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Tommy Roland Shaw, born on September 11 , 1953 in Montgomery , Alabama , is an American vocalist and guitarist, best known for his work with the Classic Rock band Styx , and the " Supergroup " Damn Yankees . The first album featuring him in Styx was Crystal Ball . Following Styx' move to A&M, guitarist and vocalist John Curulewski suddenly left the band shortly before they were to embark on a nationwide tour, and was replaced by singer and guitarist Tommy Shaw after a frantic search to find a last-minute replacement. The first album with Shaw, Crystal Ball , (1976), was moderately successful (the band performs the Shaw-penned title track to this day) and also includes Shaw's "Mademoiselle" and "Shooz". Its followup, The Grand Illusion (1977) became the group's breakthrough album, going platinum and spawning a top-ten hit and AOR radio staple in Dennis DeYoung's "Come Sail Away," as well as a second radio hit, Shaw's "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)." The album also includes its title track and James Young's "Miss America". According to some rock historians the success of the A&M Records years of Styx may be attributed to Shaw, although the band had signature hits before and after his tenure. The downfall of Styx in the early 1980s may be directed to Shaw's disagreements with band leader Dennis DeYoung . After leaving leaving Styx, Shaw went on to release 3 solo records: . Shaw has also worked with other artists on a ''Pink Floyd's The Wall '' tribute album. A second collaboration with Night Ranger 's Jack Blades is due out in 2006, over ten years after releasing their first collaboration, the critically acclaimed ''My Hallucination''. In in early 1990s Shaw, Ted Nugent , Jack Blades , and Michael Cartellone formed the band Damn Yankees and had moderate success. Their biggest hit, "High Enough", was co-written by Shaw. The band had a strong concert following, however, after a mediocore second album, the band separated. Shaw returned to Styx in 1995 to rerecord the song "Lady" for a greatest hits album. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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