You’ve probably never heard the name James George Tomkins. But honestly, if you’ve ever turned on a radio or listened to a classic rock playlist, you’ve heard him play. He was basically the sonic wallpaper of the 1960s and 70s. Most people knew him as Big Jim Sullivan.
He wasn't just some guy with a guitar. He was a force of nature.
By the time he was done, he’d played on over 750 charting singles. Some counts put it closer to 1,000. That includes 54 number-one hits. Think about that for a second. While most bands struggle to get one song on the radio, Big Jim was the guy the stars called when they needed a hit to actually sound like a hit.
The Man Who Taught the Legends
It’s kinda wild when you look at who he mentored. Take Ritchie Blackmore, the man who gave us the "Smoke on the Water" riff. Before Blackmore was a guitar god, he was just a kid in Middlesex getting lessons from Sullivan.
Sullivan didn't just teach chords. He taught attitude.
The older, jazz-schooled session players used to call him the "Electric Monster." Why? Because he did things with a guitar they thought were "unprofessional." He bent strings until they screamed. He made the instrument groan. He was one of the first guys in the UK to really embrace the raw, messy power of rock and roll when the establishment still wanted everything to sound like a polite tea party.
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Big Jim vs. Little Jim
There’s this famous bit of trivia every guitar nerd loves. Back in the 1960s, the London session scene was dominated by two guys named Jim.
To tell them apart, they called the older, more established Sullivan "Big Jim." The younger up-and-comer? That was James Patrick Page. You know him as Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin.
They weren't rivals, though. They were partners in crime. They played together on countless tracks. On Dave Berry’s "The Crying Game," Sullivan took the lead while Page handled the rhythm. People still argue about who played what on certain records, but honestly, they were both part of a tiny elite group that defined the British sound. Sullivan even lent Page the Gibson J-200 acoustic guitar that you hear all over the first two Led Zeppelin albums.
Pioneering the "Weird" Sounds
Big Jim Sullivan was a gear addict before that was even a term. He was the first person in the UK to use a wah-wah pedal on a recording (Michael Cox’s "Sweet Little Sixteen" in 1961). He was also a pioneer of the fuzzbox.
If you listen to P.J. Proby’s 1964 hit "Hold Me," that aggressive, distorted solo is Sullivan. It blew people's minds back then. Before that, everyone wanted a "clean" sound. Jim wanted grit.
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Then he went and learned the sitar.
Most people think George Harrison was the only one doing the Indian-fusion thing, but Sullivan was right there with him. He studied under Vilayat Khan and became so good he could charge triple the normal session rate because nobody else could play the thing. He even released a psychedelic sitar album under the name Lord Sitar.
The Credits You Won't Believe
The list of people he played for is essentially a "Who's Who" of music history:
- David Bowie: He played on Bowie’s very first album.
- The Kinks: "You Really Got Me" and "Tired of Waiting for You."
- Dusty Springfield: "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me."
- Tom Jones: He spent years as Tom’s lead guitarist, even hanging out with Elvis Presley in Las Vegas.
- The Rolling Stones: Early sessions where they needed a "pro" to fill out the sound.
- James Last: He spent nearly a decade in the James Last Orchestra.
He even played on "Je T’Aime... Moi Non Plus" by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. Yeah, that song.
Why He Didn't Become a Household Name
You might wonder why a guy this talented didn't just start his own band and become as famous as Clapton or Page. Honestly? He liked the work.
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Being a session musician meant you got to play everything. One morning you’re doing a jazz track, the afternoon is a pop ballad, and the evening is a screaming rock solo. He loved the technical challenge. He could read music flawlessly, which was a skill many of the younger rock stars lacked.
He did eventually form a band called Tiger in the 70s and released some solo material, but he was always happiest being the "secret weapon" in the studio.
How to Appreciate Big Jim Sullivan Today
If you want to understand why he matters, you have to listen to the transitions. Listen to the way he uses the volume pedal to create violin-like swells on "The Crying Game." Or listen to the sheer aggression in his early 60s rock work.
Next Steps for the Budding Guitar Historian:
- Listen to "Hold Me" by P.J. Proby: Focus on the guitar solo. Remember, this was 1964. Most people hadn't heard distortion like that yet.
- Track down the "Lord Sitar" album: It’s a trip. It’s 1960s London pop meets Indian classical music in the weirdest, best way possible.
- Watch old clips of the "Oh Boy!" TV show: You can often spot a young, tall Sullivan backing up the stars of the day.
Big Jim Sullivan died in 2012, but his DNA is in every distorted riff and wah-wah solo you hear today. He wasn't just a session man; he was the bridge between the old world of professional musicians and the new world of rock gods.