In 1964, Tommy was asked by a local DJ to record a few songs for Snap, a tiny Michigan record label. One of those tunes was "Hanky Panky", which started to take off locally, but then quickly died, a victim of poor distribution. The song was soon forgotten, and eventually the group broke up.

Two years went by before another DJ found a copy of the song in a stack of oldies. Not knowing that it hadn't been a real hit, he played it by mistake. To his amazement, delighted listeners wanted to know where they could get a copy of "that hot new single".

Sensing a hit, a local bootlegger taped the song off the radio and began pressing copies of it. Within ten days, more than eighty thousand copies had been sold. The Pittsburgh DJ finally tracked down Tommy James and informed him that his record was number one in the city. Tommy almost hung up on the guy, but a week later, he was in New York, selling the original master of "Hanky Panky" to 'Roulette Records'. By the late summer of 1966, it was the number one selling single in the nation.

Tommy moved to Pittsburgh and formed another band called Tommy James and the Shondells. This group included members of a group that had been known in Pittsburgh as the "Raconteurs" and included Ronnie Rosman on keyboards, Mike Vale, Joseph Kessler, Vince Pietropaoli and George Magura. The last three were soon replaced by Eddie Gray on guitar and Peter Lucia on drums.

The group needed a follow-up and selected a song called "Say I Am [What I Am]". Although not as successful as Hanky Panky, it reached number 21 on the charts later in the same year.

Roulette knew that it had a hot commodity on its hands and assigned songwriters Richie Cordell and Bo Gentry the task of writing songs for Tommy James and the Shondells. The combination resulted in some great finger-snapping tunes which were regarded in the late 60s as bubblegun music, some good rock songs, and even one that was in tune with the psychedelia that was prevalent in pop music at the time. From 1967 to 1969, the group turned out hit after hit on the Roulette label, including six that made it to the top ten: "I Think We're Alone Now", "Mirage", "Mony Mony", "Crimson and Clover" (the group's second and final number one hit in the USA), "Sweet Cherry Wine", and "Crystal Blue Persuasion".

The chords and structure of Tommy's smash single "Mirage" were actually the chords to "I Think We're Alone Now" in reverse, created when it was accidentally played backwards during a writing session.

Tommy James and the Shondells' "It's Only Love" album cover was the first professional photo shoot by Linda Eastman McCartney in 1966.

"Mony Mony" is a classic song of the 60s. It was co-written by Tommy James, Bo Gentry, Richie Cordell and Bobby Bloom, who had a top ten record of his own with "Montego Bay". The hook in the song is said to have been inspired by Tommy's view of a Mutual Of New York sign on the New York City skyline. Mony Mony was the only song by the group to reach the top twenty in the United Kingdom; it was #1 there, and #3 in the USA.

In 1968, Tommy decided to change his musical direction and started to not only write his own material, but to produce his own records as well. His first project was "Crimson and Clover", which he wrote with his drummer, Peter Lucia. Tommy played all the instruments on the recording except drums and also sang all the vocals. The song took only five hours to record, start to finish and sold five and a half million copies.

In 1969, Tommy and the group regrettably turned down the offer to perform at the original Woodstock Festival when his booking agent described the event as "...a stupid gig on a pig farm in upstate New York."

Tommy James experienced some minor health problems in 1970 and he and the Shondells went their separate ways. The group renamed themselves Hog Heaven, but met with little success.

Tommy reached the charts by himself in 1971 with the hit "Draggin' The Line", but spent most of the seventies struggling with personal problems and groping for a new musical direction. He did however place several songs on the upper end of the Top 100.

He finally found his grove again in 1980 and triumphantly returned to the record charts with "Three Times In Love".

As the years went on, other performers would cover some of the great records that had been recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells. Joan Jett had a top ten song with Crimson and Clover in 1982, and in November of 1987 Tiffany and Billy Idol had back-to-back number one hits with "I Think We're Alone Now" and "Mony Mony", respectively.

The Hits of Tommy James and the Shondells:

1966 - Hanky Panky - charted at # 1
1966 - Say I Am (What I Am) - charted at # 21
1966 - It's Only Love - charted at # 31
1967 - I Think We're Alone Now - charted at # 4
1967 - Mirage - charted at # 10
1967 - I Like The Way - charted at # 25
1967 - Gettin' Together - charted at # 18
1968 - Mony Mony - charted at # 3
1968 - Do Something - charted at #To Me 38
1968 - Crimson And Clover - charted at # 1
1969 - Sweet Cherry Wine - charted at # 7
1969 - Crystal Blue Persuasion - charted at # 2
1969 - Ball Of Fire - charted at # 19
1969 - She - charted at # 23
1970 - Gotta Get Back To You - charted at # 45
1971 - Draggin' The Line - charted at # 4

During 1968-69, Tommy James and The Shondells sold more single records than any artist in the world, including The Beatles. Tommy has had 23 gold singles, 9 gold and platinum albums, and has sold over 100 million records worldwide. Tommy James songs have been covered by over 300 artists worldwide. His music is in 25 films and numerous television shows and commercials.

Into the new millennium, Tommy remained very active in the music business and continued to record and tour. In 2004, he wrote and released his first ever Christmas single, "I Love Christmas". While in the studio, Tommy laid down tracks for a new album called "Hold The Fire" and in 2005, released the single "Isn't That The Guy". A second single, "Love Words" was issued later that same year and went to #1 on the Friday Morning Quarterback charts. The new CD finally hit the stores in early 2006 and the title track promptly rose to #2 on the same chart. During all of this activity, the initial response to the first Christmas single generated interest for another, but Tommy wanted it to be very special. He reunited with the original Shondells after some 30 years and he and Mike Vale wrote "It's Christmas Again", which was released in 2007. This second holiday tune inspired Tommy to work on a Christmas album, which took him a year to produce and contains three original songs. During his busy schedule, Tommy took the time to work on his autobiography, Me, The Mob And The Music, which told of his relationship with Morris Levy, the head of Roulette Records. A major motion picture that tells Tommy's story is also in the works.

When not touring or recording, Tommy also found time to write a music column for Cashbox Magazine Online

For more, be sure to read Gary James' Interview With Tommy James