Tommy Sands

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Tommy Sands bigraphy, stories - American actor singer

Tommy Sands : biography

August 27, 1937 –

Thomas Adrian "Tommy" Sands (born August 27, 1937) is an American pop music singer and actor. Working in show business as early as 1949 Sands became an overnight sensation and instant teen-idol when he appeared on Kraft Television Theater in January 1957 as "The Singin’ Idol" which was one of the most successful television shows in history. The song from the show, "Teen Age Crush" reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and No. 1 on Cashbox.

Personal life

In 1960, Sands married Nancy Sinatra, from whom he was divorced in 1965. At that point in his career, Frank Sinatra had him "blacklisted" in the entertainment industry. He has a daughter Jessica from his second marriage.

Filmography

Film

Year Film Role
1958 Sing, Boy, Sing Virgil Walker
1958 Mardi Gras Barry Denton
1961 Love in a Goldfish Bowl Gordon
1961 Babes in Toyland Tom Piper
1962 The Longest Day U.S. Army Ranger
1964 Ensign Pulver John X. Bruno
1965 None But the Brave 2nd Lt. Blair
1967 The Violent Ones Mike Marain

Television

Year Series Role
1957 The Singin’ Idol as himself
1957 The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford as himself
1964 Slattery’s People Jed Haskell
1965 Combat! Private Carey

Early life

Sands was born into a musical family in Chicago, Illinois; his father was a pianist and his mother a big-band singer. While still young, he moved with his family to Shreveport, Louisiana. Sands began playing the guitar at age eight and within a year had a job performing twice weekly on a local radio station. At the beginning of his teen years, Tommy moved to Houston, Texas. In Houston, he attended Lamar High School and joined a band with "Jimmie Lee Durden and the Junior Cowboys". The band consisted of Sands, Durden, and Billy Reno. They performed on the radio, at county fairs and did personal appearances. He was only 15 when Colonel Tom Parker heard about him and signed him to RCA Records.

Career

Sands’ initial recordings achieved little in the way of sales but in early 1957 he was given the opportunity to star in an episode of Kraft Television Theatre. He played the part of a singer who was very similar to Elvis Presley, with guitar, pompadour hair, and excitable teenage fans. On the show, his song presentation of a Joe Allison composition called "Teen-Age Crush" went over big with the young audience and, released as a 45 rpm single by Capitol Records, it went to No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100 record chart and No. 1 on the Cashbox chart. His track, "The Old Oaken Bucket", peaked at #25 in the UK Singles Chart in 1960.

Sands’ sudden fame brought an offer to sing at the Academy Awards show and his teen idol looks landed him a motion-picture contract to star in a 1958 musical drama called Sing, Boy, Sing, the feature film version of "The Singin’ Idol." About this time, he also appeared on an episode of The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. Sands’ pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Acting

Sands performed in several films including Sing, Boy, Sing, the feature film version of "The Singin’ Idol" (1958), Mardi Gras (1958), Babes in Toyland (1961), The Longest Day (1962), Ensign Pulver (1964), and None But the Brave (1965), playing a Marine Second Lieutenant, but both his singing and film career had faded by the 1970s.