TELEVISION

THEATER

“Christmas Wish” by John Fogarty              
played Randolph the Rapping Reindeer                     
Westchester Broadway Theater, Elmsford, NY

COMMERCIALS

On-Camera,  Voice-Over and Jingle contacts furnished upon request.

 RECORDINGS AND SOUNDTRACKS

“The Ref” with Dennis Leary 
“Prelude To A Kiss” starring Meg Ryan & Alec Baldwin
“Never Gonna Leave You”, S.O.S. All-Stars, CMG Records
“Syndicate of Soul” with Dr. John, Shanachie Records
“The Lookalikes”  from Dublin, Ireland (CD) 
“Shining Time Station”  (PBS Children's show)
“Live From The House of Blues” with the Blues Brothers Band
“Soul of R & B Review”, recorded live at the Lone Star Cafe, NYC, Shanachie 

TOURS & LIVE PERFORMANCE

The Blues Brothers Band, The ‘Nuff Brothers, Jewel, Al Green, James Brown, Dr. John, Chuck Jackson, Cissy Houston, Darlene Love, Nona Hendrix, Will Calhoun, Billy Vera, Cornell Dupree, Johnny Kemp, Will Lee, Dave Weckl, Gil Parris, Richard Tee

TRAINING

The Lee Strasberg Institute

SPECIAL SKILLS

Drums, harmonica, trombone, Vocalist

Country Club singer tours with 
Blues Brothers band

             Big, red-haired rocker Tommy McDonnell along with Vic and “Doc” were the trio behind East Coast Studios which, in its days of 1983 to 1993, was the only rehearsal/recording/video space worth its salt in the Bronx. Right off Eastchester road.

             Vic handled the cameras, “Doc” did the recordings and Tommy ran the studio. Doc is an incredible bassist and Tommy was known as a kicking drummer with an incredible voice. Music was 24-7 for these guys. Tommy did some professional singing for commercials. Locally you might have seen him in one of the best cover/party/bar bands around, the Fabulous B Boys.

             East Coast was swallowed by medical buildings and now-a-days Tommy is in the Blues Brothers Band with Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman. I hadn't seen Tommy since the days of that long walk up to East Coast, but his cousin kept telling me that he was really doing great and it never registered that his talent hooked him a big time gig.

             So I’m sitting in Larry Gross's house (formerly of Rock of Ages and Tabitha). It's Super Bowl halftime 1997. Half an eye is on Larry's big screen and...what's this?...Could it...? There's Tommy dancing next to Dan Aykroyd on the stage midfield surrounded by one thousand high kickin’ perfect tens and ZZ Top! Recently he came back from the Cannes Film Fest (my dream) promoting the Blues Brothers new movie.

             I visited my old friend at his big, new house to talk about the past, present and future.  

Tommy:  Coming at you babe!

Fish:  What's happening these days Tomola?

Tommy:  I just sang in the Blue Brothers 2000 movie. Let me explain the Blues Brother scene. All the people in the movie, a rhythm section, are the Blues Brothers That's where I come in. I sing all the songs from the movies and the albums that the Blue Brother did. I do an hour show and then I introduce Eddie Floyd, who was the original singer on “Knock On Wood”. He's a living legend. He comes on, then he does a half hour. Then we come on together at the end and do encores. That's the way the Europe shows go. Now, when Dan Aykroyd, John Goodman and Joe Morton are involved, it's more like a variety show. The band comes on and maybe does Green Onions because the  band has Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn from the original Booker T. & the MG's. From offstage Aykroyd as Elwood Blues will say “Ladies and gentlemen, when the band tours Europe and Mighty Mac and I can't go because we’re incarcerated, we have a world-class singer that fronts the band. From the Bronx, New York, the Irish tenor who went bad and sang the blues, Tommy “Pipes” McDonnell”. Then I'll do three songs.

Fish:  How did you hook up with this?

Tommy:  I knew Lou Marini and Allan Rubin (the horn section for the Blues Brothers). They had this band called the Nuff Brothers. They were auditioning all the top singers in Manhattan, the jingle (commercials) guys . Everybody. I would love to play with this top horn section doing R&B from 20 years ago. That's my dream of all time. I told my friend Ro Diminno at Warner Brothers, but the auditions were finished. I would have loved it. She said “who’s in the band?” I said, Lou Marini. She said, “I know Lou Marini, I just worked with him.” She gets him on the phone and says “I have a singer for your band.” I’m on the other end turning blue. I went down, I auditioned, and I got the gig. Over like 15 or 20 people. In 1989 the Blues Brothers decided to get together and go back on tour. They had Eddie Floyd and Sam Moore from Sam and Dave as the front men. Sam left and they got this other singer Larry Thurston. In 1995, Larry decided he was going to school, getting a degree or something. So Lou Marini called me up. There's 10 people in the band, so everyone's got their favorite singers that they're tying to get in. I didn't hear anything for a couple of weeks. This is January (back then) and they're going on a month tour of Japan in April. About six weeks before the tour, they must have had meetings, blah, blah, blah. Lou and Alan believed in me, that l could do it. They took a shot believing in me. Sight unseen. So they said, “You're gonna do the tour of Japan. No audition.” No rehearsals too because who lives in Nashville? Who lives in Florida? Who lives wherever! No rehearsals. I said I need a tape or something.  I’m freaking out. I start buying old Blues Brother albums and I drive up to Woodstock to get a tape of the previous year's Japan Tour. So we get to Japan. The first sound check is my first rehearsal. I made a few mistakes because I wasn't sure who was taking solos. It was shaky, but, what are you gonna do?   So we do the first show. It comes off pretty good. The next night it got better. Better and better. Twenty-nine days later the show was unbelievable. By the end of the tour the five partners had a meeting and voted me into the band.

Fish:  What's your role when Aykroyd’s involved?

Tommy:  You mean the full blown out show.          

Fish:  Yeah.

Tommy:  I do two songs then return stage left with two congas singing backup right up front with Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman. That's how you saw me on the Super Bowl, on the Letterman Show and Saturday Night Live. Dan Aykroyd is, him and John Goodman, are the greatest guys you ever met. The way you think these guys would be. They are real down to earth.

Fish:  Does the spirit of Belushi hang over this thing?

Tommy:  Oh, yeah. It's always announced, “This is the band of Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues.”

Fish:  Were you in the movie?

Tommy:  Uh, yes, I was Fish. I was the featured singer in the superband scene. To my left was Isaac Hayes, Lou Rawls, CoCo Taylor, Gary U.S. Bonds. Up front was BB King, Eric Clapton, Travis Tritt, Jimmy Vaughn, Skunk Baxter from the Doobie Brothers. These are all legends. Dr. John, Billy Preston and Stevie Winwood. Shot and recorded live, it was the highlight of my life. The only unknown on that stage was me.  I grew up in the Country Club section. It's announced at every concert, from the Bronx! My mother was a professional dancer. On her side of the family are a lot of famous vaudevillians like the Dolly Sisters. Famous acts from the Ziegfield days. Music was in my blood. My father was  a carpenter and he always wanted to be an arranger of music, but he never got to do it.  At 10, I picked up drums.  By 14, I was in local bands like the Sound Waves. I’m married now for 3 years to a beautiful woman from Eastchester. Her name is Dawn. I’ve always had amazing support from my family.

Fish:  Thanks Tommy. Rock on. Rock out.