Tommy James (born Thomas Gregory Jackson; April 29, 1947) 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 "Crystal Blue Persuasion".

Early life and career

Born in Dayton, Ohio, on April 29, 1947,

Career

Tommy James and the Shondells

In 1959, at the age of twelve, James formed the band "The Echoes", which eventually became "Tom and the Tornadoes".

left|thumb|James in 1967

In 1965, a local dance promoter, Bob Mack, found a copy of "Hanky Panky" in a used record bin and started playing it at his Pittsburgh dance clubs. It became a number one on Pittsburgh radio stations in early 1966. By the third week of July 1966, "Hanky Panky" had become the top single in the United States.

Songwriter Richie Cordell wrote (or co-wrote) and produced many of the group's hits, among them "I Think We're Alone Now", "Mirage", and "Mony Mony". The creation of "Mony Mony" was a group effort involving Cordell, James, Shondells band member Peter Lucia, producer Bo Gentry, and Bobby Bloom. James and Cordell set out to create a party rock single, working out everything except the song's title, which eluded them even after much effort. When they took a break from their creative endeavors on James' apartment terrace, they looked up at the Mutual of New York Insurance Company's large neon sign bearing the abbreviation for the company: M-O-N-Y, which provided the song's name. and his band did well enough with the transition to be invited to perform at Woodstock. James describes Artie Kornfeld's invitation like this: "Artie was up and asked if you could play at this pig farm up in upstate New York." I said, "What?!?" "Well, they say it's gonna be a lot of people there, and it's gonna be a really important show." At the time James was in Hawaii and was incredulous about being asked to travel 6,000 miles to play a show on an upstate New York pig farm, telling the Roulette Records' secretary Karin Grasso, "If I'm not there, start without us, will you please?" However, he survived, decided to take a break from the recording studio, and moved up into the country to recuperate.

Tommy James and The Shondells were voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends online Hall of Fame in 2006. Four of the band's biggest hits have been voted Legendary Michigan Songs: "Crimson & Clover" in 2010, and "Hanky Panky", "I Think We're Alone Now", and "Mony Mony" in 2011.

Solo career

James recorded the Tony Romeo composition, "Indian Lake" which found its way onto a PPX release, backed with an Addrisi Brothers composition which had reached #39 on the Hot 100 for The Association, "Time for Livin'".

Having gone solo in 1970, he released his first two solo albums on Roulette, Tommy James (September 1970) and Christian of the World (August 1971). He had two further Billboard Hot 100 top 20 chart hits with "Draggin' the Line" (co-written by Bob King) (#4 in 1971) and "Three Times in Love" (#19 in 1980), plus eleven much smaller Hot 100 chartings. "Hanky Panky" has been James' one RIAA certified gold single. He also wrote and produced the million-selling 1970 hit "Tighter, Tighter" for the group Alive 'N Kickin' (co-written by Bob King).

It was evident when James first met Morris Levy of Roulette Records that Levy was willing to strong-arm others when necessary. Roulette was used as a front for organized crime, also functioning as a money laundering operation, as Levy was closely allied with the Genovese crime family. In the early 1970s, the Genovese outfit found itself in a bloody gang war with the Gambino family, which saw victims not only among mobsters (such as Levy's close friend and business partner Thomas Eboli), but increasingly among non-mob figures on the periphery of the organizations. Levy had taken a somewhat fatherly shine to James, and worried that he might be a target for those who wanted to get at the Genovese family through Levy, so he warned James to flee New York for an extended period until the war was over. In 1971, James settled in Nashville, Tennessee, where the Mafia had little presence or influence. While there, he recorded an album with top Nashville musicians entitled My Head, My Bed and My Red Guitar (January 1972), which received critical acclaim but sold poorly. He left Roulette Records in 1974 and two more albums, In Touch (July 1976) and Midnight Rider (January 1978), followed on Fantasy Records, with yet another, Three Times in Love, appearing on Millennium Records in late 1979. The independent label Aegis Records put out his Hi-Fi album in the summer of 1990.

To date, over 300 musicians have recorded versions of James' music.

In February 2018, James became host of weekly radio program 'Gettin Together with Tommy James' on Sirius XM Radio channel 73, 60s Gold.

James can also be seen on late-night informercials selling collections of music from the Woodstock era for Time Life.

Personal life

James moved to Clifton, New Jersey in the mid-1970s and circa 2000 to nearby Cedar Grove. He has been married three times and has one child. On February 23, 2022, his wife Lynda died after a prolonged illness.

James married his long-time manager Carol Ross on April 5, 2025.

Solo discography

Studio albums

{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center;

|-

!Year

!Album

!width=40|<small>US 200</small><br>

!Record label

|-

|| 1970

|align=left| Tommy James

| —

|rowspan="3"| Roulette Records

|-

|rowspan="2"| 1971

|align=left| Christian of the World

| 131

|-

|align=left| My Head, My Bed & My Red Guitar

| —

|-

|| 1976

|align=left| In Touch

| —

|rowspan="2"| Fantasy Records

|-

|| 1977

|align=left| Midnight Rider

| —

|-

|| 1979

|align=left| Three Times In Love

| 134

|| Millennium Records

|-

|| 1990

|align=left| Hi-Fi

| —

|| Aegis Records

|-

|| 2006

|align=left| Hold The Fire

| —

|-

|| 2008

|align=left| I Love Christmas

| —

|-

|| 2019

|align=left| Alive

| —

|-

| colspan="6" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart.

|}

Live albums

{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center;

|-

!Year

!Album

!Record label

|-

|| 1996

|align=left| Greatest Hits Live!

|Aura Records

|-

|| 2021

|align=left| Rock Party

|Aura Records

|-

|}

Compilations

{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center;

|-

!Year

!Album

!width=40|<small>US 200</small><br>

!Record label

|-

|| 1991

|align=left| The Solo Years • 1970-1981

| —

|| Rhino Records

|-

|| 1993

|align=left| Discography: Deals & Demos 1974-1992

| —

|rowspan="4"| Aura Records

|-

| colspan="6" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart.

|}

Singles

{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center;

|-

!rowspan="2"|Year

!rowspan="2"|Title

!colspan="4"|Peak chart positions

!rowspan="2"|Record label

!rowspan="2"|B-side

!rowspan="2"|Album

|- style="font-size:smaller;"

!align=centre width=40| US<br />

!align=centre width=40| US AC<br />

!align=centre width=40| AUS<br />

!align=centre width=40| CAN<br />

|-

|rowspan="2"| 1970

|align=left| "Ball and Chain"

| 57

| —

| —

| 44

|rowspan="12"| Roulette Records

| "Candy Maker"

|| Tommy James

|-

|align=left| "Church Street Soul Revival"

| 62

| —

| —

| 55

| "Draggin' the Line"

|rowspan="4"| Christian of the World

|-

|rowspan="4"| 1971

|align=left| "Adrienne"

| 93

| —

| —

| —

| "Light of Day"

|-

|align=left| "Draggin' the Line"

| 4

| 6

| 20

| 2

| "Bits and Pieces"

|-

|align=left| "I'm Comin' Home"

| 40

| —

| —

| 19

| "Sing, Sing, Sing"

|-

|align=left| "Nothing to Hide"

| 41

| —

| —

| 35

| "Walk a Country Mile"

|rowspan="2"| My Head, My Bed, and My Red Guitar

|-

|rowspan="4"| 1972

|align=left| "Tell 'Em Willie Boy's A'Comin'"

| 89

| —

| —

| 89

| "Forty Days and Forty Nights"

|-

|align=left| "Cat's Eye in the Window"

| 90

| —

| —

| 85

| "Dark is the Night"

| rowspan="4"|Non-album singles

|-

|align=left| "Love Song"

| 67

| 40

| —

| 51

| "Kingston Highway"

|-

|align=left| "Celebration"

| 95

| —

| —

| —

| "The Last One to Know"

|-

|rowspan="2"| 1973

|align=left| "Boo, Boo, Don't'cha Be Blue"

| 70

| —

| —

| 68

| "Rings and Things"

|-

|align=left| "Calico"

| —

| —

| —

| —

| "Hey, My Lady"

|| Non-album single

|-

|| 1974

|align=left| "Glory, Glory"

| —

| —

| —

| —

|| MCA Records

| "Comin' Down"

|| Non-album single

|-

|rowspan="2"| 1976

|align=left| "Tighter, Tighter"

| —

| —

| —

| —

|rowspan="3"| Fantasy Records

| "Comin' Down"

|rowspan="2"| In Touch

|-

|align=left| "I Love You Love Me Love"

| —

| —

| —

| —

| "Devil Gate Drive"

|-

|| 1977

|align=left| "Love is Gonna Find a Way"

| —

| —

| —

| —

| "I Don't Love You Anymore"

|| Midnight Rider

|-

|| 1979

|align=left| "Three Times in Love"

| 19

| 1

| —

| 64

|rowspan="3"| Millennium Records

| "I Just Wanna Play the Music"

|rowspan="2"| Three Times in Love

|-

|| 1980

|align=left| "You Got Me"

| 101

| —

| —

| —

| "It's All Right (For Now)"

|-

|| 1981

|align=left| "You're So Easy to Love"

| 58

| —

| —

| —

| "Halfway to Heaven"

| rowspan="2"|Non-album singles

|-

|| 1983

|align=left| "Say Please"

| —

| —

| —

| —

|| 21 Records

| "Two Time Lover"

|-

|| 1990

|align=left| "You Take My Breath Away"

| —

| —

| —

| —

|| AEGIS

| "Heartbeat in the Night"

|rowspan=2| Hi-Fi

|-

|| 1990

|align=left| "Go"

| —

| —

| —

| —

|| AEGIS

| "Backtrack"

|-

|| 2006

|align=left| "Love Words"

| —

| 40

| —

| —

|| Aura Records

| N/A

|| Hold the Fire

|-

| rowspan=2| 2019

|align=left| "So Beautiful"

| —

| 29

| —

| —

|rowspan=2| Aura Records

| N/A

|rowspan=2| Alive

|-

|align=left| "I Think We're Alone Now"

| —

| 27

| —

| —

| N/A

|-

| colspan="9" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

|}

Bibliography

  • The book extensively details James's relationship with Morris Levy.

References

  • Official Website