Tommy James and the Shondells are a rock band from the United States that appeared in the music world in 1964. The peak of its popularity was in the late 1960s. Two singles of this group even managed to take the 1st position in the US national Billboard Hot chart. We are talking about such hits as Hanky Panky and Crimson and Clover.
And about a dozen more songs of the rock band were in the top 40 of this chart. Among them: Say I Am (What I Am) Getting' Together, She, Ball of Fire. In general, during its existence, the group recorded 8 audio albums. Her sound has always been very light and rhythmic. The band's style is often defined as pop-rock.
The emergence of a rock band and the recording of the song Hanky Panky
Tommy James (real name - Thomas Gregory Jackson) was born April 29, 1947 in Dayton, Ohio. His musical career began in the American city of Niles (Michigan). Back in 1959 (that is, actually at the age of 12), he created his first musical project, The Echoes. It was then renamed to Tom and the Tornadoes.
In 1964, the musical group was named Tommy James and the Shondells. And it was under this name that he achieved success in the United States and in the world.
Tommy James served as frontman here. But besides him, the group included four more members - Larry Wright (bassist), Larry Coverdale (lead guitarist), Craig Villeneuve (keyboardist) and Jimmy Payne (drums).
In February 1964, the rock band recorded one of their main hits - the song Hanky Panky. And it was not the original composition, but a cover version. The original songwriters of this song are Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich (The Raindrops duo). They even performed it at their concerts. However, it was the option proposed by Tommy James and The Shondells that was able to gain phenomenal fame.
However, this did not happen immediately. The song was originally released on a small label, Snap Records, and received some distribution only in Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. It never made it to the national charts.
Unexpected popularity and new lineup of Tommy James & the Shondells
In 1965, the members of The Shondells graduated from high school, which led to the actual breakup of the group. In 1965, Pittsburgh dance party organizer Bob Mac found the now somewhat forgotten Hanky Panky song and played it at his events. Pittsburgh listeners suddenly liked this composition - 80 illegal copies of it were even sold in local stores.
In April 1966, a Pittsburgh DJ called Tommy James and asked him to come over and play Hanky Panky in person. Tommy tried to reassemble his former rock bandmates. They all parted and began to live their own lives - someone got married, someone went to military service. So James went to Pittsburgh in splendid isolation. Already in Pennsylvania, he was still able to create a new rock band. At the same time, her name remained old - Tommy James and The Shondells.
After that, the popularity of the group began to increase. A month later, she managed to sign a contract with the New York national label Roulette Records. Thanks to strong promotion in July 1966, the single Hanky Panky became a No. 1 hit in the United States.
Moreover, from the 1st position, he prevailed over the song Paperback Writer of the group The Beatles. This success was consolidated by the release of the full-length album of the same name, in which 12 cover versions of foreign hits were collected. More than 500 thousand copies of this disc were sold, and it received the status of "gold".
At this point the lineup was Tommy James (vocals), Ron Rosman (keyboards), Mike Vail (bass), Eddie Gray (lead guitar), Pete Lucia (drums).
The history of Tommy James and the Shondells before the breakup in 1970
Over the next four years, the band steadily released songs that became hits. And until 1968, producers Bo Gentry and Richard Cordell helped the musicians. It was with their support that the albums Something Special and Mony Mony were released, which later became "platinum".
After 1968, the group worked to create and produce material. It turned into a very noticeable bias towards psychedelic rock. However, this had little effect on the group's popularity. Albums and singles of this period sold out, as before, very well.
By the way, one of the most striking examples of this direction is the composition Crimson and Clover. It is also interesting because a voice synthesizer is used here in a very innovative way for its time. Tommy James and The Shondells were invited to perform at the legendary Woodstock festival. But the musicians refused this invitation.
The band's last album was called Travelin, which was released in March 1970. After that, the group was disbanded. Directly the vocalist himself decided to do solo work.
The further fate of Tommy James and his band
In the next ten years, James, as a solo artist, also released quality tracks. But he received much less attention from the public than during the existence of his legendary rock band.
In the mid-1980s, Tommy James went on tour with other stars of yesteryear. Sometimes it even happened under the name Tommy James and the Shondells. Although in fact he was the only one who was associated with this rock band.
In the second half of the 1980s, two classic hits Tommy James and the Shondells Think We're Alone Now and Mony Mony were covered by popular artists Tiffany Renee Darwish and Billy Idol. And thanks to this, undoubtedly, a new wave of interest in the work of the group arose.
In 2008, the rock band was officially inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.
A year later, Tommy James and some musicians associated with the band met to record the soundtrack for the movie Me, the Mob, and the Music. This film is based on the autobiographical book by James. It was released in the United States in early 2010.
Since 2010, the band has been meeting periodically to perform at nostalgic music concerts and TV shows. However, the musicians did not release new songs and albums.
