| One of the best from Tommy James & the Shpndells. Tommy James (born Thomas Gregory Jackson, 29 April 1947, Dayton, Ohio) is an American pop-rock musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known as leader of the 1960s rock band Tommy James and the Shondell In 1958, when Tom was eleven, his family moved to Niles, Michigan. That year he formed his first unofficial band "The Echoes" with four of his friends from school. In 1959, at the age of twelve, James formed what would be recognized as his first official band "Tom and the Tornadoes". A year later the band changed its name to The Shondells. By 1964, a local DJ at WNIL radio station in Niles formed his own record label, Snap Records. The Shondells were one of the local bands the DJ recorded at WNIL studios. One of the songs was the Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich ditty "Hanky Panky", which they recorded as The Raindrops. The song was a hit locally, but the label had no resources for national promotion and it was soon forgotten. In 1965, a DJ in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, found a copy of "Hanky Panky" and played it as a station "exclusive". Listener response was positive, with many wanting to know where they could get a copy of the "new" single. Another DJ started playing the song at local dance parties. Responding to the demand, a local bootlegger taped the song off the radio and began pressing copies of it. Eventual sales of the bootleg were estimated at 80000. Pittsburgh DJ "Mad Mike" Metro tracked down Tommy ... |
