GALLEYBOYZ
GALLEYBOYZ

Galleyboyz were formed in early 1990 when Michael Baranski and Steve Schuffert, who were touring with A&M recording artist Glen Burtnik, found themselves out of a job when Glen was given the opportunity to replace Tommy Shaw in Styx.
Baranski and Schuffert were approached by a former manager who wanted to start a new project. John Rongo and Larry Paoletta, who were in a previous band with Baranski, were recruited. Baranski wrote several new songs, and the now named Galleyboyz went into the studio to record them.
The guys were signed to record executive Carl Maduri’s Oceana Records, which had distribution with BMG. Baranski then recruited Glen Burnik to produce the album, recorded at Jerree’s Records in New Brighton, PA., where Donnie Iris had recorded all his albums.
The album was released in Sept 1990 and received a favorable review in Billboard magazine.
Tensions with the band and their manager flared when there was a disagreement over the first song to be released. The band wanted to release either You Get What You Pay For, or Nothing But Love, songs which reflected the sound and direction of the band. The manager wanted to release Tired of Rappin’, which was a novelty song that Baranski had written as a joke!
The manager prevailed, thinking a novelty song would attract attention for a new band. However, rock stations would not play it because the lyrics were rapped, and pop stations wouldn’t play it because it was making fun of rap, a new genre at the time.
The band stayed together for only a few months. Then the band was no more.
Baranski went on to play with James JY Young of Styx, in his other band, the James Young Group. They released an album Raised by Wolves in 1995, with Baranski writing several songs for the album. He also toured with Styx in the 90’s as a support backup singer. Schuffert went on to a successful solo project with his band the Steve Schuffert Band. They played regularly in Europe every year from the late 90s to the late 00’s.