Tommy Steele

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Steele's film credits include Half a Sixpence, The Happiest Millionaire and Finian's Rainbow, and she has performed many stage tours in the UK. He is also a songwriter, writer and sculptor. His claim has shown Elvis Presley in London has been challenged by more than one source.

In 2012, Steele is one of British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous work - The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover - to celebrate British cultural figures from the last six decades.

Video Tommy Steele

Biography

Singer

Steele works in various jobs, including short periods as a merchant seaman. She was not eligible for national service because, at the age of eighteen, she was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. In his autobiography, Bermondsey Boy: Memories of a Forgotten World, he reported that he failed in the medical field because he had flat legs. Whenever not working, he plays guitars and banjo and sings at two coffeehouses in Soho, Coffee Bar 2i and Whisker Cats, both as soloists and with Wally Whyton's Vipers Skiffle Group.

When a Steele ship serves on the dock in Norfolk, Virginia, USA, she hears Buddy Holly and falls in love with rock and roll, turning her back on a British skiff. He was discovered by freelance photographer John Kennedy, who believes Steele could be England's answer to Elvis Presley. Then co-manager Larry Parnes wrongly credited with creating the stage name 'Tommy Steele'. It was Steele who adapted the name of his Scandinavian pandasus grandfather, Thomas Stil-Hicks (pronounced Steel-Hicks), adding another E to spelling.

Steele became famous in the UK as a frontman for rock and roll band, Steelmen, after their first single, "Rock With the Caveman", reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart in 1956. Steele and other British singers will vote press records from the United States , note their cover versions of these songs, and release them in England before the American version can get onto the charts. Most of Steele's 1950s recordings include American songs, such as "Singing the Blues" and "Knee Deep in the Blues". Although Steele never proved a serious threat to Presley's popularity in England, he played well on the 1950s UK charts and "Singing the Blues" reached No. 1 in England before Presley did. Guy Mitchell was number 1 with "Singing the Blues" on January 4, 1957 and Tommy Steele on January 11, 1957. Steele 1957's album, The Tommy Steele Story, was the first by a UK-based action to reach Number 1 in the UK.

Just four months after her first graphic presence, she was filming her life story. To do so, Steele and his song collaborators Lionel Bart and Mike Pratt wrote twelve songs in seven days. The first three releases are published at the rate of one every three weeks. In 1957, Steele bought a four-bedroom house in South London for his parents. In August 1959, Steele made a three-day concert tour to Moscow.

At the end of 2009 her biggest hit collection, The Best of Tommy Steele , reached the Top 40 on the UK Albums Charts. This is the first UK chart entry, in whatever form, that Steele has enjoyed for over 46 years.

Actor

The increased musical talent that grew at home during the 1950s and 60s allowed Steele to advance into a career on stage and musical films, leaving her idol pop identity. In 1957 he was voted the seventh most popular actor at the UK box office.

In 1960, the Australian tour was not very successful and upon returning to England he received two offers, one to star in the game Billy Wild, the other to join the Old Vic Company. He chose the last one.

In the West End he appears in She Stoops to Conquer , and plays the main role of Hans Christian Andersen . In the film, he re-created his stage roles in London and Broadway at Half a Sixpence, and played a character role in The Happiest Millionaire and Finian's Rainbow, although many critics find his personality somewhat exaggerated on screen. In this last film, perhaps his most famous appearance in films, he plays Og, the leprechaun that transforms humans, and plays with Petula Clark and Fred Astaire. In 1968, the British exhibitors chose him as the fourth most popular star at the local box office.

In April 1971, Steele starred in her own show Meet Me in London at London's Adelphi Theater.

In 1978, Steele appeared in a TV movie version of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Yeomen of the Guard (misspelled as "The Yeoman..."), singing the poor Jack Point's role.

In 1983, Steele directed and starred in the production of West End stage Singin 'in the Rain at London Palladium. In 1991 he toured with a stage version of Jack Lemmon/Tony Curtis/Marilyn Monroe. In 2003, after a decade hiatus, kept his one-man An Evening With Tommy Steele and What A Show! , he toured as Ebenezer Scrooge in the production of Scrooge: The Musical , an adaptation of Scrooge . Upon his return, he changed his role at Palace Theater, Manchester during Christmas 2004, and brought production to London Palladium for Christmas 2005. In 2008, at the age of 71, Steele toured in the lead role of Drama Dolittle's musical stage >, and has changed its role as Scrooge every Christmas season since 2009.

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1958 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC Television Theater.

Sculptor

Steele is a respected sculptor and his three main works have been publicly displayed: Bermondsey Boy at Rotherhithe Town Hall in London (stolen in 1998, current whereabouts unknown), and Eleanor Rigby which he carves and donates to the City of Liverpool as a tribute to The Beatles. The statue stands on Stanley Street, Liverpool, not far from the Cavern Club. Steele has another statue featuring two rugby players on display at Twickenham Stadium. He is also an artist of several records and has been exhibited at the Royal Academy. When he lived in Petersham, Surrey, (opposite The Dysart Arms), outside his front door stood a life-style Charlie Chaplin statue as "The Tramp".

Personal life and other talents

Steele was born in Bermondsey, London. Dad is Thomas Walter Hicks, and his mother is Elizabeth Ellen Bennett. They married in 1933, in Bermondsey. She and [Winifred] Ann Donoughue were married at St. Patrick, Soho Square, London, in the spring of 1960. They had one daughter, Emma Elizabeth (1969).

In 1980 the New Year's Honors, he was appointed as the British Royal Order Officer (OBE) for his work as entertainer and actor.

In the early 1980s, Steele wrote and published a novel entitled The Final Run of World War II and the Dunkirk evacuation.

She also wrote a children's novel, titled Quincy, about a rejection toy that tried to save herself and her friends refused in the basement of a toy shop from the stove the day after Christmas. It turned into a television movie Quincy's Quest in 1979, in which Steele plays Quincy and Mel Martin plays Quincy's girlfriend, Rebecca.

Steele was briefly mentioned in the James Bond novel Ian Fleming Thunderball .

Steele co-wrote many of his original songs with Lionel Bart and Mike Pratt, but he used the pseudonym Jimmy Bennett from 1958 onwards.

Meeting claimed with Elvis Presley in England

For many years it was thought that Elvis Presley never set foot in England, in addition to spending a few minutes on the runway at Prestwick Airport in Scotland where his military plane, en route to the United States after completing its military service in West Germany, stopped to refuel. However, on April 21, 2008, in a BBC Radio 2 interview with the theater impresario Bill Kenwright, it was stated that Presley, 23, had visited the UK for a day, after a telephone conversation with Steele in London in 1958.

According to Kenwright: "Elvis flies for a day and Tommy shows him around London, shows him the Houses of Parliament and spends the day with him." Kenwright admitted in 2008 that he was not sure if he should tell the story. Steele said: "It's two young men who share the same love with their music, I swear I will not divulge openly what's happening and I'm sorry I've found a way to get into the light I just wish he could forgive me."

Press officers employed by Stagecoach, a company that owns Prestwick Airport, quickly issued statements requiring evidence, photographs or otherwise, from the meeting. Until such evidence is given, they will continue to describe their property, Prestwick Airport, as the only place in the UK where Elvis Presley has ever set foot and will not remove any markers, photographs and special spaces at their airports that relate to their claims..

Lamar Fike, a former member of the Memphis Mafia, who lived with Presley at the time, had posted the claim that it was him, not Presley, who visited London and Steele for a day in 1958.

Maps Tommy Steele

Discography

Partial discography:

Singles

With Steelmen

• "Rock With the Caveman"/"Rock Around the Town" - No. 13 (Decca 1956)
• "Doomsday Rock"/"Elevator Rock" - (Decca 1956)
• "Singing the Blues"/"Rebel Rock" - No UK. 1 (Decca 1956)
• "Knee Deep in the Blues"/"Youth Party" - UK No. 15 (Decca 1957)
• "Butterfingers"/"Cannibal Pot" - No UK. 8 (Decca 1957)
• "Water, Air"/"A Handful of Songs" - UK No. 5 (Decca 1957) with partial lyrics based on The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• "Shiralee"/"Grandad's Rock" - English No. 11 (Decca 1957)
• "Hi ye!"/"Planting Kiss" - UK No. 28 (Decca 1957)
• "Happy Guitar"/"Princess" - No UK. 20 (Decca 1958)
• "Nairobi"/"Neon Sign" - No UK. 3 (Decca 1958)
• "The Only Man on the Island"/"I Puts the Lightie On" - English No. 16 (Decca 1958)

Solo

• "Everything Happened"/"What Do You Do?" - (Decca 1958)
• "Come on, Come on"/"Put the Ring on the Finger" - UK No. 10 (Decca 1958)
• "A Lovely Night"/"Marriage Type Love" - ​​Decca 1958
• "Hiawatha"/"The Trial" - (Decca 1959)
• "Tallahassee Lassie"/"Give! Give! Give!" - UK No. 16 (Decca 1959)
• "Give! Give! Give!" - English No. 28 (Decca 1959)
• "You Were Mine"/"Young Ideas" - (Decca 1959)
• "Little White Bull"/"Singing Time" - UK No. 6 (Decca 1959)
• "What's Your Mouth (What's North and South)"/"Kookaburra" - English No. 5 (Decca 1960)
• "Happy Go Lucky Blues"/"Girl with the Long Black Hair" - (Decca 1960)
• "Must Be Santa"/"Boys and Girls" - No UK. 40 (Decca 1960)
• "My Big Best Shoes"/"Dit Dit Song" - (Decca 1961)
• "Wall Posts"/"Drunken Guitar" - English no. 30 (Decca 1961)
• "Hit Record"/"What a Little Darling" - (Decca 1962)
• "Where are All the Lost Flowers?"/"The Butter Will not Melt in Your Mouth" - (Decca 1963)
• "He Got Love"/"Green Eye" - (Decca 1963)
• "Flash Bang Wallop"/"He's Too Far Above Me" - (Decca 1963)
• "Egg and Chips"/"Dream Maker" - (Columbia 1963)
• "Half a Sixpence"/"If Rain's Got to Fall" - (RCA 1965)
• "Fortuosity"/"I'm a Brass Band" - (Vista 1967)
• "New King's Cloth"/"Copenhagen Extraordinary" - (Pye 1974)
• "Half a Sixpence"/"If Rain's Got to Fall" - (Safari 1984)
• "Sing Blues"/"Come on, Come" - (Old Gold 1985)

Albums

• Tommy Steele Stage Show - English No. 5 (Decca 1957)
• The Story of Tommy Steele - UK No. 1 (Decca 1957)
• The Duke Wore Jeans (Soundtrack) - English No. 1 (Decca 1958)
• Tommy Steele Everything Comes at BROADWAY - (Liberty 1965)
• My Life, My Song - (Pye 1974)
• Hans Andersen - Original London Players 1974 (Pye 1974)
• Hans Andersen - Revival London Cast 1977 (Pye 1977)
• Singin 'in the Rain - Original London Cast 1984 (Cast Masters 1995)
• Some Like It Hot - Original London Cast (First Night Records 1996)
• Scrooge: The Musical - London Original Player (BK Records)
• Half Sixpence - Original London Cast 1963 (Should Close Saturday 2006)
• Cinderella - Original London Cast 1958 (Hallmark 2011)

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Moviesography

• Kill Me Tomorrow (1957)
• The Story of Tommy Steele (1957)
• The Duke Wore Jeans (1957)
• Tommy the Toreador (1959)
• Turn on the Sky! (1960) known as Skywatch in the US
• This All Happened (1963) known as The Dream Maker in the US
• Half of Sixpence (1967)
• The Happiest Millionaire (1967)
• Rainbow Finian (1968)
• Twelfth Night (1969) (made for TV)
• Where's Jack? (1969)
• Yeomen of the Guard (1978) (made for TV)
• Quest Quincy (1979)

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Note

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References

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Source

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External links

Source of the article : Wikipedia