 |
Tommy SteeleBritish singer and actor
Date of Birth: 17.12.1936
Country:  Great Britain |
Content:
Biography of Tommy Steele
Tommy Steele, born Thomas Wilson Hicks, is a British singer, actor, and musician. He became famous as the first British teenage idol and the first English rock and roll star. Steele was also awarded the Order of the British Empire.
Early Life and Career
Born in London, Tommy Steele gained his popular image as a "Cockney kid next door" from his childhood years. Before embarking on a singing career, Steele had various occupations, including working as a sailor on a merchant ship. Due to his poor health, he was exempt from military service because of a severe cardiomyopathy (although he claims to have had severe flat feet in his autobiography).
During breaks from his sailing trips or during seamen strikes, Steele played guitar and banjo and sang at a dockside café, both as a solo performer and as part of the group "Wally Whyton's Vipers Skiffle Group." It was during a couple of trips to the United States that Tommy fell in love with rock and roll.
Rise to Fame
Later on, an English photographer named John Kennedy heard Steele sing and believed that the young boy could become the British answer to Elvis Presley. Steele came up with a stage name based on his Scandinavian grandfather's surname and set out to conquer the stage. His success came quickly, and Tommy became a legend of British rock and roll, despite the declining state of the genre. He also became the leader of the cult group "The Steelmen."
Like many other British singers of the time, Steele created his music in a simple way. He took American hits, revamped them, and released successful versions, overshadowing the original recordings. For many years, it was believed that Elvis Presley had never been to England, with the exception of a five-minute stopover at Prestwick military airport in Scotland on his way from Germany to the United States. However, in an interview with impresario Bill Kenwright on April 21, 2008, it was revealed that Presley had spent a whole day in England at the age of 23 after a phone conversation with Steele. The staff at Prestwick airport demanded proof before removing the title of "the only place in Britain visited by Presley."
Career Shift
In the 1960s, Steele left rock and roll behind and turned to the stage. After performing in several theatrical roles, which received mixed reviews from critics, he appeared in a number of mediocre films. Tommy Steele also ventured into writing and published memoirs about World War II and the Dunkirk evacuation in the 1980s.
