He began to learn singing with Jonas Pocių, organist of the Jurbarkas Catholic Church. He was his student until he graduated from the Jurbarkas Pro-Gymnasium. Šabaniauskas was brought up by his mother alone and did not have the means to go to school. His mother's sister, who lived in the USA, provided material support. After going to Italy, Šabaniauskas successfully entered the Salesian Congregation of the Catholic Monastery in Este. Two years later, Šabaniauskas moved to Verona to study. There he sang in the cathedral choir, studied solo singing with D. Andželini. In 1927, the maestro returned to Lithuania. Musicologist V. Venckus argues that the maestro's subsequent fate was determined by chance. On a boat trip from Jurbarkas to Kaunas, Šabaniauskas sang "Tykiai, tykiai Nemunėlis teka". He was noticed and invited to join the opera choir by Boris Dauguvietis, the then director of the State Theatre Drama
The popularity of Šabaniauskas was brought by the records he recorded. During his free time from rehearsals he sang in an octet led by A. Mikulskis. In 1931, the English company Columbia Graphophone came to record some of the songs performed by this ensemble. During the recording process, the representatives of the company noticed Šabaniauskas and offered him to record several records. In December 1933, in London, at Columbia Graphophone, he recorded his first 12 solo albums, which included 24 popular slagers. He was accompanied by the Columbia Graphophone orchestra. November 1936. In London, in 1936, the maestro recorded 5 records under the 'His master's voice' label at The Gramophone company[2]. The last 10 discs with 20 popular slagers and one disc with 4 folk songs were recorded by Šabaniauskas in March 1938 in London, at the Columbia Graphophone company.
