1. Thomas Adrian Sands was born on August 27,1937 and is an American pop music singer and actor.
22 Facts About Tommy Sands
1. 2.
Tommy Sands was born into a musical family in Chicago, Illinois; his father Ben, born in Russia, was Jewish and was a pianist, and his mother, Grace Dickson, a big-band singer.
3.
Tommy Sands began playing the guitar at eight and within a year had a job performing twice weekly on a local radio station.
4.
Tommy Sands was 15 when Colonel Tom Parker heard about him and signed him to RCA Records.
5.
In 1957 Tommy Sands was featured on Hometown Jubilee on KTLA television in Los Angeles.
6.
Tommy Sands played the part of a singer who was very similar to Elvis Presley, with guitar, pompadour hair, and excitable teenage fans.
7.
Tommy Sands released his debut album Steady Date with Tommy Sands.
8.
Tommy Sands did another episode of Kraft Television Theatre, "Flesh and Blood", playing the son of a gangster.
9.
Tommy Sands made "The Promise" for Zane Grey Theatre, playing the son of a character played by Gary Merrill.
10.
Tommy Sands appeared on CBS Television on January 9,1958, in an episode of Shower of Stars, and played another singing star in "The Left-handed Welcome" for Studio One in Hollywood.
11.
Tommy Sands supported Pat Boone in a musical for Fox, Mardi Gras, which was a moderate hit.
12.
Tommy Sands released the albums Sands Storm, This Thing Called Love, and When I'm Thinking of You.
13.
Tommy Sands guest starred on "The Inner Panic" for The United States Steel Hour and was one of several pop stars who played US Rangers in Fox's The Longest Day.
14.
Tommy Sands had married Nancy Sinatra whose father Frank offered Tommy Sands a role in Come Blow Your Horn but he turned it down.
15.
Tommy Sands appeared alongside Fred Astaire in "Blow High, Blow Clear" for Alcoa Theatre.
16.
On May 14,1963, Tommy Sands appeared, along with Claude Akins and Jim Davis, in "Trapped", one of the last episodes of NBC's Laramie western series.
17.
Tommy Sands played the girl's boyfriend, who had been ordered by her father to stop seeing her.
18.
Tommy Sands had a support role in the feature film Ensign Pulver at Warners.
19.
Tommy Sands occasionally returned to the mainland to work, appearing in dinner theatre.
20.
Tommy Sands returned permanently to the mainland of the US in 1981, settling in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
21.
Tommy Sands's career had declined significantly by 1965, triggering speculation that Frank Sinatra had him "blacklisted" in the entertainment industry after their divorce.
22.
In 1974, Tommy Sands married Sheila Wallace, a secretary, in Honolulu, where he had relocated in an attempt to revive his career.