Tommy Sands

Tommy Sands (born 19 December 1945) is a Northern Irish folk singer, songwriter, radio broadcaster, and political activist. He performs with his three siblings as the Sands Family; solo as Tommy Sands; and with his son and daughter as Tommy Sands with Moya and Fionán Sands. Tommy was the prime songwriter for the Sands Family, one of Ireland's most influential folk groups of the 1960s and 1970s.

Tommy Sands hosted Country Céilí, a radio show on Downtown Radio in Newtownards for 37 years from 1976.

His song "There Were Roses" has been described as "certainly one of the best songs ever written about the "Irish Problem"".

In May 2002 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Nevada, Reno, for his outstanding work as musician and ambassador for peace and understanding. May 18 of each year has been proclaimed Tommy Sands Day in Reno. His parents, Mick and Bridie, both came from families of singers, musicians and storytellers and encouraged a love of Irish culture and tradition in their seven children (Mary, the eldest, then Hugh, Ben, Colum, Eugene and Anne). ) and six uncles played the fiddle. His mother Bridie, an accordionist, is the daughter of 'Burren poet', Owen Connolly, and her mother was related to the Brontë family. Their Céilidh house on the Ryan Road, in the foothills of the Mourne Mountains,

In 2004 Sands and "There Were Roses" received the award for 'Best Original Song' at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

In Belfast, during the depths of The Troubles in August 1986, Sands organised a "Citizen's Assembly" which included many of Ulster's top artists and literary figures.

In June 2010 Sands accepted the invitation of Palestinian and Israeli activists conducting a joint campaign at the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, to come and perform at a rally held to protest Israeli settlers evicting Palestinian Sheikh Jarrah residents and taking over their homes.

In February 2024 in response to the violence occurring in Gaza, Sands wrote a plaintive ballad titled 'Anyone else up there' accompanied by a video about the plight of children. In the same month, New York rabbi Regina Sandler-Phillips wrote a blog about the same conflict in The Times of Israel titled 'Singing in a Strange Land of Trauma', quoting from Sands' song 'There Were Roses' alongside Psalm 137 and American abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Discography The Sands Family recordings

Solo recordings Album !! Year !! Description Album included both 'Daughters and Sons' and the iconic ballad 'There Were Roses' about the murders of two of his friends. Included 'Tell me a story'; 'Art'; 'Neart and Ceart'; 'Fair Rosa'; 'Bonnie wee house of Iveagh'; 'Banana song'; 'Story of Willie Brennan'; 'Down by Bendy's Lane'; 'Ceann Mor'; 'The old sow'; 'Moya is my darling'; 'Night night sleep tight and Einini'. Includes Christmas songs 'Like the first time it's Christmas time', 'Down by the Laganside', 'The Bushes of Jerusalem', 'Whiter Shade of Pale', 'Hearts of Love', 'A Christmas Childhood/ a call to hope', 'Welcome here kind stranger', 'Raglan Road', 'Slainte mhaith'/the cat in the attic, 'Let me be your island', 'The mixed marriage', 'Matt Hyland', 'Slan Abhaile'. ).

In 2005 he published his autobiography, The Songman – A Journey in Irish Music.

Personal life Tommy Sands currently lives with his wife in Rostrevor, County Down. They have two children with whom Tommy now performs.