TOMMY JAMES & THE SHONDELLS
On the road, Tommy James and his Shondells are still rockin’, performing their many timeless hits to sellout crowds across the country. With hits like “Say I Am (What I Am)” and “It’s Only Love”. What a great chance to see some outstanding musicians performing songs that shaped alot of the music of their era!
Tommy James’ road to superstardom began when a nightclub DJ in Pittsburgh discovered a two-year-old record by “The Shondells” and played it at his weekend dances. The crowd response was so overwhelmingly positive that radio deejays started spinning it and an enterprising record distributor bootlegged it, selling 80,000 copies in ten days. By May of 1966 “Hanky Panky” was the number one record in Pittsburgh and Tommy James was a sensation.
A Pittsburgh promoter tracked Tommy down at his home in Niles, told him of the success tale of “Hanky Panky,” and urged him to “come on down!” Unable to put the original group back together, Tommy hired a hot P-burgh R&B bar band to become the Shondells. Two weeks later he and this new group signed a record deal with Roulette Records in New York. The label, in turn, put their promotion team to work on “Hanky Panky” and made it the summer smash of ’66. Thus, began one of the longest strings of nonstop hits in recording industry history.