He began playing the guitar at eight and within a year had a job performing twice weekly on a local radio station.

[5] Sands's initial recordings achieved little in the way of sales but in early 1957 he was given the opportunity to star in an episode of Kraft Television Theatre called "The Singing Idol".

He played the part of a singer who was very similar to Elvis Presley, with guitar, pompadour hair, and excitable teenage fans.

On the show, his song presentation of a Joe Allison composition called "Teen-Age Crush" went over big with the young audience and, released as a single by Capitol Records, it went to No.

[7] Sands' second lead role in a feature was in the teen comedy Love in a Goldfish Bowl (1961) with Fabian Forte, which was not a success.

More popular was a fantasy musical he made at Disney, Babes in Toyland (1961), co-starring Annette Funicello.

That year he and Funicello sang the Sherman Brothers' title song from the Walt Disney release of The Parent Trap.

On May 14, 1963, Sands appeared, along with Claude Akins and Jim Davis, in "Trapped", one of the last episodes of NBC's Laramie western series.

In the story line, series character Slim Sherman (John Smith) finds an injured kidnap victim in the woods, portrayed by Joan Freeman.

Dennis Holmes, as series regular Mike Williams, rides away to seek help, but the kidnappers reclaim the hostage.

Sands guest starred on Kraft Suspense Theatre ("A Lion Amongst Men", which earned him good reviews[11]), Combat!

("More Than a Soldier"), Valentine's Day ("For Me and My Sal"), Mr. Novak ("Let's Dig a Little Grammar", "And Then I Wrote..."), Branded ("That the Brave Endure"), Bonanza ("The Debt"), and Hawaii Five-O ("No Blue Skies").

[13] His career had declined significantly by 1965, triggering speculation that Frank Sinatra had him "blacklisted" in the entertainment industry after their divorce.