Tommy Tutone is an American power pop musical ensemble, known for its 1981 hit single "867-5309/Jenny", which peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Though some people consider the band to be a one-hit wonder, they did reach the Top 40 the year before with "Angel Say No".
History
Tommy Heath and Jim Keller founded the band in 1978 along with bassist Terry Nails (Steve Jones, Ozzy Osbourne), with Heath acting as the lead vocalist and
rhythm guitarist, also playing keyboards on occasion. Keller played
lead guitar and Terry Nails played
Bass guitar and provided supporting vocals. Heath and Keller were the only constant members of Tommy Tutone during the band's heyday, and the lineup featured a rotating membership of
and
. Bassist Jon Lyons (original name Jonathan Lyons Terlep), who performed on "867-5309", replaced founding member Terry Nails, but was soon himself replaced by Greg Sutton, Pete Costello, and more recently Jimmy James. Mona Gnader, the bassist in
Sammy Hagar's The Waboritas band, played with the band as well. Original drummer Kenny Johnson (of
Chris Isaak's band) was replaced by Mickey Shine (Clover and the first
Elvis Costello album), then Victor Carberry for the band's second album, and later Jerry Angel.
John Cowsill of
The Cowsills played percussion (and sang) on "867-5309/Jenny".
[ John Cowsill Related Discography.] From 2001 to 2010, the band consisted of Heath, James, Greg Georgeson (guitar), and Andy Gauthier (drums). By 2012, Tommy Heath had become a computer analyst and software engineer and moved to Portland, Oregon.
[ ] In 2007, the band signed a recording contract with Spectra Records.
In 2017, with the addition of Steve Fister (Steppenwolf, Lita Ford) on guitar, Jimmy James switched to drums and the band released the single "My Little Red Book".
Jim Keller went on to become the director of Philip Glass's publishing company, Dunvagen Music Publishers.
In 2019, the band released their first studio album since 1998, Beautiful Ending.
Discography
Studio albums
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|
|
| 1980 | Tommy Tutone
| 68 | 82 |
| 1981 | Tommy Tutone 2
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Release date: September 23, 1981
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Label: Columbia/CBS Records
| 20 | 44 |
| 1983 | National Emotion
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Release date: April 16, 1983
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Label: Columbia/CBS Records
| 179 | — |
| 1996 | Nervous Love
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Release date: January 22, 1996
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Label: Appaloosa Records
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Note: re-released in 2011 as A Long Time Ago
| — | — |
| 1998 | Tutone.rtf
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Release date: July 28, 1998
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Label: Secret Disc Records
| — | — |
| 2019 | Beautiful Ending
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Release date: May 9, 2019
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Label: One Music Group
| — | — |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart |
|
Singles
|
|
|
| 1980 | "Angel Say No" | 38 | — | — | — | — | | Tommy Tutone |
| 1980 | "Cheap Date" | — | — | — | — | — | | Tommy Tutone |
| 1980 | "Girl In The Back Seat" | — | — | — | — | — | | Tommy Tutone |
| 1981 | "867-5309/Jenny" | 4 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 32 | |rowspan="2" Tommy Tutone 2
|
| 1982 | "Which Man Are You" | —["Which Man Are You" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 1 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.] | — | — | — | — | |
| 1983 | "Get Around Girl" | — | — | — | — | — | | National Emotion |
| 2017 | "My Little Red Book" | — | — | — | — | — | | rowspan="3" |
| 2018 | "Time Won't Let Me" | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2018 | "When You Walk in the Room " | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart |
|
External links
