TOMMY STEELE
Tommy Steele OBE has been labelled Britain’s first Rock ‘n’ Roll star. Tommy was one of the first artist’s, alongside Cliff Richard, Hank Marvin amongst others, to emerge from the now legendary 2i’s Coffee Bar on Old Compton Street London, quoted as being “The birthplace of British Rock ‘n’ Roll and the popular music industry”.
These humble beginnings would propel Tommy Steele to superstardom and ultimately, he would be recognised as one of the pioneers of the British Rock ‘n’ Roll sound of the 50’s and 60’s. Tommy is also famous for claiming to have met Elvis Presley and reportedly gave him a guided tour of London, although there is no firm evidence to prove that Steeles claim is true. The general consensus is that Elvis never visited the UK.
Tommy Steele, was born Tommy W. Hicks on December 1936 in the working class area of Bermondsey, South East London. Steele was extremely proud of his working class background; he talks in detail in his autobiography (Bermondsey Boy: memoirs of a lost world) about his love for the working class culture he grew up in during the Second World War. Aged 15, Steele joined the merchant navy and it was here, that he first indulged in the art of singing, the reaction to Steele’s singing voice was always positive even at the elementary stage. While on voyages across the Atlantic in America, Tommy would for the first time hear the sounds of Rock ‘n’ Roll; he would never forget those rebellious sounds.
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After a brief stint in the compulsory national service, Tommy, at the age of eighteen joined a Skiffle band (Skiffle: a type of music originating from the American south, using homemade instrument). After becoming bored with Skiffle, Steele began playing Rock ‘n’ Roll at the 2i’s coffee bar, after a short while he was discovered by photographer John Kennedy who believed that Tommy could be the UK’s answer to Elvis Presley.
Steele, as the front man for the Steelmen shot to fame in 1956 with the single, ‘Rock With The Cavemen’ and later in the same year with the chart topping single ‘Singing the Blues’. Tommy Steele would continue to have hits throughout the rest of the 50’s and into the early sixties. Like many of his contemporaries at the time such as Cliff Richard and Adam Smith, Tommy ventured into film on both the silver screen and on stage in London’s West end.
In 1980 he was awarded an OBE for his services to entertainment, Tommy Steele continues to perform at the ripe old age of 72 and continues to display his true love and enthusiasm for entertaining the public.
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Source: Segun Murray Ogunsheye
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