Tommy Roland Shaw (born September 11, 1953) is an American guitarist, best known for his work with the rock band Styx. In between his stints with Styx, he has played with the supergroup Damn Yankees and Shaw Blades, and has released several solo albums. Image File history File links TommyShaw. ... is the 254th day of the year (255th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Coordinates: , Country State County Montgomery Incorporated December 3, 1819 Government  - Mayor Bobby Bright Area  - City  156. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Hard Rock redirects here. ... For the Swedish political music movement, see progg. ... Glam metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that arose in the late 1970s - early 1980s in the United States. ... For the popular-music magazine, see Musician (magazine). ... A songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics to songs, the musical composition or melody to songs, or both. ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... For the UK magazine, see Guitarist (magazine). ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making music. ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... For other uses, see Guitar (disambiguation). ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Pianoforte redirects here. ... This article is about the musical instrument. ... A Vibraslap manufactured by LP LP Vibraslap showing metal teeth A vibraslap (also known as a Mandible) is a percussion instrument consisting of a piece of stiff wire (bent in a handle-like shape) connecting a wood ball to a block of wood with metal teeth inside. ... An Autoharp The Autoharp is a musical string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers which, when depressed, mute all the strings other than those that form the desired chord. ... A vocoder (name derived from voice encoder, formerly also called voder) is a speech analyzer and synthesizer. ... Styx is an American rock band that has been popular since the 1970s, with such hits as Come Sail Away, Babe, Lady, Suite Madame Blue, Mr. ... Damn Yankees were an American rock supergroup. ... The Smoke Ring was a rock band from Norfolk, Nebraska active in the 1960s. ... is the 254th day of the year (255th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the UK magazine, see Guitarist (magazine). ... This article is about the genre. ... Styx is an American rock band that has been popular since the 1970s, with such hits as Come Sail Away, Babe, Lady, Suite Madame Blue, Mr. ... In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe music groups comprising members who had already achieved fame or respect in other groups or as individual artists. ... Damn Yankees were an American rock supergroup. ... Shaw Blades is an American Musical duo/group formed by Tommy Shaw of Styx and Jack Blades of Night Ranger. ...

Early life and music career

Tommy Shaw was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1953 and played with many local bands in his early years. Shaw attended the same high school as legendary dixie youth coach Jeff Crouch. He left Montgomery after high school to join The Smoke Ring and then MSFunk, a Chicago-managed outfit that he played with for 3 years, which gave him a chance to be noticed by Styx during a 2-week club gig in Chicago. After MSFunk disbanded, he went back to Montgomery to join a local group with his childhood friends called Harvest, which performed at a club in a bowling alley called "Keglar's Kove". 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. While playing at the bowling alley bar, as a result of his previous experience with MSFunk in Chicago, Shaw got the call to audition for Styx and was quickly hired.^[1] Coordinates: , Country State County Montgomery Incorporated December 3, 1819 Government  - Mayor Bobby Bright Area  - City  156. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Smoke Ring was a rock band from Norfolk, Nebraska active in the 1960s. ... For other uses, see Chicago (disambiguation). ... Styx is an American rock band that has been popular since the 1970s, with such hits as Come Sail Away, Babe, Lady, Suite Madame Blue, Mr. ... John Curulewski was a former guitarist of Styx, working with the band for their first five albums. ...

Styx — 1970s

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 and also featured a radio hit by Shaw, "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)". Styx is an American rock band that has been popular since the 1970s, with such hits as Come Sail Away, Babe, Lady, Suite Madame Blue, Mr. ... Crystal Ball is the sixth album by Styx, released in 1976 (see 1976 in music). ... Not to be confused with Grand Illusion (album), by Nocturnal Rites. ...

Styx's 8th album, appropriately entitled Pieces of Eight, was the breakout album for Shaw's songwriting talent with his rock-oriented contributions "Renegade" and "Blue Collar Man" being the only major hits off this release, which became `70's rock radio staples and perennial Styx concert favorites, reaching #16 and #21 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart.^[2][3] It also featured another minor radio hit in Shaw's tune "Sing For The Day". Pieces of Eight is the eighth album by Styx, released September 1, 1978 (see 1978 in music). ...

1980s — 1990s

Though the `80's eventually brought the decline of Styx, the decade began with Styx riding a wave of commercial success with the #1 pop ballad "Babe" from the 9th Styx album, Cornerstone in 1979, which was written by keyboardist Dennis DeYoung. However, tension mounted within the band as Shaw and other band members expressed dissatisfaction with DeYoung's desire to pull the band into a pop radio & theatrical direction, while other members preferred the rock direction of the songs written by Shaw and guitarist James "JY" Young. For this reason, unbeknownst to the public-at-large, Dennis DeYoung was fired from the group in early 1980 for a brief unpublicized moment and quickly rehired^[4], but this conflict would arise again. Shaw's ascerbation was furthered with his dissatisfaction of the theatrical-themed album Paradise Theater and brought to a boil with the tour for the next album Kilroy Was Here, which featured a progressive stage show combined with an 11-minute movie intro and theatrical performances by the band.^[5] Shortly after the tour ended, Shaw left Styx in 1983 to pursue his solo career. Cornerstone is the ninth album by Styx, released in 1979 (see 1979 in music). ... — Dennis DeYoung (born February 18, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American singer, songwriter, keyboard player and producer best known for being a founding member of the rock band Styx, a tenure which lasted from 1962 to 1999. ... Paradise Theater is a concept album released by the rock band Styx in January 1981 (see 1981 in music). ... Kilroy Was Here is a rock opera/concept album by the rock band Styx. ...

Shaw released 3 solo albums in the 1980s: Girls with Guns (1984), What If (1985), and Ambition (1987), scoring a Top 40 hit with the title track from the 1st album. Girls With Guns is the debut solo album from Styx guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw. ...

1990s — present

In the early 1990s, Shaw, Ted Nugent, Jack Blades, and drummer Michael Cartellone formed the band Damn Yankees. Michael Cartellone was the drummer for Tommy Shaw during his 1988 Ambition tour. Their biggest hit, "High Enough", was co-written by Shaw. The band had a strong concert following; however, even though the 2nd album went platinum^[6], the band went on hiatus before recording a third album in 2000 that was never released to the public due to poor production quality. Theodore Ted Nugent (born December 13, 1948) (a. ... Jack Blades, American bass playing musician, has worked in Rubicon, as bassist and one of the lead vocalists for Night Ranger, and also as a founding member of Damn Yankees along with Tommy Shaw and Ted Nugent as well as drummer Michael Cartellone. ... Damn Yankees were an American rock supergroup. ...

Shaw returned to a reunited Styx in 1995 and embarked on a subsequent tour with them in 1996^[7]. Tommy would later record a fourth solo record in 1998: "7 Deadly Zens". Shaw has also worked with other artists on a "Pink Floyd's The Wall" tribute album. He also worked on a KISS tribute album, "Spin The Bottle: An All-Star Tribute to KISS", on which he sang "Love Gun". On the Queen tribute album Stone Cold Queen, Shaw sang a stirring rendition of the John Deacon-penned Spread Your Wings. 7 Deadly Zens is a solo album from Styx guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw. ... For other Pink Floyd works based around this album, see The Wall (Pink Floyd). ... Queen are an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist Brian May, lead vocalist Freddie Mercury, and drummer Roger Taylor, with bass guitarist John Deacon joining the following year. ... For the motorcyclist, see John Deacon (motorcyclist). ...

Tommy teamed up with Night Ranger's Jack Blades in a duo appropriately called Shaw Blades and released an album entitled "Hallucination" in 1995. The duo also recorded the classic Christmas song "The Twelve Days Of Christmas" which was released in 2002 on the album "A Classic Rock Christmas", a compilation of classic Christmas songs recorded by various Classic Rock artists.^[8] A second collaboration entitled "Influence" was released in early March 2007 and the duo appeared live on VH1 Classic backed up by famed Nashville songwriter Gary Burr, then did a short tour in Spring 2007. Their repertoire included songs from Night Ranger, Styx, Shaw's solo albums and Damn Yankees. The duo also became a highly sought after song-writing team for such artists as Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, Vince Neil and Cher (to name a few.) Night Ranger, is a U.S. rock band formed in San Francisco, California. ... Jack Blades, American bass playing musician, has worked in Rubicon, as bassist and one of the lead vocalists for Night Ranger, and also as a founding member of Damn Yankees along with Tommy Shaw and Ted Nugent as well as drummer Michael Cartellone. ... Shaw Blades is an American Musical duo/group formed by Tommy Shaw of Styx and Jack Blades of Night Ranger. ... For other uses, see Christmas (disambiguation). ... For the magazine, see Classic Rock (magazine). ... Gary Burr is an American musician and songwriter. ... This article is about the band Aerosmith. ... Ozzy redirects here. ... Vincent Neil Wharton (born February 8, 1961 in Hollywood, California), better known as Vince Neil is the lead singer for American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. ... This article is about the entertainer. ...

Shaw currently leads a version of Styx along with James "JY" Young, the only remaining members from Styx's heyday. Upon their reformation in 1996, STYX released the live release "Return To Paradise" before they recorded new studio albums "Brave New World" (which became the last release with co-founder Dennis DeYoung), "Cyclorama" (with new keyboardist Lawrence Gowan), and "Big Bang Theory" (an album of cover songs of 1960's and 1970's rock classics.) The band continues to tour to the present day, often with Def Leppard and other classic rock bands. Styx is an American rock band that has been popular since the 1970s, with such hits as Come Sail Away, Babe, Lady, Suite Madame Blue, Mr. ... James J.Y. Young (born 14 November 1949, on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois) is a guitarist and member of the rock band, Styx. ...

In the spring of 2007, Shaw Blades went on a small, often sold out tour to promote a new CD entitled "Influence". The shows were held in smaller venues throughout the US. The shows featured remakes of 60's classics and several top hits from Styx and Night Ranger. At the end of a Styx tour, Shaw Blades added a 2nd tour with new dates through the end of 2007 and are enjoying recent success with the new cult favorite, "When I See Beth Smile".

On New Years Eve, 2007, Shaw made a guest appearance with the Trans Siberian Orchestra in Birmingham, Alabama where they performed such songs as Blue Collar Man and Renegade, as well as TSO originals. It was recently announced that Tommy Shaw will be appearing at Baloon Fest, an open-air concert held annually in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada.

Hall of Fame

Tommy Shaw was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame on February 22, 2008 at their awards banquet held in Tommy's hometown of Montgomery, AL at the new Montgomery Convention Center, which was finished just prior to the ceremony.^[9] // [edit] Foundation First conceived by the Muscle Shoals Association in the early 1980s, the Alabama Music Hall of Fame was created by the Alabama Music Hall of Fame Board, which then saw to its Phase One construction of a 12,500 square ft. ... Montgomery is a city located in Montgomery County, Alabama. ...

Footnotes

Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 241st day of the year (242nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 243rd day of the year (244th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Kilroy Was Here was a mini-film made to coincide with the Styx album of the same name. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 243rd day of the year (244th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 243rd day of the year (244th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 243rd day of the year (244th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Tommy Shaw's Official Website
• The official website of STYX
• The official website of Shaw Blades
• AMG Discography