![]() ![]() Our road manager met us at baggage claim, a limo was waiting outside, and we loaded up and headed for the hotel. It felt good to feel this again twenty-four years after first signing with Morris and Roulette. ![]() When we got off the plane at O’Hare, I was suddenly filled with the old excitement a sold-out show, in Chicago, to promote a new record. I knew he understood how saddened I was by the whole thing and that despite everything, I genuinely cared about him. Morris and I had been exchanging messages through Howard, our mutual accountant, for several weeks, almost like two kids passing notes back and forth in school. In his sixty-two years, he had created and controlled one of the biggest independent music publishing companies managed and was partners with the most famous rock and roll disc jockey, Alan Freed owned the most famous jazz club in history, Birdland and owned one of the most successful independent record labels of the fifties and sixties, Roulette Records, which also was my record label for eight years. We all had a feeling of disbelief because none of us had ever thought of Morris as anything but invincible. The Godfather of the music business, Morris Levy, was dying of cancer. When I got to the airport, I told Ron and Carol the situation, and it cast a shadow over our otherwise joyful morning. I gave him my hotel number in Chicago and told him to keep me posted. Howard said, “Well, okay.” But there was a tremor in his voice. I’ll be back first thing tomorrow morning and I’ll come right up.” There was a pause. “Oh my God, Howard, I’m dashing out the door to do a show in Chicago. If you want to see him you’d better get up here right away.” In a very subdued voice he said, “Morris is asking for you. ![]() I was in a rush and kind of annoyed when I answered. As my wife, Lynda, and I were about to leave, the phone suddenly rang. Because Chicago had launched so many of our past successes, it seemed the perfect city to begin our tour. A host of radio stations and press were going to be there. The band had already gone ahead, and we were all pretty excited about starting the nineties off with a new project. I was to meet Ron Alexenburg, the head of Aegis Records, and my manager, Carol Ross, at Newark Airport to catch a flight to Chicago. The day began with me rushing off to Chicago to do a concert promoting the release of my new album Hi-Fi and the single “Go.” It was my first studio album in nearly ten years. Me, the Mob, and the Music is a fascinating portrait 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. James tells the incredible story, revealing his complex and sometimes terrifying relationship with Roulette Records and Morris Levy, the legendary Godfather of the music business. Just as compelling as the music itself is the life Tommy James lived while making it. Now in paperback, after five hardcover printings, Tommy James’s wild and entertaining true story of his career-part rock & roll fairytale, part valentine to a bygone era, and part mob epic-that “reads like a music-industry version of Goodfellas” ( The Denver Post).Įveryone knows the hits: “Hanky Panky,” “Mony Mony,” “I Think We’re Alone Now,” “Crimson and Clover,” “Crystal Blue Persuasion.” All of these songs, which epitomize great pop music of the late 1960s, are now widely used in television and film and have been covered by a diverse group of artists from Billy Idol to Tiffany to R.E.M. ![]()
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