INDIO, CA – APRIL 29: Musician Tommy James and the Shondelles performs on the Palomino Stage during day 2 of 2017 Stagecoach California’s Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club on April 29, 2017 in Indio, California.
(Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Stagecoach)My recent interview was with rock and roll legend Tommy James. You probably know him by name. However, if you don’t, you’d know him from many of his twenty-three gold records and nine platinum albums.
Mony Mony, Hanky Panky, I Think We’re Alone Now, Crimson and Clover, Draggin’ the Line, and many more exist because of Tommy James.
Tommy’s songs weren’t just big hits for him, his songs have been covered by multiple artists. Most notably, Billy Idol’s Mony Mony, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ Crimson and Clover, and Tiffany’s I Think We’re Alone Now. Others include Prince, Kelly Clarkson, Bruce Springsteen, and Cher.
Our conversation was set up by Tommy’s new bride, Carol Ross. Carol has been his manager for thirty-eight years. Tommy was previously married for fifty years to Lynda James, who passed away in 2022.
Tommy has been living in New Jersey since the 1970’s. His band, Tommy James and the Shondells had their first hit with “Hanky Panky,” and he immediately moved to the East Coast to sign with a record label.
Tommy James Moves to NJ
As Tommy told me and explains in his book, Me, the Mob and Music, “We came to New York to sell the master. We got a yes from everybody, Columbia, RCA, Atlantic, all the majors, and the last place we took the record to was Roulette. Unbeknownst to us, when we signed with Roulette, in addition to being a functioning independent record label, and a pretty good one, they were a front for the Genevese crime family in New York.” It’s in the works for his book to be turned into a film and a Broadway show.
Tommy admits that he doesn’t think he would have been as successful at a major record label. He said, “If we had been with one of the major labels, we probably would have been overwhelmed with the competition. We would have been turned over to an in-house producer, an A & R man of some kind, and it’s probably the last you would have ever heard from us.”
Tommy James Explains Why He Was So Fortunate
He explained, “I was so incredibly fortunate because I was able at Roulette to get to know the promotion people, and the distributors. I really got to learn my craft. I don’t think I’d be able to do that at a major; they’re run mostly like an insurance company. So, I think that because I was with a smaller label, and got to know the inner workings I got involved with everything from album design to production, and song writing. I was able to do thing for my career that I would have would have never been allowed to do on one of the majors.”
Check out my conversation with Tommy to hear how he feels about not being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yet, and what he says about artists who complain in public about not being in the hall.
This Sunday, Tommy James and the Shondells will perform not far from his house. They’ll be at Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ.
Get tickets and information at BergenPac.org or TommyJames.com
