Posted on 12/24/2023 4:17:59 PM PST by nickcarraway
Tommy James’ career was a ride. That’s how he describes it now, and that’s how his soon-to-be boss, Morris Levy, described it when James initially signed to Roulette Records. “I hope you’re ready kid,” he said as James put pen to paper on a life-changing contract, “Because you’re about to go on one hell of a ride.” If only he knew just how true that was.
In 1964, James recorded ‘Hanky Panky’ for a small Michigan label. It did OK, but nothing earth-shattering and nowhere near enough to have people consider James the next big thing. It wasn’t until 1966, when a promoter played it and got a strong reception from dancers, that he decided to bootleg it. He sold 80,000 copies in ten days, the fastest-selling single in Pittsburgh history. The promoter tracked James down, and the two headed to New York.
The story of how the mafia robbed James is not the kind you see in gangster movies; it was much less exciting and somewhat more insulting than that. No one was held up at gunpoint; there were no screams of “give me all your money” and no exciting street brawls; instead, James signed a contract with the wrong man. It’s as simple as that.
Upon arriving in New York, Tommy James and his band, the Shondells, were met with offers from pretty much every record label in the city. That night, they went to sleep and woke up to every offer being retracted—all but one. Roulette Records was run by Morris Levy, a gangster whose label had done well in the ‘50s and was referred to as The Godfather. Once he and his record label let others in New York know Tommy James was his, no one else dared attempt to sign him.
Now 73 years old, James looks back on the whole ordeal with a positive and a negative mindset. On one hand, given that he was the biggest act signed to the label, he’s aware he got more attention than he would have on others, which helped his career. On the other hand, given he was dealing with such dodgy characters, payment didn’t come easy.
When asked to put a ballpark figure on what he will have been owed, he guessed, “somewhere in the ballpark of $30m to $40m in royalties,” he said, “It was always a challenge to get money from Morris Levy and Roulette – one thing you don’t want to challenge mob guys on is money. Morris wasn’t a ‘made man’ – he was Jewish – but he was a mob associate and a very heavy guy. You shook his hand and it was like grabbing hold of a catcher’s mitt.”
Morris never paid James, the band, or anyone else around him what they were owed. It meant that to justify the time the band were putting into the studio and playing shows, he had to really beg his boss for enough to cover everything, and even then, it wasn’t enough, as a number of his bandmates ended up leaving in lieu of payment.
“Getting paid was like taking a bone from a Doberman,” he said, recounting the time his promoter-manager from Pittsburgh had asked Levy for royalties for ‘Hanky Panky’ and was instead slammed against a wall and told if he ever set foot in the label again he would be killed. He left the city, but Tommy James stuck around to make music.
That he did, as hits like ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’ and ‘Crimson and Clover’ topped the charts and are still played today. Still, though, James doesn’t see any royalties from those songs and knows at this point he never well. The ride came to an end when a gang war broke out between the families, lots of Levy’s associates met violent deaths, and the label executive became worried his prized artist would suffer the same fate. James was moved out to Nashville and knew when that happened, not only would his career slow down, but any chance of payment slipped his grip.
“They say crime doesn’t pay, and it’s true – the criminals who ran Roulette never paid me!”
Well, that is worse. Having grown up in the St. Louis area, I am familiar with Bob Kuban, but I had forgotten what happened to Scott.
Look out for the Cheater
A word to the wise.
KLUV, an oldies FM station in Dallas, used to have free concerts and I went to one at the Texas Motorplex drag strip in Ennis (1997). They had Felix Cavaliere, Dion DiMucci, and some others I can’t remember right now.
We had a 40 minute wait for a performer who’s name I didn’t recognize to come out on stage. It was Tommy James, who came out and sang #1 hit after #1 hit. Amazing stuff.
ping
Best advice is to own your publishing rights. It’s inexpensive to do and protects your interests.
It’s easy to say that nowadays but back then when there wasn’t an internet or other means to effectively and efficiently gain information on this subject people went to sleaze bag operations and signed their livelihood away on a regular basis.
“If the mob took over the federal government there’s be lots cement overshoes in the Potomac.”
With that much cement you could DAM the Potomac and turn DC into a lake.😝
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