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Tommy James and the Shondells are an American  rock and roll group whose period of greatest success came in the late 1960s. They had two number one singles in the U.S. — "Hanky Panky" (1966) and "Crimson and Clover" (1969) — and also released five other top ten hits; "I Think We're Alone Now," "Mony Mony," "Crystal Blue Persuasion", "Mirage", and "Sweet Cherry Wine". The band initially formed in 1959 as Tom and the Tornadoes, with the then only 12-year-old Tommy James as lead singer. In 1963, James re-named the band The Shondells after one of his idols, guitarist  Troy Shondell. The next year, they recorded the Jeff Barry/Ellie Greenwich song, "Hanky Panky" (originally a B-side by The Raindrops). James' version sold respectably in Michigan, Indiana  and Illinois, but the record label, Snap Records, had no national distribution. The single failed to chart, and the Shondells disbanded. Two years later, a Pittsburgh radio station unearthed the forgotten single and touted it as an "exclusive." Listener response encouraged the station to play it regularly. Another Pittsburgh disc jockey played his copy of the single at various dance parties, and demand soared. Bootleggers responded by printing up 80,000 black market copies of the recording, which were sold in Pennsylvania stores.

James first learned of all this activity after getting a telephone call in December 1965 from Pittsburgh disc jockey "Mad Mike" Metro, to come and perform the song. James contacted his fellow Shondells, but they had moved past their musical ambitions and did not want to travel to Pittsburgh. In 1966, James went by himself and made promotional appearances at the Pittsburgh radio station, in nightclubs and on local television. "I had no group, and I had to put one together really fast," recalled James. "I was in a Pittsburgh club one night, and I walked up to a group that was playing that I thought was pretty good, and asked them if they wanted to be the Shondells. They said yes, and off we went."[citation needed] James recruited the Pittsburgh quintet the Raconteurs to became the Shondells, composed of Joe Kessler (guitar), Ron Rosman (keyboards), George Magura (saxophone), Mike Vale (bass), and Vinnie Pietropaoli (drums).

With Vale, Rosman, Kessler, Pietropaoli, and Magura as his new Shondells, James now had a touring group to promote the single. James went to New York, and sold the master of "Hanky Panky" to Roulette Records. With national promotion behind it, the single became a national #1 hit in July 1966. Before long, Kessler and Pietropaoli were replaced by Eddie Gray and Peter Lucia, and Magura left the band's lineup. At first, Tommy James and his Shondells played straightforward shambolic rock and roll, but soon became involved in the budding bubblegum music movement. Songwriter Ritchie Cordell gave them the #4 hit "I Think We're Alone Now". They also had a #10 hit with "Mirage" in 1967. In 1968, James had a #3 hit with "Mony Mony", written by James (together with Vale) and allegedly inspired by the sign for Mutual Of New York that hung outside his apartment window. He followed it with the song "Do Something to Me". However, James was labeled as a bubble gum rock artist, which he hated. Therefore, he changed his style to psychedelic rock. From 1968, the group members tried themselves as songwriters, with James and Lucia penning the psychedelic classic "Crimson and Clover". The song was also completely recorded and mixed by Bruce Staple, with James taking over vocal duties and playing all instruments, and featured the then unusual use of electronic gadgetry such as vocoders and phasers. Later in 1968, the group toured with Vice President Hubert Humphrey during his presidential campaign. Humphrey graciously expressed his appreciation by writing the liner notes for the Crimson and Clover album.

Further hits included "Sweet Cherry Wine", "Crystal Blue Persuasion", and "Ball of Fire", all from 1969. They also produced "Sugar on Sunday", later covered by The Clique. As the band embraced the sounds of psychedelia, they were invited to perform at the Woodstock concert, but declined. The group continued until early 1970. At a concert, James collapsed onstage from a reaction to drugs, and was actually pronounced "dead." However, he recovered, hated the recording studio, and decided to move to the country to recuperate.[4] His four bandmates carried on for a short while under the name of Hog Heaven, but disbanded soon afterwards. In a 1970 side project, James wrote and produced the #7 hit single "Tighter, Tighter" for the group Alive N Kickin'. James launched a solo career in 1971, which yielded two notable hits over a 10-year span; "Draggin' the Line" (1971) and "Three Times In Love" (1980).

During the 1980s, the group's songbook resulted in major hits for three other artists: Joan Jett & The Blackhearts' version of "Crimson And Clover" (a #7 hit in 1982), and Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now" and Billy Idol's "Mony Mony" (back-to-back #1 hits in November 1987). Other Shondells covers have been performed by acts as disparate as psychobilly ravers The Cramps,     new wave singer Lene Lovich, country music veteran Dolly Parton and the Boston Pops orchestra. In 2000, a Greenwich Village nightclub appearance by the reformed band was filmed and released as Tommy James & the Shondells: Live! At The Bitter End.[6] In 2006, Tommy James & the Shondells were inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.