Tommy James and the Shondells in 1967. Left to right: Ron Rosman, Peter Lucia, Tommy James, Mike Vale and Eddie Gray
The band The Echoes formed in 1959 in Niles, Michigan, then evolved into Tom and the Tornadoes, with 12-year-old Tommy James (then known as Tommy Jackson) as lead singer. While attending Niles High School in Niles, Michigan, the group released its first single, "Long Pony Tail", in 1962.[6]
In 1964, James renamed the band the Shondells[7] because the name "sounded good" and in honor of nearby Fort Wayne's own Troy Shondell, famous for his 1961 release "This Time". At this time, the band included Tommy James (vocals and guitar), Larry Coverdale (lead guitar), Larry Wright (bass), Craig Villeneuve (keyboards) and Jim Payne (drums). In February 1964 the band recorded the Jeff Barry–Ellie Greenwich song "Hanky Panky" (originally a B-side by the Raindrops[8]). As James could often be found playing at Niles High School events, his popularity locally continued to grow. James' version of "Hanky Panky" sold respectably in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, but Snap Records, the label under which "Hanky Panky" was originally released, had no national distribution. The band toured the eastern Midwest, but no other market took to the song. The single failed to chart nationally and the Shondells disbanded in 1965 after its members graduated from high school.
After first considering taking a job outside of music, James decided to form a new band, the Koachmen, with Shondells guitarist Larry Coverdale and members of a rival group called the Spinners (not the hit-making group from Detroit). The Koachmen played a circuit of clubs in the Midwest through the summer and fall of 1965, but returned to Niles in February 1966, after the gigs dried up, to plot their next move.
Hanky Panky
Meanwhile, in 1965, Pittsburgh dance promoter Bob Mack had unearthed the forgotten single "Hanky Panky", playing it at various dance parties, and radio stations there touted it as an "exclusive". Listener response encouraged regular play and demand soared. Bootleggers responded by printing 80,000 black market copies of the recording, which were sold in Pennsylvania stores.
James first learned of all this activity in April 1966 after getting a telephone call from Pittsburgh disc jockey "Mad Mike" Metro(vich) asking him to come and perform the song. James attempted to contact other members of the Shondells, but they had all moved away, joined the service or gotten married and left the music business altogether. There remains disagreement over the role of Metrovich in the recording. In his book, Me, The Mob and the Music, James credits Pittsburgh dance promoter Bob Mack and never mentions Metrovich.
In April 1966 James went by himself to make promotional appearances in Pittsburgh in nightclubs and on local television. Bob Mack made his dance club bands available to James for promotional appearances, but nothing seemed to fit until a guitarist from one of the bands took James to the Thunderbird Lounge in Greensburg, where he recruited a quintet that was playing there called the Raconteurs – Joe Kessler (guitar), Ron Rosman (keyboards), George Magura (saxophone and piano), Mike Vale (bass) and Vincent Pietropaoli (drums) – as the new Shondells.[7] "I had no group, and I had to put one together really fast," recalled James. "I was in a Greensburg, PA club one night, and I walked up to a group that was playing that I thought was pretty good and asked them if they wanted to be the Shondells. They said yes, and off we went."[9]
With a touring group to promote the single, James went to New York City, where he sold the master of "Hanky Panky" to Roulette Records, at which time he changed his last name to James. With national promotion, the single became a No. 1 hit in July 1966. He signed with Leonard Stogel and Associates for management. In 1967 Kessler and Pietropaoli were forced to leave after a dispute when planned monies were not remitted to them by Roulette, a label closely associated with organized crime, and whose head, Morris Levy, was the inspiration for the Herman "Hesh" Rabkin character on The Sopranos. They were replaced by Eddie Gray (guitar) and Peter Lucia (drums); Magura departed as well.[7]
Tommy James and the Shondells
At first, Tommy James and "his" Shondells played straightforward rock and roll, but they soon became associated with the budding bubblegum music genre. James disputes this, saying that Super K Productions "bubblegum" producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffry Katz approached his record company (run by Morris Levy) looking for songwriting jobs. Levy spurned Kasenetz and Katz, so they went elsewhere and became successful with such bands as the 1910 Fruitgum Company. Bubblegum is generally traced to the success of the 1968 Fruitgum Company hit "Simon Says". Tommy rejects the "bubblegum" label for his music.[10] In early 1967 songwriter Ritchie Cordell gave them the No. 4 hit "I Think We're Alone Now" and the No. 10 hit "Mirage". In 1968, James had a No. 3 hit with "Mony Mony". Co-written by James, Cordell, Cordell's writing partner Bo Gentry, and Bobby Bloom, "Mony Mony" reached No. 3 in the US and was a British No. 1 in 1968. The title was inspired by a flashing sign for Mutual Of New York visible from James's apartment balcony in New York.[6] He followed it with "Do Something to Me". The Crimson & Clover album marked the start of the band's psychedelic style.[3]
The group toured with Vice President Hubert Humphrey during his 1968 presidential campaign, for which Humphrey showed his appreciation by writing the liner notes for their next album Crimson & Clover, which was released in December 1968.[11] From late 1968, the group began writing their own songs, with James and Lucia penning the psychedelic-tinged classic "Crimson and Clover", which was recorded and mixed by Bruce Staple, with James tackling vocal duties and playing many of the instruments himself, and featured the creative use of studio effects such as delay and tremolo.[12]
At a concert in Birmingham, Alabama, in March 1970, an exhausted James collapsed after coming off stage from a reaction to drugs and was pronounced dead. He was not dead, however, and decided to move to the country to rest and recuperate, and left the band.[14] His four bandmates carried on for a short while under the name Hog Heaven, recording two albums (one "self-titled" on Roulette Records in March 1971 and the second recorded in 1971, but unreleased until 2008), and landing one Hot 100 hit, "Happy", at number 98, but disbanded soon afterwards.
In a 1970 side project, James wrote and produced the No. 7 hit single "Tighter, Tighter" for the group Alive N Kickin'.[15] James launched a solo career in 1970 that yielded two notable hits over a 10-year span, "Draggin' the Line" (1971) and "Three Times in Love" (1980).
Covers by other artists
During the 1980s, the group's songbook produced major hits for three other artists: Joan Jett & The Blackhearts' version of "Crimson and Clover" (No. 7 in 1982), Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now" and Billy Idol's "Mony Mony" (back-to-back No. 1 singles in November 1987).[16] Other Shondells covers have been performed by acts as disparate as psychobilly ravers the Cramps, new wave singer Lene Lovich, country music veteran Dolly Parton, and the Boston Pops orchestra.
1980s and later
In the mid-1980s, Tommy James began touring in oldies packages with other acts from the 1960s sometimes billed as Tommy James & the Shondells, although he is the group's only original member. A Greenwich Village nightclub appearance was filmed and released as Tommy James & the Shondells: Live! At The Bitter End.[17]
On January 6, 1987, original drummer Peter P. Lucia Jr. died of a heart attack while playing golf at the age of 39.
In 2008 "I'm Alive" was covered by Tom Jones and released on his 24 Hours album.
In 2009 James and the surviving Shondells, Gray, Vale and Rosman, reunited to record music for a soundtrack of a proposed film based on James' autobiography, Me, the Mob, and the Music, released in February 2010.
In March 2011 the Tommy James song "I'm Alive" (co-written with Peter Lucia) became a top 20 hit in the Netherlands for UK singer Don Fardon after his version had been used in a Vodafone commercial.
In 2012 "Crystal Blue Persuasion" was used in the eighth episode of Season 5 of Breaking Bad, "Gliding Over All", during a montage depicting the process involved to bring main character Walter White's methamphetamine operation and its signature blue crystal meth to an international level.
In 2015 Gray, Vale, and Rosman decided to reunite and form their new group, The Crystal Blue Band. They recruited their longtime friend and drummer Mike Wilps to replace the late Peter Lucia. That group disbanded in 2022.
Recognition
In 2008 Tommy James and The Shondells were inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.[18]
Tommy James is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. James is the frontman of the rock band Tommy James and the Shondells, which is known for hit singles such as "Mony Mony", "Crimson and Clover" and "I Think We're Alone Now".
Roulette Records was an American record company and label founded in 1957 by George Goldner, Joe Kolsky, Morris Levy and Phil Kahl, with creative control given to producers and songwriters Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. Levy was appointed director.
Hanky Panky may refer to:
"Crimson and Clover" is a 1968 song by American rock band Tommy James and the Shondells. Written by the duo of Tommy James and drummer Peter Lucia Jr., it was intended as a change in direction of the group's sound and composition.
Crimson & Clover is the sixth album by Tommy James and the Shondells. It features the #1 hit "Crimson and Clover" as well as the #2 hit "Crystal Blue Persuasion". The album "Crimson & Clover", was released in December 1968 and reached a peak of #8 on the Billboard 200.
"Shake a Tail Feather" is a song written by Otha Hayes, Verlie Rice, and Andre Williams and originally recorded in 1963 by the Chicago-based group the Five Du-Tones. The original recording reached #28 on Billboard's Hot R&B Singles chart and #51 on the Hot 100.
"Hanky Panky" is a song written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich for their group, the Raindrops.
"I Think We're Alone Now" is a song written and composed by Ritchie Cordell that was first recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells. It was a major hit for the group, reaching number 4 on the US Hot 100 in April 1967. It finished at No. 12 on Billboard magazine's year-end singles chart for 1967.
"Mony Mony" is a 1968 single by American pop rock band Tommy James and the Shondells, which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 3 in the U.S. Written by Bobby Bloom, Ritchie Cordell, Bo Gentry, and Tommy James, the song has appeared in various film and television works such as the Oliver Stone drama Heaven & Earth. It was also covered by English singer-songwriter Billy Idol in 1981. Idol's version, which took in more of a rock sound, became an international top 40 hit and additionally revived public interest in the original garage rock single. Idol recorded a live version in 1985 which was ultimately released in 1987 where it became an even bigger hit than the Shondells' 1968 original, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Mony Mony is the fifth studio album by Tommy James and the Shondells. It was released in 1968. The record includes the band's hit single "Mony Mony" which reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart and #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. It reached #193 on the Billboard 200. While trying to come up with lyrics for the music they had already recorded, James spotted a sign for Mutual of New York, sing their acronym MONY.
Classics: The Early Years is a compilation album by American musician Neil Diamond released in 1983 featuring the early recordings he made for Bang Records in 1966 and 1967. After CBS acquired the Bang Records catalogue, the twelve best recordings were reissued on this album. Columbia gave Diamond control of the Bang masters of his recordings. The original copyright notice of this album read "(C) and (P)1983 Neil Diamond and CBS Inc." This compilation has a different track lineup compared to the 1968 Bang compilation album titled Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits which contains two cover songs. All the songs in this album are original Diamond compositions and substitutes "I'm A Believer" and "Shilo" in place of the Gary U.S. Bonds hit "New Orleans" and the Tommy James and the Shondells hit "Hanky Panky."
"Draggin' the Line" is a hit song by American rock musician Tommy James, who went solo after the Shondells disbanded in 1970. It was first released as the B side of "Church Street Soul Revival" in 1970. The song was judged to have some hit potential so they went back in the studio and added horns to the master and re-released it as an A side single in 1971. It was included on his second album, Christian of the World in 1971 on the Roulette Records label. The song was James' biggest hit as a solo artist selling more than a million copies, and appears as the fifth track on James' 1991 retrospective album The Solo Years (1970-81) released by Rhino.
"Sweet Cherry Wine" is a song performed by Tommy James and the Shondells from their 1969 album, Cellophane Symphony. The song was co-written by James and Richie Grasso, another singer-songwriter signed to Morris Levy's Roulette Records. It hit number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and rose to number six on the Canadian charts. This psychedelic song was released at the height of psychedelia, right after one previous 'mind expanding' song by Tommy James and the Shondells, "Crimson and Clover", and before "Crystal Blue Persuasion". It begins with the use of an organ, adds brass instruments, and ends with a solo flute that fades out at the end. Adding to the feel of this form of music, this and other songs on the album included the then-new Moog synthesizer.
Kenneth Benjamin Laguna is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician, best known for his work with Joan Jett.
Hanky Panky is the debut album of Tommy James and the Shondells and was released in 1966. It reached #46 on the Billboard 200. The album had two singles that charted. "Hanky Panky" reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Say I Am " reached #21.
"Do Something to Me" is a song written by Jimmy Calvert, Norman Marzano, and Paul Naumann and was recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells for their 1968 album, Crimson & Clover.
I Think We're Alone Now is the third of three studio albums by the pop rock band Tommy James and the Shondells, released in 1967.
Ritchie Cordell was an American songwriter, singer and record producer. He wrote and produced several hits for Tommy James and the Shondells, including "I Think We're Alone Now" and "Mony Mony", and co-produced Joan Jett's I Love Rock 'n' Roll.
Robert Allan Ackoff, known professionally as Bo Gentry, was an American pop singer, songwriter and record producer, most noted for his work with Tommy James and the Shondells in the 1960s.
Cellophane Symphony is the seventh studio album by American rock band Tommy James and the Shondells, released in October 1969 through Roulette Records. The album was re-issued on CD in 2014 by Rhino Records.
1 2 Ruhlmann, William. "Crimson & Clover Review". AllMusic. Retrieved June 12, 2023. Crimson & Clover, the highest-charting album by Tommy James & the Shondells (it made the Top Ten), marked the arrival of the group's psychedelic style
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
