Tommy Roland Shaw (born September 11, 1953) is an American singer and guitarist 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.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. 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. In 1975, Shaw married Cuppy Smith when he was 21 years old in Michigan. Their divorce was finalized in April 1980. Between late 1979 and early 1982, Shaw dated actress Linda Blair. Shaw lived with horse trainer Betsy Waltman on his farm near Niles, Michigan, in the early 1980s.[13] He dated and shared an apartment in Chicago with news anchor Joan Esposito in 1984. Shaw married his second wife, actress Pamela Donnelly, on February 15, 1986. Their daughter, Hannah, was born July 9, 1987. They were divorced December 22, 1993. He married his current wife, Jeanne Mason, on December 28, 2000.[14] Their home was featured on Flipping Out season 5 as Jeff Lewis remodeled it as a rental property. Shaw stated in a 1992 interview during his first tenure with Damn Yankees that he is a strict vegetarian. Subsequently, on the October 31, 2020, episode of Live from Daryl's House, Shaw regaled Daryl Hall and friends with a story of falling off the vegetarian wagon upon trying a piece of ribeye that widened his eyes.[15]
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