Tommy James And The Shondells and Tommy James

The group formed in Niles, Michigan, US in 1959 initially calling themselves the Echoes, but later changing their name to Tom and the Tornadoes and finally to Tommy James and the Shondells (a name derived from one of Tommy’s music heroes Troy Shondell). The band’s lead singer/frontman, Tommy James was only 12 years during the group’s formation. The rest of the Shondells consisted of Larry Coverdale (lead guitar), Larry Wright (bass), Craig Villeneuve (keyboards), and Jim Payne (drums). The band’s formative years were spent in obscurity, but they managed to achieve moderate recognition in a localized region in the US midwest.

Particularly their single “Hanky Panky” faired well in Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois, but it failed to reach beyond that territory. Distressed by the single’s lack of airplay the band called it quits and the members went their own ways. James and Coverdale still kept active in the music business and started a group called the Koachmen. This group only experienced moderate success; however, during this period “Hanky Panky” was unearthed by the Pittsburgh music promoter Bob Mack and was played extensively on the air.

The popularity of the track spread like a virus through Pennsylvania and eventually reached a much greater audience. The demand of the single was so high that 80,000 unauthorized reproductions were printed to appease the craze. By the time James had heard of the single’s comeback most of the members of the Shondells were married or pursuing another line of work. James took back full control of Tommy James and the Shondells and started to tour to promote the single. He also sold the master version to Roulette Records, through which the single went on to become a No.1 hit; however, the label notoriously stiffed him on paid royalties.

James went on to re-found Tommy James and the Shondells with an entirely new lineup and in the mid 1960s was crafting the band’s signature bubble gum psychedelic sound. The band worked closely with songwriter Ritchie Cordell, who provided them with the two hits “I Think We’re Alone Now” and “Mirage”. It was James’ track “Mony Mony”, which scored the group a No.3 hit in the US and a No.1 hit in the UK. “Do Something to Me” followed this release and further pushed the band into the much hated label of bubble gum pop.

In attempts to rid the group of this “frivolous” connotation James began writing material geared towards a more experimental psychedelic direction. In 1968 the group put out their most definitive single to date “Crimson and Clover”. The song was a soft introspective pop classic, but was treated with innovative uses of phase shifters and vocoders to give it an unusual vibe. The next year the group put out a triple threat of singles including “Sweet Cherry Wine”, “Ball of Fire”, and “Crystal Blue Persuasion” (another single which sparked interest in the band’s career further down the road due to it’s use in the AMC hit drama “Breaking Bad”).

The band worked relentlessly until the infamous Birmingham, Alabama concert of March 1970. After the group finished their set Tommy James passed out and was initially pronounced dead due to extreme exhaustion and overconsumption of drugs. James recovered, but took a long break form the music industry in order to fully recuperate.

He reunited the group nearly 30 years later to record material for a potential autobiographical film based on the book, “Me, the Mob, and the Music”. Though Tommy James and the Shondells play together very infrequently these days, their music has nevertheless left a lasting impression on current pop culture. Their songs have since influenced and been covered by artists like Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Tiffany, Billy Idol, Dolly Parton, and the Cramps.