Tommy's bands were always on song and blew everyone away

Published on Wednesday 22 October 2008 09:55

Bandleader Tommy Sampson has died at the age of 90.

Tommy Sampson spent his life in music and was never happier than when he was on the stand, fronting a 17-piece swing band.

He revelled in debating his birthplace, branding himself both Leither and Newhavener. However, his musical roots were certainly in Leith.

He played cornet in the Leith Salvation Army band led by his father – regular performers on the streets of the port. Tommy's boast that he was a bugle boy at five was never refuted.

Soon after the Second World War broke out he volunteered for the Army. He spent three years in a German PoW camp, becoming involved in the camp band and befriending an American prisoner who tried to lure him to the United States to work with Walt Disney.

Tommy preferred to return to Scotland where, inevitably, he formed his own band – a robust 17-strong outfit (plus singers) that won its first residency at the Eldorado Ballroom, off Leith's Great Junction Street, in 1946.

Dance bands were big business nationwide, and when the touring household names visited the "Eldo" they were overawed by the power and musicianship of the house band that "blew them off the stand".

Tommy broke up the band in 1949 when the big bands had lost their appeal. His skill as an arranger was promptly harnessed by George Mitchell, who had been a fellow PoW.

Mitchell was to make his name with his singers and band in a programme that became a long-running hit on BBC TV – the Black and White Minstrel Show. Tommy wrote all the arrangements for Mitchell.

Tommy himself was a talented singer and later formed a vocal quartet called The Sapphire.

The female singer was Rosemary Squires, who would later star in "the hands that do dishes" adverts for Fairy.

Tommy had broken his connection with the Salvation Army's bands after joining the Army but he rejoined some 20 years ago, donning the uniform and reacquainting himself with the cornet. Playing in the streets and in concert halls, he raised thousands of pounds for the Christian cause.

The foot of Leith Walk was a regular stand. He said he kept playing for Queen Victoria, whose monument there is a legendary Leith landmark.

Tommy was still out front with the band this year, and for many years they graced the Orchid Ball for muscular dystrophy at the Sheraton Hotel.

Tommy died at the Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline, on Monday.

He is survived by wife Lise, and daughters Helle and Doris.

A funeral service will be held at Dunfermline crematorium on Thursday, October 30, at 2.45pm.