Shy were a British

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

band formed in 1980 under the name "Trojan", hailing from

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Biography

Formerly known as Trojan (not to be confused with

NWOBHM The new wave of British heavy metal (commonly abbreviated as NWOBHM) was a nationwide musical movement that started in England in the mid-1970s and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. Journalist Geoff Barton coined the term i ...

band Tröjan who released the album ''Chasing the Storm''), Shy featured vocalist Tony Mills, Steve Harris (

guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

) (not to be confused with

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

's bass player, Steve Harris), Paddy McKenna (

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

), Mark Badrick ( bass) and

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

Alan Kelly. Their first album, called ''Once Bitten...Twice...'', was released in 1983. Initial reports from ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' were positive. After the release, Mills dropped his

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

-esque make up, and Mark Badrick was replaced by former Trouble bassist Roy Davies. Shy made their major label debut on

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

with 1985's ''Brave the Storm''. This release gained success despite the single "Hold On (To Your Love)" being disqualified from the charts, as early copies included a shrink-wrapped T-shirt. Reviews from ''Kerrang!'' were more positive, comparing Mill's soaring vocals with those of

Geoff Tate Geoff Tate (born Jeffrey Wayne Tate, January 14, 1959; he later changed his first name to Geoffery or Geoffrey) (Pp. 11, 48). is an American singer and songwriter. He rose to fame with the progressive metal band Queensrÿche, who had commercial ...

, vocalist of

Queensrÿche Queensrÿche is an American heavy metal band. It formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington, out of the local band the Mob. The band has released 16 studio albums, one EP, and several DVDs, and continues to tour and record. The original lineup ...

. In the eighteen months that preceded the band's third album, Shy toured with

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...

Twisted Sister Twisted Sister was an American heavy metal band originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York. Their best-known songs include " We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock", both of which were associated with m ...

Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz ...

and

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

. The band's 1987 album, '' Excess All Areas'', was recorded in the Netherlands with producer Neil Kernon. The album featured Shy's biggest hit, "Break Down the Walls", co-written with

Don Dokken Donald Maynard Dokken (born June 29, 1953) is an American singer and musician. He's best known for being the lead singer, occasional guitarist, and founder of the glam metal band Dokken. He is known for his vibrato-laden, melodic vocal style whi ...

. The album reached the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

, with ''

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...

'' magazine being appreciative. RCA dropped Shy after this album. 1989 saw the release of ''Misspent Youth'' on MCA. The album, produced by

Roy Thomas Baker Roy Thomas Baker (born 10 November 1946) is an English record producer, songwriter and arranger, who has produced rock and pop and songs since the 1970s. Career Baker began his career at Decca Records at the age of 14 and later worked as an a ...

, was promoted with American and European tours. By 1994, Mills had been replaced by vocalist Jon Wardi Ward, previously in NWOBHM band Sabre and US hair band Madam X. The band's 1994 album, ''Welcome to the Madhouse'' was released in Japan by

Phonogram Phonogram may refer to: * A sound recording – see Geneva Phonograms Convention * ''Phonogram'' (comics), a comic book by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie * Phonogram (linguistics), a grapheme which represents a phoneme or a combination of phone ...

but initially failed to get distribution elsewhere. The band released a live album in 1999, recorded in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and two albums containing previously unreleased songs, ''Let the Hammer Fall'' and ''Regeneration''. Mills returned to the band in 2000. In 2002, Shy recorded and released an album featuring Mills, ''Unfinished Business'' which saw

Man A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromos ...

drummer Bob Richards replacing Kelly. In 2005, Shy released ''Sunset and Vine'' on the MTM Music label. In addition to Mills, Harris and Davis, this album featured Mills' ex Siam colleague Ian Richardson on rhythm guitar, and keyboard player Joe Basketts who had previously worked with Mills on his solo album. In 2006, Mills met with

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

rock act

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

, and announced he was leaving Shy to take up the vocalist slot, empty since the announced departure of

Tony Harnell Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

. Shy supported TNT on their final tour. Shy originally had planned for Tony O'Hora from

Praying Mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...

and Andy Scott's

Sweet Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketones ...

to replace Mills. However, Lee Small, formerly of Surveillance and the supergroup

Phenomena A phenomenon ( : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfried W ...

, took the helm for a handful of gigs before parting company with Shy in January 2009, he is now once again Shy's vocalist. The band's latest album, entitled simply ''Shy'' was released in Japan in September 2011 on the Marquee Avalon label, and in Europe in October on Escape Music. Ian Richardson (previously in Siam) has since left Shy but provided some additional rhythm guitar on the latest release. Steve Harris died of a

brain tumour A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and secondary ...

in October 2011. Tony Mills died from pancreatic cancer on September 18, 2019. He was 57 years old.

Band members

Current members

*Lee Small – vocals *Roy Davis – bass *Joe Basketts – keyboards *Bob Richards – drums

Former members

* Tony Mills – vocals ''(died 2019)'' *Ian Richardson – guitars *Steve Harris – guitar ''(died 2011)'' *Alan Kelly – drums *Paddy "Pat" McKenna – keyboards, guitar *John "Wardi" Ward – vocals *Mark Badrick – bass

Discography

Studio albums

*''Once Bitten...Twice...'' (1983) *''Brave the Storm'' (1985) *'' Excess All Areas'' (1987) *''Misspent Youth'' (1989) *''Welcome to the Madhouse'' (1994) *''Regeneration'' (1999) *''Let the Hammer Fall'' (1999) *''Unfinished Business'' (2002) *''Sunset and Vine'' (2005) *''Shy'' (2011)

Live albums

*''Live in Europe'' (1999)

Compilation albums

*''Reflections: The Anthology 1983-2005'' (2006)

Extended plays

*''Breakaway'' (2001)

References

External links

Band official website
{{Authority control English hard rock musical groups Musical groups established in 1983 Musical groups from Birmingham, West Midlands New Wave of British Heavy Metal musical groups