Suddenly, Tammy! was formed by siblings Jay and Beth Sorrentino and friend Ken Heitmueller in Lancaster in the early ’90s. By 1992, the band had gained national attention. It later signed to Warner Brothers and opened for acts such as The Cranberries and Jeff Buckley. But after the deal with Warner Brothers went south, the band decided to take a break.
It ended up being a pretty long break — 23 years, to be exact. That hiatus will come to an end Friday night, when all three original members take the stage at the Chameleon Club during Lancaster Roots & Blues. These days, band members are spread out throughout the country. Beth lives in Los Angeles, Jay is in Austin, Texas, and Ken is in New York City.
The Sorrentinos grew up together in Mountville. Jay, the elder sibling, started playing drums before he reached double digits. When Beth started playing piano, they naturally started playing together. “We were kind of playing in a band together all of our lives without even knowing it,” Beth says. “It was kind of forming all along.” When they got older, they initially played in separate bands. But after Jay heard Beth play with Ken, he got involved in their project, too. Ken worked as the sound engineer at the Chameleon Club, often pulling double duty by working the sound board at the band’s shows.
The band’s earnest music blended pop and rock with upbeat enthusiasm. Beth’s sweet vocals deepened the charm. Suddenly, Tammy! embraced the DIY ethos of the time, making their own T-shirts, copying their own tapes, and hand-coloring the artwork on their cassettes. They gained a following locally in Lancaster, but also in Philadelphia (thanks to radio station WXPN), and later in New York City.
The Sorrentino siblings both point to the same moment when trying to pinpoint when they made it big. One day in 1992, Jay received a call from Karl Heitmueller, Ken’s brother who managed BBC Records in downtown Lancaster. He just received a fresh copy of College Music Journal. “He called me and he was like, ‘You’re not even going to believe it. You’re on the cover of CMJ,’ ” Jay says. Jay’s response? “Shut up.” It was a big deal. The magazine was a trusted resource for college radio stations and music junkies alike. “People followed that magazine like gospel,” Beth says.
The Sorrentinos had put the number for their family’s landline on their cassettes. After their CMJ cover debuted, the phone started ringing “off the hook,” Beth says. More success followed. They earned gigs as the opening band for major national acts. At a New York City show opening for The Cranberries, famed producer and industry executive Lenny Waronker of Warner Brothers records showed up to scope out the band — a rare occurrence for an executive of his stature. They signed with the label, which released the band’s 1995 sophomore album “We Get There When We Do.” It later self-released its third album. Suddenly, Tammy! played its last show before hiatus at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia. Beth and Ken moved to New York City, and Jay opened a recording studio in a Gothic revival church in downtown Columbia in 1999.
Beth has played separately with Jay and Ken as duos on occasion since the Tin Angel performance. But the trio hasn’t performed together since. The band was encouraged to reunite at Lancaster Roots and Blues after festival founder Rich Ruoff ran into Ken at an event last year. All three members had been hoping for a reunion for some time, it turns out. “I thought, you know what, this might not be such a bad time,” Beth says. “None of us are getting any younger.” Suddenly, Tammy! will include songs from each album in its setlist. The band plans to present the music chronologically, too. “Plant Me,” “Hard Lessons” and “Rushmore” are among the songs Jay is most looking forward to playing. They’ve been practicing solo in their respective cities and will have one day to rehearse in the Sorrentinos’ father’s basement before the show — a fitting location, Beth says. “That’s where we all started,” Beth says. “We all started in that basement.” They’re excited to see family, friends and fans at the Chameleon Club. But most of all, they’re just excited to be making music in unison again. “It really is magical when the three of us play together,” Beth says. From: https://lancasteronline.com/features/suddenly-tammy-reflects-on-career-before-reunion-show-at-roots-blues/article_ee0d9a70-353d-11e9-86e1-939f470ed30a.html
