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 Harmony with his childhood friends, which performed at the club Keglers Kove in a local bowling alley. 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 in Chicago. 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.\n', '

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 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.\n', '

Styx\'s eighth album, Pieces of Eight, was the breakout album for Shaw\'s songwriting talent. 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 number #41, making Shaw the writer and singer of all three singles pulled from the album.\n', '

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