Tommy James

Among the hundreds of musical acts that made the 60s an unprecedented era of creativity, one band stood out not for the hits it produced, but for the incredible story behind the music.

Tommy James and the Shondells had a string of hits with Hanky Panky, Mony, Mony, Crimson and Clover and Crystal Blue Persuasion. With the fame and the money came lots of sex and plenty of drugs, but there were two things that distinguished them from the others: the band was signed to a record label, Roulette, that acted as a front for the Genovese crime family out of New York, and second, Tommy James and The Shondells were the first rock band to be hired to provide the entertainment for a presidential campaign.

Tommy James was born Thomas Jackson in Dayton, Ohio but grew up in Niles, Michigan. He formed his first band, the Tornadoes, when he was 12 and in 1965, as Tommy James and The Shondells, he hit the big time when Hanky Panky became a number-one hit. The success brought him to New York, where he signed with Morris Levy at Roulette Records and where he saw a side of the music business that was darker and more sinister than anything he could have imagined.

The many adventures James had with Levy and organized crime were the basis for his book Me, The Mob and The Music. Ken Rockburn spoke to Tommy James in New York.