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Tommy Shaw
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Miami Vice Performers
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Born
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September 11, 1953, Montgomery, Alabama
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Active
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1976-present
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Wife/Children
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"Cuppy" Enders (1975, divorced)
Pamela Donnelly (1986-1993, divorced, one child) Jeanne Mason (2000-present) |
Tommy Roland Shaw (born September 11, 1953) is an American rock guitarist and songwriter whose songs "Girls with Guns" (in the episode "Glades") and "Dangerous Game" (in the episode "Blood & Roses") appeared in the show Miami Vice.
Career[]
Shaw was born in Montgomery, Alabama. He left Alabama for Chicago after high school as part of the band The Smoke Ring, later MSFunk, after the group disbanded he left Chicago and returned to his home, only to come back after the band Styx needed a guitarist on short notice for a major US tour. Styx rocketed to stardom after Shaw joined, contributing the songs "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)", "Renegade", and "Blue Collar Man" and sang lead on "Too Much Time On My Hands". But after Styx's power ballad "Babe" hit #1, keyboardist and lead singer Dennis DeYoung wanted to take the band mainstream and also theatrical, which ruffled feathers with Shaw and, after the group's next two albums, Paradise Theatre and Kilroy Was Here (with the highly theatrical tour that followed Kilroy), Shaw left Styx for a solo career.
His first solo album in 1984, Girls with Guns, included the title track, which was Shaw's only solo Top 40 single. His other two albums, 1985's What If and 1987's Ambition (featuring "Dangerous Game") did not chart, and in 1988 Shaw (along with Ted Nugent and Jack Blades of Night Ranger) formed the supergroup Damn Yankees, but after one top 10 single and a successful concert tour, the group disbanded, with Shaw and Blades forming Shaw Blades, which had a short career. Shaw currently tours with a new Styx lineup along with other 80s bands such as Def Leppard. In a return to his Alabama roots, Shaw appeared at the Grand Ole Opry in 2011 after his bluegrass album, The Great Divide, was released. In 2022, Shaw sang lead on Alan Parsons' song "Uroboros" from Parsons' album From The New World.
Personal Life[]
Shaw has been married three times, first to "Cuppy" Enders in 1975, then divorced, later Shaw married Pamela Donnelly from 1986-1993, they had a daughter, Hannah (born 1987). Shaw is currently married to Jeanne Mason (2000-present).