Tommy James (born Thomas Gregory Jackson; April 29, 1947) is an American musician,[1] singer, songwriter, and record producer.

Before long, all three major music trade papers, Billboard, Cashbox and Record World, were listing "Hanky Panky" as a regional breakout hit.

Rubin, who had music industry connections, said it was a good time for the trio to travel to New York City in search of a record deal.

[4] The band made the rounds of the major recording labels, getting initial potential offers from most companies they visited.

[4] After a few comings and goings of members, the classic lineup of James, Eddie Gray (guitar), Mike Vale (bass), Ron Rosman (keyboards) and Pete Lucia (drums) was formed.

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.

[3][better source needed] James was contacted by Beatle George Harrison, who was working with a group called Grapefruit at the time.

Top 40 program formatting, based on 45 RPM single records, drove popular music on the radio.

[4] In August 1968, James and the Shondells went on the campaign trail for three months with presidential candidate Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

James realized he and the Shondells needed to become an album-oriented group if they were to survive in the business, necessitating a change in their style.

After working out a marketing strategy for their new sound, James visited WLS when the group was in Chicago to play a concert, bringing along a rough cut of "Crimson and Clover" to the station.

[4] "Crimson and Clover" was a huge success, and the group would have two follow-up hits that also reached the Hot 100's top 10, "Sweet Cherry Wine" and "Crystal Blue Persuasion".

James, who co-wrote all three of those songs (with Peter Lucia, Richie Grasso, and Eddie Gray & Mike Vale, respectively),[9] and his band did well enough with the transition to be invited to perform at Woodstock.

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?

In October 2008, James and the three surviving members of the original Shondells (Pete Lucia died in 1987) reunited in a New Jersey studio to record again after 37 years.

[3][10] Tommy James and The Shondells were voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends online Hall of Fame in 2006.

[5] While a Roulette artist had great creative control when recording for the company, the lack of payment for those efforts was difficult to take.

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.

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.