Tommy Steele
Sir Thomas Hicks, OBE, known professionally as Tommy Steele, is an English entertainer, regarded as Britain’s first teen idol and rock and roll star. His film credits include Half a Sixpence, The Happiest Millionaire and Finian’s Rainbow. In 2012, Steele was among the cultural icons selected by pop-artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a montage to celebrate Blake’s 80th birthday.
About Tommy Steele in brief
Sir Thomas Hicks, OBE, known professionally as Tommy Steele, is an English entertainer, regarded as Britain’s first teen idol and rock and roll star. He reached number one with \”Singing the Blues\” in 1957, and The Tommy Steele Story was the first album by a UK act to reach number one in his native country. His film credits include Half a Sixpence, The Happiest Millionaire and Finian’s Rainbow. He is also a songwriter, author, and sculptor. In 2012, Steele was among the cultural icons selected by pop-artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in \”Vintage Blake\”, a montage to celebrate Blake’s 80th birthday. Steele was born in Bermondsey, London, England in 1936. His father Darbo was a racing tipster and his mother Betty worked in a factory. Steele worked in various jobs, including a brief period as a merchant seaman. He was not eligible for national service because, at eighteen years old, he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. When a ship Steele was serving on docked in Norfolk, Virginia, U.S., he heard Buddy Holly and fell in love with rock andRoll.
He became famous in the UK as the frontman for a rock and Roll band, the Steelmen. In 1957, he had been voted the seventh-most popular actor at the British box office. In 1960, he received two offers to star in the play Billy Liar in the Old Vic Company. In the latter, he appeared in She Stoops to Conquer, and played the title of Hans Christian Andersen in Half a 6pence. He recreated his London and Broadway role in Half A Sixpences, and in the West End, he played the character of Hans Andersen in The West End’s The West Wing. In late 2009 his greatest hits collection, The Very Best of Tommy Steele,. reached the Top 40 in theUK Albums Chart. This was theFirst UK chart entry, of any kind, that Steele had enjoyed for over 46 years. In August 1959, Steele undertook a three-day concert visit to Moscow. In 1958, Steele had the opportunity to work with his younger brother, Colin Hicks, during a tour in which the latter replaced one of the other performers, Terry Dene, who had withdrawn for psychiatric reasons.
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This page is based on the article Tommy Steele published in Wikipedia (as of Jan. 04, 2021) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
