Tommy James Totally Explained

Everything about Tommy James totally explained

For the football player of the same name see Tommy James (football player). Tommy James (born Thomas Gregory Jackson, 29 April 1947, Dayton, Ohio) is an American pop-rock musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known as leader of the 1960s rock band Tommy James and the Shondells. Tommy currently resides in Monroe, Wisconsin.

Early life and career

In 1958, when Tommy was eleven, his family moved to Niles, Michigan. In 1959, when he was twelve, James formed his first band called Tom and the Tornadoes. In 1963, the band changed their name to The Shondells. By 1964, a local DJ at WNIL radio station in Niles formed his own record label, Snap Records. The Shondells were one of the local bands the DJ recorded at WNIL studios. One of the songs was the Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich ditty "Hanky Panky," which was recorded as The Raindrops. The song was a hit locally, but the label had no resources to promote it nationally and was soon forgotten.
In 1965, a DJ in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, found a copy of "Hanky Panky" and played it as a station "exclusive." Listener response was positive, with many wanting to know where they could get a copy of the "new" single. Another DJ started playing the song at local dance parties. Meeting the demand, a local bootlegger taped the song off the radio and began pressing copies of it. Eventual sales of the bootleg were estimated at 80,000. Pittsburgh DJ "Mad Mike" Metro tracked down Tommy James and informed him that his record was number one in the city. James almost hung up on the DJ, but was convinced to come to Pennsylvania and make appearances promoting the no-longer-forgotten single. Soon, James was in New York, selling the original master of "Hanky Panky" to Roulette Records. By the late summer of 1966, it was the top-selling single in the nation.

Tommy James and the Shondells

The Shondells had long since broken up, and didn't wish to reform in order to travel to Pittsburgh. James flew there solo, and hired a local band named The Raconteurs to become the replacement Shondells. The group needed a follow-up and selected a song called "Say I Am (What I Am)". Although not as successful as "Hanky Panky", it reached #21 on the charts later in the same year.
Roulette assigned songwriters Richie Cordell and Bo Gentry the task of writing songs for Tommy James & The Shondells. From 1967 to 1969, the group turned out hit after hit on the Roulette label, including six more that made it to the top ten: "I Think We're Alone Now", "Mirage", "Mony Mony", "Crimson and Clover" (the group's second and final U.S. #1 hit), "Sweet Cherry Wine", and "Crystal Blue Persuasion".

Solo

Tommy James and The Shondells broke up in 1970. James went solo and had two further chart hits with "Draggin' the Line" (#4 in 1971) and "Three Times In Love" (#19 (Adult Contemporary #1) in 1980). James has had twenty three gold singles, and nine gold and platinum albums. He also wrote and produced the million-selling 1970 hit "Tighter, Tighter" for the group Alive 'N Kickin'.
In October 2007, Tommy James and the original Shondells reunited in a New Jersey studio to record once again.

Miscellany

The song "Mirage" uses the chords and structure of "I Think We're Alone Now" in reverse. It was created when the original was played backwards during a writing session.
   The song "Smokey Roads" on their 1968 album Crimson and Clover (album) begins with a backwards masked quotation from An Address by Elder George A. Smith, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Aug. 12, 1855. Played in reverse, one hears: "Extricate the quadruped from the vehicle, and constabulate him to something nutritious, and when the aurora rises in the heavens, I'll return and compensate thee amply."
   Tommy James and the Shondells' "It's Only Love" album cover was the first professional photo shoot by Linda Eastman McCartney in 1966.
   Tommy James and the Shondells declined an invitation to play at the Woodstock Festival on the advice of their agent, who felt it would be a career killer.
   Several bands have covered James' hits. Joan Jett (managed by former Shondell Kenny Laguna) had a top ten with "Crimson and Clover" in 1982. In November of 1987, Tiffany and Billy Idol had back-to-back #1 hits with their respective cover versions of "I Think We're Alone Now" and "Mony Mony."
   In 1987, "Hanky Panky" resurfaced in the parody "Homer Hanky," released during the Minnesota Twins' run to the World Series.
   More recently, in 2006 Finnish garage rock trio The Micragirls included a cover of one of The Shondells' lesser-known recordings 'Go Go Gorilla' on their LP 'Feeling Dizzy Honey'.
   When James went solo in 1970, Shondells bass player Mike Vale and Shondells drummer Pete Lucia formed Hog Heaven, and released one album for Roulette Records.

Solo discography

1970 Tommy James
1971 Christian of the World
1972 My Head, My Bed & My Red Guitar
1976 In Touch
1977 Midnight Rider
1980 Three Times in Love
1989 Tommy James - The Solo Years
1990 Hi-Fi
1993 Discography: Deals and Demos
1996 A Night in Big City
1997 "Tommy James Greatest Hits Live!"
2005 Sweet Cherry Wine (CD single)
2005 "Isn't that the Guy" (CD single)
2006 "Lupe & Joe" (MP3 single)
2006 "Love Words" (CD Single)
2006 "Hold the Fire"
James himself had thirteen charting solo singles, with the three highest-charting being 1971's "Draggin' the Line" (#4), 1980's "Three Times in Love" (#19), and 1971's "I'm Comin' Home" (#40).

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