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In the first half of our 2018 interview with hitmaker Tommy James, the singer-songwriter talked about his early hit records and what he’s doing today—including his involvement with the biopic about his life that’s been in the works for a while.
Tommy James didn't remain with a bubblegum style for long, but the singles "I Think We're Alone Now" (# 4), "Mirage" (# 10), and "Mony Mony" (# 3) were solidly in that vein, all produced by Gentry and Cordell. James broke with Gentry and Cordell for his next hit, the chart-topping "Crimson And Clover."
In 1968, Tommy James made a dramatic stylistic turnaround, swapping bubblegum pop for full‑blown psychedelic rock. The result was the superlative single 'Crimson & Clover'. Left: Tommy James with engineer Bruce Staple at Allegro Sound Studios, 1968.
Tommy James (born Thomas Gregory Jackson; April 29, 1947) is an American musician, [1] singer, songwriter, and record producer, widely known as frontman of the 1960s rock band Tommy James and the Shondells, [2] who were known for their hits including "Mony Mony", "Crimson and Clover" and "I Think We're Alone Now".
- 'Me, The Mob and The Music: One Helluva Ride'
- Tommy James on Roulette Records: 'It Was Also A Good Little Label'
- When 'Hanky Panky' Topped The Charts in Pittsburgh
- Tommy James on 'The First Offer I Couldn't Refuse' from Roulette
- Tommy James on The Freedom It Took to Make 'Crimson and Clover'
- Parting Ways with Roulette Records in The '70s
- From Billy Idol to Prince, The Shondells Have Been Covered 300 Times
- Tommy James and The Shondells
James shared the often terrifying details of his days on Roulette Records in a memoir published in 2010, “Me, the Mob and the Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James and the Shondells.” The Denver Post said it “reads like a music-industry version of ‘Goodfellas.’” Now, there’s a film of his life story in the works that James says is being produced...
"The reason it was crazy and scary is because unbeknownst to us when we signed the deal, Roulette was basically a front for the Genovese crime family in New York," James says. "Of course, we didn't know that. It was also a good little label. They had a lot of hits.” They’d heard stories, he says, but didn't realize they were true until he started s...
James was in his junior year of high school when he cut the song that would become his breakthrough single in a radio station studio. He’d forgotten all about it by the time the phone rang two years later. “We were playing this dumpy little bar in Janesville, Wisconsin, in March of '66,” he says. “And right in the middle of my two weeks, the IRS sh...
By then, the Shondells he’d recorded “Hanky Panky” with had broken up, so James recruited “the first decent band I could get,” a Pittsburgh group known as the Raconteurs, to be the new Shondells, and left for New York City, where he hoped to sell the master to a major label. “We got a yes from RCA, a yes from CBS, Atlantic Records, all the major la...
The reason James assumes he would've been a one-hit wonder if he’d wound up on a major label is he feels he had the "total freedom" at Roulette to make the kind of records that became his greatest hits. “Getting paid was a whole other story," he says. "Crime doesn't pay. But we were the kings. If we had gone with one of the majors, I can tell you r...
It could get pretty scary at times. “There was a gang war in New York in '71,” James recalls. “The Gambinos were taking over as top dogs. And Morris was with the wrong family. He was associated with the Genovese family. So there was this terrible mob war, over 300 murders of different mob guys, and Morris left the country. We were all there stuck a...
In the ‘80s, three of James' biggest singles got a second lease on life when Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Tiffany and Billy Idol all had Top 10 hits with their covers of “Crimson and “Clover,” “I Think We’re Alone Now” and “Mony Mony,” the latter two of which hit No. 1. More than 300 artists have covered his songs, from R.E.M. to Dolly Parton. “I...
When:8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3. Where:Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. Admission:$35-$95. Details: 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com. Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley. Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
- Ed Masley
- Pop Music Critic
Crimson & Clover is the sixth album by Tommy James and the Shondells. It features the #1 hit "Crimson and Clover" [3] as well as the #2 hit "Crystal Blue Persuasion". [4] The album "Crimson & Clover", was released in December 1968 [5] and reached a peak of #8 on the Billboard 200.
Apr 2, 2019 · Buddah had dabbled in feel-good pop with acts like The Lovin' Spoonful and Tommy James and the Shondells, but "Tambourine" was created specifically for the Pipers, and while they didn't like its manufactured, kiddie psychedelia, it went straight to #1. The bubblegum era had begun.
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