youth: Buddhist Common Sense for Handling Life's Questions, by Soka Gakkai International leader Daisaku Ikeda.

[15] In a message to fans on his tumblr blog, Sheik noted that he had entered a treatment center on the same day his latest album was released and had told his staff, "My record is coming out and I’m checking in.