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'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. 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 single by Capitol Records, it went to No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100 record chart and No. 1 on the Cashbox chart. It became a gold record. 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. In 1961 Sands and Annette Funicello sang the Sherman Brothers' title song from the Walt Disney release of The Parent Trap.

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 and directed by Frank Sinatra, but both his singing and film career had faded by the 1970s. He does still make sporadic public appearances as a singer though.

On May 14, 1963, Sands appeared, along with Claude Akins and Jim Davis, in "Trapped", one of the last episodes of NBC's Laramie western series. In the story line, series character Slim Sherman (John Smith) finds an injured kidnap victim in the woods, portrayed by Mona 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 plays the girl's boyfriend, who had been ordered by her father to stop seeing her.

Later in 1963, Sands joined Peter Falk in "The Gus Morgan Story" on ABC's Wagon Train. They appear as brothers who disagree on the route for a railroad that Gus, played by Falk, is building through then snow-covered mountains. Sands, as Ethan Morgan, accidentally shoots wagonmaster Chris Hale, played by John McIntire, while the brothers are in the mountains looking at route options. Gus makes the decision to leave Hale behind, even choking him and believing that Hale is dead. Ethan has been overcome with oxygen deprivation and needs Gus' assistance to reach safety down the mountain. Unbeknownst to the Morgans, Hale crawls down the mountain through snow determined to obtain revenge against Gus. In time though Hale comes to understand the difficult choice made by Morgan, and the brothers reconcile their own differences. This episode is remembered for its examination of how far a man will persist amid adversity to preserve his own life and that of his brother.

In 1965, Sands guest starred playing the role as Private Carey on the television series Combat! starring Vic Morrow in Season 3, Episode 19 "More Than A Soldier" "Out of ammo, Saunders is holed up with terrified young Private Carey ('Tommy Sands' ): a pacifistic draftee who can't bring himself to fire on their pursuer, a relentless German sergeant."

Sands appeared twice on the NBC education drama, Mr. Novak, starring James Franciscus in the title role. He had a guest role in the 1968 episode No Blue Skies of Jack Lord's police drama, Hawaii Five-O.

Personal life

Sands and singer Nancy Sinatra married in 1960, and divorced in 1965. Sands' career had declined significantly by 1965, triggering speculation that Frank Sinatra had him "blacklisted" in the entertainment industry after the divorce. Such reports were denied by both Sands and Sinatra. In 1974 Sands married Sheila Wallace, a secretary, in Honolulu, where he had relocated in an attempt to revive his career.

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
1968	Hawaii Five-O	Joey Rand

Discography

U.S. singles discography

• Teenage Crush / Hep Dee Hootie (Cutie Wootie) - Capitol 1957 (U.S. #2 for two weeks)
• My Love Song / Ring-A-Ding-Ding - Capitol 1957
• Goin' Steady / Ring My Phone - Capitol 1957
• Sing Boy Sing / Crazy 'Cause I Love You - Capitol 1957
• After The Senior Prom / Big Date - Capitol 1958
• I'll Be Seeing You / That's The Way I Am - Capitol 1959
• The Old Oaken Bucket / These Are The Things You Are - Capitol 1960
• A Young Man's Fancy / Connie - Capitol 1963

U.S. LP discography

• Steady Date, Capitol 848, 1957
• Sing Boy Sing, Capitol 929, 1958
• Sands Storm, Capitol 1081, 1958
• This Thing Called Love, Capitol 1123, 1959
• When I'm Thinking Of You, Capitol 1239, 1959
• Sands At The Sands, Capitol 1364, 1960 (live)
• Dream With Me, Capitol 1426, 1960
• Babes In Toy Land, Buena Vista 3913/4022, 1961 (soundtrack)
• The Parent Trap, Vista 3309, 1961 (soundtrack)
• Seasons In The Sun, Superscope 3A009, 1969

[ Source: Wikipedia ]