He distinguished himself with the Pitt Glee Club where he led a special side ensemble called Wooden Music, which used acoustic instruments, in a foreshadowing of his "Unplugged" concept.
[1] After their second album was rejected by the record label (Arista), he formed a new band, the critically acclaimed (but commercially unsuccessful) pop group, Jules and the Polar Bears.
[1] This band, with Shear writing and singing all songs, released two albums (Got No Breeding and fəˈnet̬·ɪks) on Columbia, merging a tight rock sound with the emerging synth-pop of the early 1980s.
The first, Watch Dog,[1] was produced by Todd Rundgren, and featured such players as Tony Levin on bass and Elliot Easton of The Cars on lead guitar.
During the sessions, Shear and Easton struck up a friendship, based on their shared musical tastes, which led to various collaborations later on.
The album featured the original version of "All Through the Night", which Cyndi Lauper eventually turned into a top-five hit.
Shear's next full-length album, The Eternal Return, was a highly polished, synthesizer-heavy effort, produced by Bill Drescher (of Rick Springfield fame).
Shear was the subject of a song by 'Til Tuesday, "J for Jules", after the end of his relationship with that band's singer, Aimee Mann.
These included covers of Todd Rundgren ("Be Nice to Me"), James Brown ("Ain't That a Groove"), Bob Dylan ("In the Summertime") The Dave Clark Five ("I've Got to Have a Reason") and Brian Wilson ("Guess I'm Dumb").