- Born
- Birth nameThomas Adrian Sands
- Always a country music fan, Tommy Sands' mother gave him a guitar for Christmas when he was seven. He taught himself to play and, at age eight, got a job at radio station KWKH in Shreveport, Louisiana, performing twice a week. Later, he and his mother moved to Houston where, in 1951, he cut his first record for Freedom Records. By 1952, Tom Parker, Elvis Presley's manager, signed Sands with RCA Records, where he recorded seven forgettable songs between 1953 and 1955. In January of 1957, he landed the lead in The Singin' Idol (1957), an episode of Kraft Theatre (1947). A song he sang in that production, "Teenage Crush", shot to #3 on the Billboard and Cashbox charts, and Sands' career as a teen idol was off and running. He sang the Oscar-nominated song, "Friendly Persuasion", at the 1957 Academy Award ceremonies and, the next year, played the lead in a thinly-disguised biography of his career, Sing Boy Sing (1958). Several years later, he appeared with his former father-in-law, Frank Sinatra (he had married Sinatra's daughter Nancy Sinatra), in None But the Brave (1965). Sands later moved to Hawaii, where he had a nightclub and a clothing business. He sang in a rock festival in England in 1990.- IMDb Mini Biography By: S. Salazar, Salazar@ix.netcom.com
- SpousesSheila Wallace(April 14, 1974 - ?) (divorced, 1 child)Nancy Sinatra(September 11, 1960 - July 28, 1965) (divorced)
- When he divorced Frank Sinatra's daughter, Nancy Sinatra, Sinatra allegedly saw to it that Tommy's blooming career went permanently on the rocks.
- Was a disc jockey at age 12 with a radio station and cut his first record at age 14 which attracted the attention of Col. Tom Parker (Elvis Presley's manager) and RCA Records.
- Served in the Air Force Reserves.
- He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 1560 Vine St.
- Became an immediate overnight sensation after copping the landmark lead in The Singin' Idol (1957), which was the first TV drama on the subject of rock-and-roll. Tommy played a Southern Baptist Elvis Presley-like singer. The single from that show went to #2 on the Billboard charts.
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