Marion Sadge
Marion Weiscarger Roughsedge / Marion Sadge
Marion Weiscarger Roughsedge / aka Marion Sadge

UPDATED: 2023
More than a million people have seen Tom Sadge perform as a Neil Diamond impersonator. Several have become acquainted with him through the years, but very few have seen me in person, and none know me well.
If you're on this page, you must be curious. Have fun, BUT..

NOTE & DISCLAIMER: Copyright rights are claimed on this page - please do NOT copy, paste, print, reproduce, etc. and disseminate in ANY way. Thank you in advance.
I may be updating this on a regular basis.


Priorities
Anyone who knows me personally knows I put my nuclear family first in my life. You should also know I am a very private person. I avoid the spotlight, and photos, like the plague. I cannot understand why anyone would not.


Beginnings

In January 1983, while still working as a fashion buyer for the legendary Hess's Department Store (now Macy's), I met Tom. Just months earlier I had requested a transfer to my hometown of Pittston, PA to be closer to my family. I was working in store management at the Wilkes-Barre store when I met Tom. He had just moved back home to Avoca PA after working in Florida, Massachusetts and, finally, Mississippi. We met one night when an old school friend insisted I go and see him perform at a small bar. He asked me out at the end of the night.

We were inseparable in those early days.

Fifteen months after meeting, we were married in the Irish Catholic church my great-grandparents had helped build in the late 1800s. By the next year we were parents of our son, and ten years later, our daughter.

Tom liked work that could only be done at night - DJing in local night clubs. He was successful - always busy. But there was a downside: clubs closed at 2am and he never came home before 3 or 4am, and slept most of the day. Career aspirations for me had to be set aside, as there were no babysitters available. Still, I learned to make money via side-hustle jobs such as newspaper carrier, which I worked at 7 days a week, 365 days a year, rising at 4am every single day. I also worked as an answering service operator, and later, webmaster for top plastic surgeons. I also managed Tom Sadge and handled everything on the business side.

Teaching myself HTML came in handy - I created tomsadge.com and other commercial websites, which I operate to this day. Writing often on a blog temporarily satisfied my need to write and create art, as I made my own graphics to accompany the stories. I had already taken post-college art and writing courses in preparation for the writing career I had once envisioned for myself.

As Mrs. Tom Sadge
Our blessings have been many: two loving children and two loving grandchildren. A wonderful daughter-in-law.

I have been a night owl all my adult life, and an insomniac at times. This has been in my favor, as there is always so much to do as the wife of Tom Sadge and the hands on, full-time mother and part-time grandmother. For the past twelve years, we have been privileged to have had had our two grandchildren at our home during the day, and after school, while my son and his wife work at their professions.

Tom Sadge Is A Business, Not a Person
Tom Sadge is an impersonator who impersonates Neil Diamond and others. Tom Sadge, like Alice Cooper, does not exist except on the stage. And so, although I use it in this biography, Tom Sadge is a business name only.

Show business requires a lot of time and work, and it is not the glamorous business that many outside of show business think it to be.
For example, a couple of naive fans once asked Tom: "how was your limousine ride was from the airport to the hotel?" Tom and I, and our children, had a very good laugh over that one.

There are many sacrifices to be made on the road to a career in entertainment. Entertaining is what Tom loves to do, for the most part, his dream has come true.

Who Is Behind "Tom Sadge" ? It's a FAMILY Business
Talent alone won't make you a living. It's called show business for a reason. Tom and I have always been a team. In the early years I cocktail-waitressed at his gigs - for free and after a full day at my full-time job in retailing / store management. Many days I went to bed at 5am and got up for work at 7:30am - or didn't sleep at all.

I've used my college education and years as a business professional and manager to harness Tom's enormous talent and take it in a profitable direction. In addition to coming up with the idea of Tom's transition from local "Singing DJ" to internationally acclaimed Neil Diamond impersonator, Tom Sadge as Neil Diamomd, I designed all of, and sewed some of, the costumes, choreographed the on-stage moves, produced the debut promotional CD, built (and still maintain) the TomSadge.com website, made the initial contacts, communicate with agents & clients, shield him from overzealous fans, create and send out the contracts, file the receipts, do the bookkeeping and taxes, and do much of the work that takes place off stage.

Over the years, Tom has gained tremendous business savvy. In his last years as a celebrity impersonator, he put a respectable amount of time into the business end of our work. We are grateful to our two wonderful (now adult) children for their contributions to the family business. When they were young, they had to make many sacrifices. Much of our money was reinvested back into Tom Sadge. Their father was often away from home or on a schedule which did not dove tail with their lives .They are now grown and very successful in their own right.

Self-Employment - Risky!
Being self-employed is a high-wire, risky business. Your income is never guaranteed. Some months are "feast" and some are "famine". The overhead is daunting. (Other self-employed reading this will agree).
Yet there are benefits: a couple will either grow closer or farther away, Tom and I have spent four decades weathering the bumps that come along the way. Except for professional travel, which I occasionally engaged in with Tom, we work side by side daily from our home office. Often our work day ends at 4am. But, on the up side, there are whole days we can spend with our children and grandchildren. We can stop work in the middle of the day to go for a walk or drive together. - which we frequently do. This type of freedom helps to balance out the down side.

Show Business: Fans Versus Groupies
The nature of the entertainment business means you meet a lot of people from all walks of life. Most are interesting, appreciative, considerate, respectful and even encouraging. But, as any public figure's wife (or husband) can attest, you also meet your fair share of obsessed groupies and fans who can, without proper boundaries set by the celebrity himself / herself, become quite intrusive - even invasive and dangerous. We've had more than a few of these. Fans will clap and go home. Groupies will try to insert themselves into your private life or business.

I write on a regular basis, love to draw, and always have. One of my dreams has always been to write and illustrate a book. I hope to entertain readers with stories taken right from my experiences in life and in behind-the-scenes show business. The book may never happen, but a blog already has - it has been online since 1999. That said, my biggest dream has already been achieved: to be a good wife and mother. I am grateful for each "normal" day and what it brings. And for every night when nothing "bad" has fallen on those I love - or like. That is especially true as time marches on.

Retirement: COVID19 has taken it's toll on many people and businesses. "Tom Sadge" , the business - has been officially retired from the entertainment business. We have future plans for other non-show biz endeavors. Stay tuned!



Copyright 1998 - 2023 by Tom Sadge amd Marion Weiscarger Roughsedge / aka Marion Sadge All Rights Reserved