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    Me, the Mob, and the Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James and the Shondells
    Me, the Mob, and the Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James and the Shondells
    Me, the Mob, and the Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James and the Shondells
    Audiobook7 hours

    Me, the Mob, and the Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James and the Shondells

    Written by Martin Fitzpatrick and Tommy James

    Narrated by David Colacci

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Everyone knows the hits: "Mony Mony," "I Think We're Alone Now," "Crimson and Clover," "Crystal Blue Persuasion." They are nuggets of rock and pop history. However, few know the unlikely story of how these hits came to be. Tommy James had been performing in rock bands in the Michigan area since the age of twelve. Prompted to record a few songs by a local disc jockey in 1964, Tommy chose an obscurity titled "Hanky Panky," which became a minor local hit that came and went.

    Then, in 1966, the record was rediscovered by a Pittsburgh DJ who started playing it on heavy rotation, prompting a tremendous response. Soon every record mogul in New York was pursuing Tommy and the band. Then an even odder thing happened: every offer except one disappeared, and Tommy found himself in the office of Morris Levy at Roulette Records, where he was handed a pen and ominously promised "one helluva ride." Morris Levy, the legendary "godfather" of the music business, needed a hit, and "Hanky Panky" would be his. The song went to number one; Tommy went on to do much more; and Levy continued to reign.

    Me, the Mob, and the Music tells the intimate story of the complex and sometimes terrifying relationship between the bright-eyed, sweet-faced blonde musician from the heartland and the big, bombastic, brutal bully from the Bronx, who hustled, cheated, and swindled his way to the top of the music industry. It is also the story of this swaggering, wildly creative era of rock 'n' roll-when the hits kept coming and payola and the strong arm tactics of the mob were the norm-and what it was like, for better or worse, to be in the middle of it.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMar 3, 2010
    ISBN9781400186327

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    Reviews for Me, the Mob, and the Music

    4.5/5

    9 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Tommy James sang, wrote, or helped write some of the greatest rock'n'roll songs of all time--Crimson and Clover, Crystal Blue Persuasion, Mony Mony, I Think We're Alone Now--and more. This is the story of how he started out, thanks to the support of his parents, who bought him his first electric guitar, his first bands and recordings (while he was still going by his real name, Tommy Jackson), and how one of those early recordings, Hanky Panky, became a breakout hit in Pittsburgh two years after it was initially released and after the band (the original Shondells) that recorded it had broken up.Soon, Tommy was in New York attracting interest from all the major record labels--but it was Roulette Records and its mob-connected owner Morris Levy who made Tommy an offer he couldn't refuse. For the next several years, as Tommy made hit after hit, Levy raked in millions in royalties that should have belonged to Tommy, his band, and the other songwriters. James (the name he had taken for his first New York recording) was making a nice living from concert money, which Levy didn't control, and being only 19 when he signed with Levy, it took him some time to realize how much he was been taken for. His relationship with Levy was love-hate at its best. At the same time he was being robbed, he still appreciated Levy's knack for knowing and promoting a hit record. But any mention of collecting what they were owed only earned James, his accountants, and lawyers threats of physical violence that they knew Levy was more than capable of carrying out.Meanwhile, Tommy's personnel life was a bit of a shambles. He had gotten his high school girlfriend pregnant and married her at age 17, only to leave her and his son at home six days a week while he traveled the Midwest with one of his early bands to make enough money to scrape by on. When "Hanky Panky" became a huge hit, James started spending more time in New York, where he became involved with one of the secretaries at Roulette. The secretary, incidentally, introduced him to Richie Cordell, his most important songwriter and songwriting partner. Soon, James asked his wife for a divorce and re-married. Along the way, he had started drinking too much and taking enormous quantities of pills--pills to stay awake at night so he could write songs, pills to overcome his constant stage fright, pills for pretty much anything he could think of.James' success continued for several years, but finally he couldn't put up with Levy's thievery any more and confronted him in his office, resulting in a monumental fight. James' only weapon was just to stop recording and walk out. Levy continued to release what was left in the can as long as he could. Finally, James was released from his contract--but Levy retained the publishing rights, including those to new James compositions, through 1979. But even after freeing himself from Levy, James still missed his advice. Other than discussions about money, he could talk to Levy about things better than he could talk to anyone.There was one more hit in the early 1980s, and James also produced other acts, but his glory days were over. Soon he was divorced and re-married again--but this third marriage would be a lasting one. James checked into the Betty Ford Clinic in 1986 and successfully kicked his alcohol and drug habits. By this time, the royalties he had long been denied, were started to roll in (six- or seven-figure checks).This is a fascinating, page-turner of a story that I devoured quickly, but it is still rather incomplete. It could use another hundred pages or so to flesh out James' own story better and to provide a little more background and detail on how Levy was able to get away with what he did for so long. James' recollections are also just a little too clear for someone who spent much of the time in a drug-induced haze, and he writes of his career, even the latter part of it, as pretty much one success after another, if not commercial, then at least artistic. But there was perhaps a darker side he doesn't delve into deeply enough.The only time I saw Tommy perform was about 1974 in Montgomery, Alabama at an "Oldies" show headlined by the Four Seasons. After (I think) performing one song, he started speaking to the crowd, telling them that the promoters only wanted to hear the hits and not any of his new stuff. He rambled on for a few minutes while the band played the memorable opening of "Dragging the Line" over and over again. Finally, the police came to the front of the stage and Tommy's part of the concert was over as the obviously drunk or pilled-up James was led away (not arrested). Ironically, the same night Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons introduced a new song, "My Eyes Adored You" that went on to become a huge hit and spark the band's second period of success in the 1970s.Although James doesn't shy away from talking about his addictions and his abandonment of his first wife and child, even calling himself "a flaming asshole" at one point, his descriptions of his performing career seem to gloss over this dark period. Obviously things weren't going quite that well if he was playing second bill to The Four Seasons at an Oldies show only a few years after he was at the top of the charts.So to conclude, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but it doesn't provide a really objective view of James' considerable success, his accomplishments, or his trials and tribulations. And there is certainly a lot more to be written about the life and career of Morris Levy and Roulette Records. In the meantime, I'm going to crank up some Tommy James on my MP3 player. After all these years, it still sounds great.
    • 5/5
      Great to hear stories about the early days of rock and roll. What a talented songwriter and musician! A exciting time
      to be in and enjoy music!
      My wife and I still play Tommy James songs. We love them and so does everyone else we play for...
      Thanks Tommy! and what a great book!
    • 5/5
      It was great listening from beginning to the end. Thanks
    • 4/5
      More interesting than I thought it would be. Tommy James has some stories to tell and doesn't shy away from showing himself in an unflattering light. His relationship with mobster Morris Levy is a fascinating look at the underside of the record business in the 60s and 70s.
    • 4/5
      "Things had died down a little in New York, literally. There weren't that many people left to kill."An interesting and worthwhile account of the music business in the sixties. It was made notoriously disreputable by mobsters like Morris Levy who used the business for money laundering. Like many of Levy's artists, Tommy James and the Shondells rarely shared any of the royalty proceeds. James had some big successes, but in my experience as someone who grew up in the sixties, they were a small part of the music scene. James' frequent references to The Beatles gave the impression that he was a little envious of their avant-garde status and success. Towards the end he relates his experience of finding God after a stay at the Betty Ford Clinic, which unfortunately came across as trite, laughable even. Obviously words about faith are unfamiliar. Still, this was an entertaining and very enjoyable story. Martin Fitzpatrick provided an excellent narration of the audiobook version.