Band formation and the Wooden Nickel Years (1961–1974) In August 1961, at 12 years of age, twin brothers
Chuck (guitar) and
John Panozzo (drums) first played music together with their 14-year-old neighbor
Dennis DeYoung who played accordion and sang, while living in the
Roseland, Chicago area, eventually using the band name The Tradewinds. Chuck left to attend
seminary for a year but returned to the group by 1964. Tom Nardini had been brought in to replace Chuck Panozzo on guitar, so he decided to play bass when he returned to the band. John Panozzo was the drummer, while DeYoung had switched from accordion to keyboards. In 1965, the Tradewinds name was changed to TW4 (There Were 4) In 1972 the band members decided to choose a new name when they signed to
Wooden Nickel Records after being spotted by a talent scout at a concert at St. John of the Cross Parish in
Western Springs, Illinois (Young's hometown). Several suggestions were made and, according to DeYoung, the name Styx was chosen because it was "the only one that none of us hated." The band released four albums with Wooden Nickel:
Styx (1972),
Styx II (1973),
The Serpent Is Rising (1973), and
Man of Miracles (1974). These albums contained straight-ahead rockers mixed with prog rock flourish with a lot of guitars, drums, keyboards, percussion, and vocal solos. They established a fan base in the
Chicago area, but were unable to break into the mainstream, though the song "Best Thing" from
Styx charted on September 16, 1972, and stayed on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart for 6 weeks, peaking at No. 82. and then nationwide. In the spring of 1975, nearly two years after the album had been released, "Lady" hit No. 6 in the US, and
Styx II went gold soon after. "Lady" is considered by many classic rock critics as being the first power ballad with Dennis DeYoung being referred to as the "father of the power ballad". With the success of "Lady," a follow-up single on Styx II, "You Need Love", was re-released, but only barely cracked the Hot 100.
Early A&M Years and addition of Tommy Shaw (1975–1978) On the heels of its belated hit single, Styx signed with
A&M Records. The band released
Equinox in 1975, which sold well; the album yielded a minor hit in "
Lorelei", which reached No. 27 in the U.S. More importantly, it contained the rock anthem "
Suite Madame Blue", which gained the band considerable recognition and airplay on
FM radio in the relatively-new
Album Oriented Rock (AOR) format. Following the move to A&M, guitarist
John Curulewski suddenly left the band as they were to embark on a nationwide tour in December 1975, due to his desire to spend time with his family. After a frantic last-minute search, the band brought in guitarist
Tommy Shaw as Curulewski's replacement. The album also included the No. 26 DeYoung hit upbeat "
Why Me" and the rocker "
Borrowed Time" (U.S. No. 64), which was co-written with Shaw, plus Shaw's folksy "
Boat on the River" (1980), which was a hit in much of Europe and Japan. The popularity of the album, which reached No. 2 on the
Billboard 200, helped win the band a
People's Choice Award for Best New Song in 1980. At the
22nd Grammy Awards, Styx was a nominee for
Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group and
Cornerstone's engineers
Gary Loizzo and Rob Kingsland were nominated for a Grammy for Best Engineered Recording. The band was also named the most popular rock band in the U.S. in the 1980 year end Gallup Poll. With the success of "Babe," DeYoung's push for a more mainstream direction gained momentum, while Shaw and Young favored a more rock oriented approach. This arguing over musical direction led to ongoing tension in early 1980 after Shaw objected to the ballad "First Time" being released as the second single from
Cornerstone. Although the song was generating substantial airplay in some major markets, A&M pulled the plug on the single's official release, replacing it with "Why Me". The argument resulted in DeYoung being briefly fired. However, things were quickly smoothed over. While "First Time" did not chart in the US (because it was not released), it became a huge hit single in
the Philippines in 1981. In January 1981, Styx released
Paradise Theatre, a
concept album that became their biggest hit, reaching No. 1 on the
Billboard pop albums chart and yielding five singles, including the top ten hits "
The Best of Times" by DeYoung (No. 3 Billboard, No. 1 Radio & Records) and "
Too Much Time on My Hands" by Shaw (No. 9), his only top 10 single as a member of the band.
Paradise Theatre became the band's fourth consecutive
multi-platinum album. Based on yet another Dennis DeYoung concept, the Paradise Theatre was a historic Chicago theatre that had been built in the 20s only to fall on hard times and close a mere 30 years after it opened. DeYoung used the Paradise as a metaphor for the United States in the late 1970s/early 1980s. An ambitious year long world tour commenced in 1981 in support of the album and was one of the top-grossing tours of the year. The tour had numerous Broadway and movie infused elements, including a dramatic opening featuring a theatre sweep and DeYoung by himself next to a player piano and the show ending with traditional movie credits. Throughout the tour and throughout the 1980s and beyond, the band would open their shows with "
Rockin' the Paradise", the opening track from
Paradise Theatre which charted at No. 8 on the Top Rocks Track Chart and aired on the
MTV cable channel. The band was accused by a California religious group and later the
Parents Music Resource Center of
backmasking Satanic messages in their anti-
cocaine anthem, "
Snowblind".
James "JY" Young has denied this charge during his introduction for "Snowblind" when played live.
Dennis DeYoung has denied the accusation as well, joking on the
In the Studio with Redbeard program "we had enough trouble to make the music sound right forward." Also, Young quotes, "If we were going to put some message in our songs, we would have put it so it was in the song forward. Not so you would have to buy some $400
tape recorder to hear it."
Kilroy Was Here and first disbandment (1983–1984) The band continued to follow DeYoung's lead with their next project,
Kilroy Was Here (1983), another more fully realized concept album, embracing the
rock opera form. It is set in a future where performing and playing rock music has been outlawed due to the efforts of a charismatic evangelist, Dr. Everett Righteous, played by James "JY" Young.
Kilroy Was Here featured DeYoung in the part of Kilroy, an unjustly imprisoned rock star. Tommy Shaw played the part of Jonathan Chance, a younger rocker who fights for Kilroy's freedom and the lifting of the ban on rock music. This future society is served by robots. Called Robotos, these automatons perform many jobs and several serve as Kilroy's prison guards. Part of the impetus for the Kilroy story was the band's reaction to the
backmasking accusation. In 1983 the band mounted an ambitious stage show in support of
Kilroy Was Here The new line-up released one album,
Edge of the Century, featuring the Dennis DeYoung ballad "
Show Me the Way", which received an additional boost just prior to the first
Persian Gulf War. Some radio stations edited the Top Three hit to include the voices of children, whose parents were deployed in Saudi Arabia between 1990 and 1991. The song went all the way to No. 3 on both the
Hot 100 and at
Adult Contemporary radio and notably remained in the top 40 for 23 weeks and AC for 31 weeks. With the huge success of the song "Show Me the Way", Styx joined a handful of musical acts to have top 10 singles in three decades and under four different presidential administrations. A follow-up single, "
Love At First Sight", peaked at No. 25 on the
Hot 100 and No. 13 on the
Adult Contemporary chart. The 1996 "Return to Paradise" tour, with Sucherman as a full member, was successful. The reunion tour was documented with a two-disc live set, 1997's
Return to Paradise, which featured three new studio tracks: "On My Way", "Paradise" (a soft rock ballad that also appears in another version on Dennis DeYoung's 1996
The Hunchback of Notre Dame album), and "Dear John", a tribute to the late Panozzo that has become a cult favorite among Styx fans. Later on, the concert was documented on DVD. The
Return to Paradise album was a surprise success in 1997, achieving gold status and the single "Paradise" briefly charting on the Adult Contemporary chart at No. 27. Following the release of the album, Styx embarked on another tour, this one to mark the 20th anniversary of
The Grand Illusion.
Brave New World and departure of DeYoung (1999–2000) Two years later, in 1999, the band released its first new studio album in almost a decade:
Brave New World. But then, due to illness, DeYoung was unable to commit to touring, so he was replaced by Lawrence Gowan, a classically trained pianist, who had achieved platinum success as a solo act on
Sony Canada. Gowan's 1985 solo hit "
A Criminal Mind" was incorporated into their tour
set list and was still performed into the 2010s. Bassist Chuck Panozzo was sidelined in 1999 due to health problems related to his battle with HIV/AIDS. His public "coming out" occurred in 2001 at the annual
Human Rights Campaign banquet, with James "JY" Young in attendance for support. On June 6, 1999, the group reunited briefly to perform for the
Children's Miracle Network Telethon as DeYoung's final performance with the band. Glen Burtnik filled in for Chuck Panozzo on bass. On June 9, 2000, Styx appeared with
REO Speedwagon at the
Riverport Amphitheatre. A 2-CD recording of the concert was released as
Arch Allies: Live at Riverport, with one disc of each band's set and both discs concluding with performances of the two bands collaborating on jam versions of Styx's "Blue Collar Man" and REO's "
Roll with the Changes". Each band also released their set as a separate album, with additional tracks: Styx's version was ''
At the River's Edge: Live in St. Louis''.
Chuck Panozzo's reduced role, Cyclorama and Big Bang Theory (2003–2009) Styx's new lineup released several live albums and released the studio album
Cyclorama in February 2003, which reached No. 127 on the
Billboard 200 album charts. A single "Waiting for Our Time" hit No. 37 on the
Billboard mainstream rock chart for 1 week. Styx toured extensively during this period and released additional live albums. Styx also was part of the Super Bowl pre game entertainment in San Diego prior to the Oakland Raiders vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They played a short set in the parking lot, as well as on the field right before the game, playing
Queen's "
We Are the Champions". Burtnik left Styx in September 2003, to spend time with his family and to pursue a solo career and release the album
Welcome to Hollywood. He was replaced by
Ricky Phillips, formerly of
the Babys and
Bad English. Panozzo remains in the band but is featured in concerts playing bass on about four songs, including a duet with Lawrence Gowan. Burtnik would go on to join up with DeYoung for numerous tour dates over the next several years. On June 5, 2004, Styx participated in Eric Clapton's
Crossroads Guitar Festival covering songs by
Jimi Hendrix,
B.B. King, and
Slim Harpo with
Jeff Baxter as a special guest. In 2005, Styx released an album of cover tunes,
Big Bang Theory, which reached the
Billboard Top 50 on the album charts, their highest-charting album since 1990. Their version of
the Beatles song "
I Am the Walrus" received some radio play, and a video was made for the song.
Continued touring, The Mission, Crash of the Crown, and Circling from Above (2010–present) On February 21, 2010, the current incarnation of the band performed before the
Sprint Cup Auto Club 500 In
Fontana, California. In a North American tour beginning in May 2010, Styx was a co-headliner of United in Rock with
Foreigner and special guests
Kansas. In July 2010, Styx announced the forthcoming release of
Regeneration: Volume 1, a new release featuring six re-recorded hits and a new song entitled "Difference in the World". This coincided with "The Grand Illusion / Pieces of Eight Tour", on which both albums were played in their entirety. In November 2010 Styx announced that they would be filming their concert in Memphis on November 9 for a DVD. The landmark concert was recorded at the historic
Orpheum Theater, where Styx performed both of their classic albums, 1977's
The Grand Illusion and 1978's
Pieces of Eight. They also announced that they'd be touring the UK with Journey and Foreigner for five dates in June 2011. In early April 2011, it was announced that Styx would join up with
Yes for a "Progressive US Tour" that began on July 4, 2011, with Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter
Shane Alexander opening. On December 15, 2011, they participated in the figure skating show Improv-Ice, which was broadcast on television January 15, 2012. On January 26, 2013, the
Palladia Channel premiered the concert filmed in November 2010. In February 2017, it was announced that Styx and
REO Speedwagon would join forces in a tour entitled "United We Rock" with special guest Felder, which was in large concert venues throughout the US. On April 21, 2017, Styx announced a studio album entitled
The Mission, simultaneously releasing the single "Gone Gone Gone". The album was released on June 16, 2017, and is a concept album about a mission to Mars. On April 7, 2021, Styx announced via social media that they would be releasing an
EP titled
The Same Stardust, which would feature two new tracks, as well as some live recordings. The EP was released on vinyl on June 12, 2021, exclusively in indie record stores as a part of RSD Drops for Record Store Day 2021. This is the first Styx release to use their original band logo since
The Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings in 2005. From April 30, 2021, through May 5, 2021, Styx posted artwork on social media that included a countdown in the corner that would eventually lead to the revealing of their new album
Crash of the Crown, revealed on May 6, 2021. With the reveal, they released the album's title track on streaming platforms. The Prog Report reviewed the album saying it "stands as one of the very finest in their catalogue." Despite positive reviews,
Crash of the Crown charted for only one week on the Billboard 200, peaking at 114. After first producing
The Mission and
Crash of the Crown and joining Styx on stage in
Las Vegas to play
The Mission in its entirety on January 23, 2019, guitarist
Will Evankovich joined Styx for their 2021 summer tour that found them back on the road. On June 5, 2022, Styx was inducted into the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum Hall of Fame. That same night Dennis DeYoung was additionally inducted as a songwriter. On March 20, 2024, it was announced via social media that Ricky Phillips would be leaving the band to spend more time at home and away from the road. On March 22, 2024, Lawrence Gowan's younger brother Terry debuted as the new touring bass player for Styx at their show in
Wallingford, Connecticut. On May 17 he was announced as an official member. In December 2024, it was announced that Styx would co-headline the "Brotherhood of Rock Tour" in with the Kevin Cronin Band (including former REO Speedwagon members Cronin, Dave Amato, and Bryan Hitt, and former REO Speedwagon touring musicians Derek Hilland and Matt Bissonette) would co-headline the "Brotherhood of Rock Tour" in summer 2025, with former Eagles guitarist Don Felder as their opening act (reuniting most of the three-act lineup from 2017's "United We Rock Tour", minus REO Speedwagon's Neal Doughty and Bruce Hall). It was later announced that Styx would be performing their album
The Grand Illusion in full on tour (the Kevin Cronin Band would likewise be performing REO Speedwagon's
Hi Infidelity album in full on the tour, along with other hits and classics, while Felder would be performing a mix of his solo songs and hits from his time in the Eagles). On May 28, 2025, Styx announced their eighteenth studio album,
Circling from Above, set for release on July 18 via Alpha Dog 2T/UMe. Produced by Will Evankovich, the 13-track album explores themes of human ambition, technology, and nature, and features contributions from all seven current members of the band. The lead single, "Build and Destroy," was released alongside an AI-generated music video, and physical copies of the album will be made available ahead of the digital release during the band's 2025
Brotherhood of Rock tour. == Musical style ==