- Tommy Sands
Tommy Sands (born Thomas Adrian Sands,
27 August 1937 , Chicago,Illinois ) is an Americanpop music singer andactor .Career
Born into a musical family in Chicago, 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 theguitar at age seven and within a year had a job performing twice weekly on a localradio station . He was only fifteen whenColonel Tom Parker heard about him and signed him toRCA Records . His 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 toElvis Presley , with guitar, bouffant hair, and excitable teenage fans. On the show, his song presentation of aJoe Allison composition called "Teenage Crush" went over big with the young audience and, released as a 45 rpm single byCapitol Records , it went to No.3 on theBillboard Hot 100 record chart s.Sands' sudden fame brought an offer to sing at the
Academy Awards show and histeen idol looks landed him a motion-picture contract to star in a 1958 musical drama called "Sing, Boy, Sing". In 1960, he marriedNancy Sinatra and for a time they were the toast of Hollywood. Sands performed in several films including "Babes in Toyland" in 1961, "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea " in 1961 (for which he sang the beautiful title song), "The Longest Day" in 1962, and "Ensign Pulver " in 1964, but both his singing and film career had faded by the 1970s.He was divorced from Sinatra in 1965 and has a daughter, model Jessica Sands, born in 1977 from another relationship.
Sands' pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the
Rockabilly Hall of Fame .External links
* [http://www.famousinterview.ca/interviews/tommy_sands.htm Interview with Tommy Sands]
* [http://www.elvis2001.net/Tommy%20Sands.htm Tommy Sands Interview at Elvis2001.net]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0762378/ IMDB profile]
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