Tommy James and the Shondell’s began their musical journey in Niles Michigan (that’s a Michigan city on the west side of the state near Chicago) The story is as American as they come; a young man named Thomas Gregory Jackson, born in Dayton Ohio in 1947, moved to Niles Michigan as a young boy. As a young man he cut a song with his band the Shondell’s but didn’t get much sales or airplay.
Tommy then ran into a local DJ in the Niles area that was starting his own record company. The band was signed, but the record label folded, again no luck for Tommy. The in 1965, Bob Mack a regional dance promoter found a copy of the song “Mony Mony” and began to play it in Pittsburgh at dances. The song took off in clubs, and the rest is history.
The best songs from the boys in the band were “Hanky Pinky,” “I Think We’re Alone Now,” “Crimson and Clover,” “Mirage,” “Mony Mony,” “Sweet Cherry Wine,” and “Crystal Blue Persuasion” among others.