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

Tommy James · Martin Fitzpatrick

Jan 2010 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

The sensational ’60s music memoir—part rock & roll fairytale, part mob epic—that “reads like a music-industry version of Goodfellas” (The Denver Post).

Tommy James was the 60’s pop icon behind timeless hits like “Hanky Panky,” “Mony Mony,” “I Think We’re Alone Now,” “Crimson and Clover,” and more. These songs helped define the era, and they have been covered by artists ranging from Billy Idol to Tiffany to R.E.M. But just as compelling as the music itself is the life Tommy James lived while making it.

In Me, the Mob, and the Music, James reveals his complex and sometimes terrifying relationship with Roulette Records and Morris Levy, the legendary Godfather of the music business. It is a fascinating portrait of this swaggering era of rock ‘n’ roll, when concerts were wild and the hits kept coming—while, just backstage, payola schemes and mafioso tactics were the norm.

Ratings and reviews

Good book about rock music in 60s and70s. Could have opened up more on his personal life. Like leaving his first wife and young son

I just finished reading, Me, the mob, and the music: one helluva ride with Tommy James and the Shondells. Funny how things go. It's no secret to all my Facebook Friends that I'm a big fan of the 60s even though I was a teen in the 70s. I always felt I was born to the wrong decade. A Facebook Friend posted Crimson and Clover to my Facebook wall recently. I'd posted that song a while ago. I've always loved that song. It was one of my first 45s. My Dad was in radio and brought home promotional copies of records every night—Hanky Panky, Crimson and Clover, Mony, Mony, I Think We're Alone Now and Crystal Blue Persuasion became some of my most played records during my grade school years. I sang along and danced around my room. I had such a great time reading Tommy James' wild ride of a book. I learned a lot of rock trivia including: Tommy James and the Shondells were trying to come up with a name for a new song they'd written, outside James' apartment window hung a sign for Mutual Of New York and that's how they found the name for the smash hit, Mony Mony. The book is not literary—it's riddled with cliches—but I loved it anyway. I recommend it. Fans of the 1960s will probably love it the most. It's always so fun to relive that time. — Dorri Olds (dot) com

Seldom exposed insight as to what made Tommy James.

About the author

Tommy James (born Thomas Gregory Jackson, April 29, 1947, Dayton, Ohio) is the pop-rock star best known as the leader of Tommy James and the Shondells. Performing locally in Niles, Michigan, from the age of 12, James went on to record many top hits, including "Hanky Panky," "I Think We're Alone Now," "Mony Mony," "Crimson and Clover," "Sweet Cherry Wine," "Mirage," "Do Something to Me," "Gettin’ Together," "Crystal Blue Persuasion," and "Draggin' the Line." He has sold over 100 million records, has been awarded twenty-three gold singles, and nine gold and platinum albums. His songs are widely used in television and film, and have been covered by Joan Jett, Billy Idol, Tiffany, Tom Jones, Prince, and R.E.M. Tommy James continues to tour the country and record.