Tommy Roland Shaw (born September 11, 1953) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known for his tenure in the rock band Styx as co-lead vocalist. In between his stints with Styx, he has played with other groups including Damn Yankees and Shaw Blades as well as releasing several solo albums.
Early life and music career
Tommy Shaw was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and played with many local bands in his early years. He left Montgomery after attending Robert E. Lee High School to join The Smoke Ring and then MSFunk, a Chicago-managed outfit that he played with for three years, which gave him a chance to be noticed by Styx during a two-week club gig in Chicago. After MSFunk disbanded, he went back to Montgomery to join a local group called Harvest with his childhood friends. Following Styx's move to A&M, guitarist and vocalist John Curulewski suddenly left the band shortly before they were to embark on a nationwide tour and a frantic search to find a last-minute replacement was launched. As a result of his previous experience with MSFunk in Chicago, Shaw got the call to audition for Styx. Shaw said: "I got on the plane and went up there the next day, and they didn't ask me to play the guitar at all. The guitar never came out of the case." Once Styx had listened to Shaw's demo tape and Shaw had proven he could sing the high harmony in "Lady", he was hired.
Styx – 1970s
Shaw joined Styx in December 1975. His first album with Styx, Crystal Ball (1976), was titled after his own composition and also includes his songs "Mademoiselle" and "Shooz". Its follow-up, The Grand Illusion (1977), became the group's breakthrough album, which went platinum due in part to Shaw. He personally went from studio to studio, coast to coast and pleaded with radio stations to play the band's single "Come Sail Away" (written and sung by Dennis DeYoung). The album also featured the radio hit "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)", penned by Shaw.
Styx's eighth album, Pieces of Eight, was the breakout album for Shaw's songwriting. His rock-oriented contributions "Renegade" and "Blue Collar Man" were the only major hits from this release, reaching #16 and #21 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, and they became 1970s rock-radio staples and perennial Styx concert favorites. The Shaw-sung ballad "Sing for the Day" also became a moderate hit, hitting #41, making Shaw the writer and singer of all three singles pulled from the album.
1980s–1990s
Though the 1980s eventually brought the decline of Styx, the decade began with the band riding a wave of commercial success with the #1 pop ballad "Babe" from their album, Cornerstone (1979), which was written by keyboardist Dennis DeYoung. However, tension mounted within the band as Shaw and other band members, preferring the rock direction of the songs written by Shaw and guitarist James Young, expressed dissatisfaction with DeYoung's desire to pull the band into a pop radio direction. Although the band had released singles and achieved airplay on pop radio, up until this point they had done so by sticking to their progressive/hard rock roots. But the planned release of "First Time," another ballad much in the same vein as the previous single "Babe" brought things to a head within the band. Shaw threatened to quit if "First Time" was released, worried that two ballads in a row would alienate Styx's rock fan base. DeYoung and the record company argued for release, but were out-voted by the band. For this reason, unbeknownst to the public, DeYoung was briefly fired from the group in early 1980 but quickly rehired, and the conflict would arise again.
Shaw's dissatisfaction continued to grow as DeYoung took more and more control of the band and their musical direction. Shaw had a lesser role on the theatrically themed album Paradise Theatre, than he had on previous albums with the band, even though it featured a #9 hit by Shaw, "Too Much Time on My Hands" – his only Top 10 hit with Styx. Shaw's frustration in the band ultimately boiled over with the next album Kilroy Was Here. The concept of the album, along with its accompanying tour, was entirely the brainchild of DeYoung. The live shows featured an eleven-minute movie intro and theatrical performances with dialogue by the band. Shaw very much detested the whole project, and this time around vetoed one of his own compositions, "Haven't We Been Here Before" from being released as a single.