Thomas Adrian Sands (born August 27, 1937)[1] is an American pop music singer and actor. Working in show business as a child, Sands became an overnight sensation and instant teen idol when he appeared on Kraft Television Theater in January 1957 as "The Singin' Idol". The song from the show, "Teen-Age Crush", reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on Cashbox.[2]
Early life
Sands was born into a musical family in Chicago, Illinois;[3] his father, Ben born in Russia was Jewish and was a pianist, and his mother, Grace Dickson, a big-band singer.[1][4] He moved with the family to Shreveport, Louisiana. He began playing the guitar at eight and within a year had a job performing twice weekly on a local radio station. At the beginning of his teen years, he moved to Houston, Texas, where he attended Lamar High School and joined a band with "Jimmie Lee Durden and the Junior Cowboys", consisting of Sands, Durden, and Billy Reno. They performed on radio, at county fairs, and did personal appearances.[1] He was only 15 when Colonel Tom Parker heard about him and signed him to RCA Records.
Career
In 1957 Sands was featured on Hometown Jubilee on KTLA television in Los Angeles.[5]
The Singin' Idol
Sands's 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 called "The Singing Idol". He played the part of a singer who was very similar to Elvis Presley, with guitar, pompadour hair, and excitable teenage fans.
Sands' sudden fame brought an offer to sing at the Academy Awards show. He did another episode of Kraft Television Theatre, "Flesh and Blood" (1957), playing the son of a gangster. He also made "The Promise" for Zane Grey Theatre (1957), playing the son of a character played by Gary Merrill.
20th Century Fox
Sands' teen idol looks landed him a motion-picture contract with 20th Century Fox to star in a 1958 musical drama called Sing, Boy, Sing, the feature film version of "The Singin' Idol". Fox had enjoyed success with films starring other teen idols such as Elvis Presley and Pat Boone but Sing, Boy, Sing was a financial failure.
Sands appeared in the 1960 episode of Wagon Train titled "The Larry Hanify Story", as well as Wagon Train' episodes in 1963, "The Gus Morgan Story", and in 1963 "The Davey Baxter Story" and in 1964 "The Bob Stuart Story". His later albums included Sands at the Sands (1960) and Dream with Me (1960). From May to November 1960, he served in the United States Air ForceReserves.[7]
Sands had married Nancy Sinatra whose father Frank offered Sands a role in Come Blow Your Horn but he turned it down. Sands studied acting in New York.[8]
Sands appeared alongside Fred Astaire in "Blow High, Blow Clear" for Alcoa Theatre (1963). On May 14, 1963, Sands appeared, along with Claude Akins and Jim Davis, in "Trapped", one of the last episodes of NBC's Laramiewestern series. In the story line, series character Slim Sherman (John Smith) finds an injured kidnap victim in the woods, portrayed by Joan Freeman. Dennis Holmes, as series regular Mike Williams, rides away to seek help, but the kidnappers reclaim the hostage. Slim pursues the kidnappers but is mistaken as a third kidnapper by the girl's father, played by Barton MacLane. Sands played the girl's boyfriend, who had been ordered by her father to stop seeing her.[9]
Sands made several appearances on Wagon Train including "The Davey Baxter Story", "The Larry Hanify Story," "The Gus Morgan Story" (with Peter Falk), and "The Bob Stuart Story".[10]
Sands had a support role in the feature film Ensign Pulver (1964) at Warners. He guest starred on Slattery's People ("Question: Why the Lonely?... Why the Misbegotten?") and had a support role in the war feature None But the Brave (1965), starring and directed by Frank Sinatra.
Sands divorced Nancy Sinatra in 1965. "The doors to Hollywood seemed to slam shut after the divorce from Nancy", he said. "I couldn't get acting roles, my singing career on TV and in films was over."[12]
His last feature to date was The Violent Ones (1967) in which Sands had a supporting role. He moved to Hawaii in 1967. [citation needed]
Hawaii
In Hawaii, Sands operated the Tommy Sands Nightclub Tour for five years, and performed at the Outrigger Hotel in Waikiki. His later appearances included episodes of Hawaii Five-O ("No Blue Skies", "Hit Gun for Sale", "A Sentence to Steal"), and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries ("Mystery on the Avalanche Express"). He occasionally returned to the mainland to work, appearing in dinner theatre.
Sands returned permanently to the mainland of the US in 1981, settling in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He toured regularly performing concerts.[12]
Tommy Sands and singer Nancy Sinatra married in 1960 and divorced in 1965.[13] His career had declined significantly by 1965, triggering speculation that Frank Sinatra had him "blacklisted" in the entertainment industry after their divorce.[14] Such reports were denied by both Sands and Sinatra.[15] In 1974, Sands married Sheila Wallace, a secretary, in Honolulu, where he had relocated in an attempt to revive his career.[16]
