Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas Jones Woodward,
OBE (born
7 June 1940), best known by his stage name,
Tom Jones is a
Welsh singer particularly noted for his powerful voice. He was born in
Treforest, near
Pontypridd in
South Wales.
He rose to fame in the mid-
1960s, with an exuberant live act which included wearing tight breeches and billowing shirts, in an
Edwardian style popular amongst his peers at the time. He was known for his overt
sexuality, before this was as common as it became in subsequent years.
In
1963 he became the frontman for Tommy Scott and the Senators, a local beat group. Clad all in black leather, Tom soon gained a reputation in the
South Wales area. The Senators were still all unheard of in
London.
That year they laid down seven tracks with maverick
Telstar producer
Joe Meek, and took them to various labels in an attempt to get a record deal - with no success. (Only after
It's Not Unusual became that massive hit, Meek was able to sell the tapes to Tower (USA) and
Columbia (UK)). The group returned to South Wales and continued to play gigs at dance halls and working men's clubs. One night, at the Top Hat in Cwmtillery, Tom was spotted by
Gordon Mills, a London-based manager originally from South Wales. Mills became Tom's manager, and took the young singer to
London. He also renamed him
Tom Jones. Gordon Mills gave many rock stars their stage names, among them
Engelbert Humperdinck (born Arnold George Dorsey). The Senators became the Playboys, and later still the Squires. It was the beginning of the second phase in Tom's career.
Record companies were finding his style and delivery to be too abrasive and raw. Tom's vocals were considered to be too raucous, and he moved like
Elvis. But eventually,
Decca rekindled their early interest, and Jones recorded his first single,
Chills And Fever in late
1964.The single didn't chart, but the follow-up,
It's Not Unusual, (co-written by
Les Reed), was an instant smash hit, released in early
1965. Initially the BBC refused to play it, but an offshore pirate station
Radio Caroline picked it up. Its orchestrated arrangement coupled with Jones' energetic delivery proved infectious, and by March 1st the song reached number one in the UK and the top ten in America. And so a star was born. In the same year, Tom sang the theme tune to the
James Bond film
Thunderball. Jones was awarded the
Grammy Award for Best New Artist for
1965. In
1966 Jones' popularity began to slip somewhat, causing Mills to redesign the singer's image into a more respectable, mature tuxedoed
crooner. Tom released his most successful single ever,
Green Green Grass of Home (written by
Claude "Curly" Putman Jr. in 1965), and began to sing material that appealed to a broad audience, as well as a string of hit singles and albums including
What's New Pussycat?,
Help Yourself and
Delilah. The strategy worked, as he returned to the top of the charts in the UK and began hitting the
Top 40 again in the
U.S. On
February 9,
1964 Tom appeared on
The Ed Sullivan Show, the first of several imminent appearances. In
1967 he performed for the first time in
Las Vegas, at The
Flamingo. In
1968, starting at New York's
Copacabana night club, women would swoon and scream, and some would throw their knickers on stage. Soon after, he began to play
Las Vegas, where he began recording less, choosing to concentrate on his lucrative club performances. At
Caesar's Palace Tom's shows were traditionally a knicker-hurling frenzy of raw sexual tension and good-time entertainment. There, they started throwing hotel room keys. Tom and Elvis became good friends, spending time together in Las Vegas. They had a friendship that would endure until Presley's death in
1977.
Jones had an internationally successful television variety show from 1969-1971 titled
This Is Tom Jones. This hit TV show aired on ABC-TV (
American Broadcasting Company) in America and
ITV in the UK. The
1970s saw Tom's popularity leveling off somewhat. But the hits kept on coming:
Daughter Of Darkness, She's A Lady, Till and The New Mexican Puppeteer were all hits in the
UK. On
July 29,
1986 Gordon Mills, Tom's long-time manager, died of
cancer. Tom's son Mark became the singer's manager. In April
1987 the singer re-entered the singles chart again. With the hit
A Boy From Nowhere Tom got back in the public eye. A few months later he performed a version of
Prince's
Kiss, and recorded it with
The Art Of Noise, and it was an instant hit. In
1993 he signed to
Interscope Records and released the album
The Lead And How To Swing It. In
1998 he performed a medley of songs from the film
The Full Monty with
Robbie Williams at the
Brit Awards. That same year,
Space and
Cerys Matthews released
The Ballad Of Tom Jones.
In
1999 he recorded the blockbuster album
Reload, a collection of duets with some of the year's brightest stars, which brought him back into the limelight. On New Year's Eve
2000 President
Bill Clinton invited Tom to perform at the
Millennium Celebrations in
Washington. Throughout 2000, Tom garnered several honours for his work, including a
Brit Award for Best Male. In
2001 Tom toured throughout the
Middle East and
Europe. In subsequent years Tom recorded albums in collaboration with such artists as
Wyclef Jean and
Jools Holland.
In celebration of his 65th birthday, on
28 May 2005 Tom returned to his homeland to perform a spectacular concert in Ynysangharad Park,
Pontypridd. This was Tom's first performance in Pontypridd since 1964.
His early hits include:
*"It's Not Unusual" (1965), Jones' signature song.
*"What's New Pussycat?", written by
Burt Bacharach for Woody Allen's
What's New, Pussycat? (1965)
*"Thunderball", the theme for the
James Bond film of the same name (1965) - an
urban legend states that when he hit the final high note of this song, Jones actually passed out, but Jones later denied this. However, the take was so good it was the one that was released.
*"The Green, Green Grass of Home" (1966), his most successful single, which was interpreted by many to refer to Jones' native Wales, despite being written about the USA [
1]
*"I'll Never Fall In Love Again" (1967)
*"Delilah" (1968), the usual choice of song for impressionists
"doing" Tom Jones, occasionally being criticised for the violent nature of the song
*"Help Yourself" (1968)
*"Without Love" (
1969)
*"She's A Lady" (
1971), his highest charting US single, peaking at #2
Jones's recording career slumped on the pop charts during the seventies and eighties, although he placed sixteen singles on the
Billboard Country Music charts between
1976 and
1985, and his touring continued successfully. When his son Mark became his manager in 1987, his musical style was taken in a different direction. His recording career was revived with his first major hit single in over a decade,
A Boy From Nowhere, taken from the musical
Matador. In
1988 he collaborated with The Art of Noise to record Prince's popular song
Kiss. Following this, he started to record in collaboration with a younger generation of musicians as listed below:
*
Prince's "Kiss" (1988, with
The Art of Noise)
*
EMF's "Unbelievable" â€" a staple of his
1990s live shows
*
Talking Heads' song "Burning Down The House" (1999, with
The Cardigans)
*"Baby, It's Cold Outside" (1999, with
Cerys Matthews of
Catatonia)
*
Iggy Pop's song "Lust for Life" (
1999, with
The Pretenders)
*
Randy Newman's song "Mama Told Me Not To Come" (2000, with
Kelly Jones of the
Stereophonics)
*"Sex Bomb" (From 1999's "
Reload", with
Mousse T)
*"You Need Love Like I Do" (2000, with
Heather Small of
M People)
His
Reload album, released in 2000, became the biggest hit of his career. An album of
cover versions recorded as duets with contemporary artists, using their record producers, and utilizing their recording methods, it reached number one in the United Kingdom, and sold over 4 million copies worldwide.[
2] In
2002, he released the album
Mr. Jones, which was produced by
Wyclef Jean and included the singles
Tom Jones International and
Black Betty. In
2003, he was honoured with a
Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In
2004, his
Sex Bomb single became a major US club hit.
For his contribution to the recording industry, Tom Jones has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6608 Hollywood Blvd.
In 2005 the album
Together In Concert, was recorded live with
John Farnham and his band.
He has collaborated with
Chicane for
Stoned in Love, a dance track that was released 24 April 2006. It entered at number eight in the UK charts the following Sunday.
The singer was awarded an
OBE in 1999 and a
knighthood in the
2006 New Years Honours list for his services to music, and was subsequently knighted by Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II at
Buckingham Palace,
London on
March 29, 2006.
Although his manager and public relations staff has attempted to change Tom's sex-bomb image and neutralize the knicker-throwing fans, to the delight of his audiences Tom has never felt the need to tone down his behaviour in his shows. Tom Jones has remained highly respected by other singers and continues to attract audiences of all ages. As of 2006, Tom Jones continues to tour and record. He performs shows at the
MGM Grand Las Vegas ten to twelve weeks each year, as well as performing concerts internationally.
Born Thomas Jones Woodward, the son of coal miner Thomas Woodward (died 5 October 1981), and Freda Jones (died 7 February 2003, of cancer), of
Pontypridd,
South Wales,
Great Britain. Tom began singing at an early age. He'd regularly sing at family gatherings, weddings and also sang in his school choir. He was struck down by
tuberculosis and bedridden for almost a year. It was a critical time for him, but he could do little else but listen to music and draw. At the age of sixteen Jones married Linda Trenchard in
1957 and had a son named Mark, long before becoming a
pop idol. Tom quit school with no qualifications and took a variety of jobs including a builder's labourer and a door-to-door vacuum salesman.
In
1974, Tom moved to
America, buying the mansion formerly belonging to
Dean Martin in
Los Angeles' Bel Air.
Despite frequent and much publicised infidelities, including an affair with the dethroned
Miss World of
1973, USA's
Marjorie Wallace, and a one night stand with
Elvira in which he claimed her
virginity, he has remained married and a family man. One of his dalliances with a fan produced a
love child, Jonathan Berkery born June 27th, 1988. He lost a
paternity suit when
DNA testing proved to be positive.
Tom has two grandchildren, Emma and Alexander Woodward. Alexander competed in the 2006
Commonwealth Games, representing
Wales as a Full-Bore
marksman.
Tom Jones was knighted by
Queen Elizabeth II on
29 March 2006, granting him the title of "Sir". The honour was officially for his contributions to music.
Jones lives in Los Angeles, California and at age 66 continues to tour extensively.
For a detailed discography, see: Tom Jones discography*
Best selling music artistsBert Schwartz:
"Tom Jones" (
Grosset & Dunlap, New York City, 1969) 76-103307
Peter Jones:
"Tom Jones: Biography of a Great Star" (Avon Publishing, 1970 (1st edition), 1971)ASIN: 0213002477
Colin MacFarlane:
"Tom Jones: The Boy from Nowhere" (W.H. Allen, London, 1988 St Martins Press, New York) ISBN 0491031181 ASIN: 0312026587
Stafford Hildred & David Gritten:
"Tom Jones : A Biography" (Isis Large Print Books, April 1991) ISBN 1850894868
Roger St. Pierre:
"Tom Jones - Quote Unquote" (Parragon Book Service, LTD. publishers, Great Britain, 1996) ISBN 0752516965
Stafford Hildred & David Gritten:
"Tom Jones : A Biography" (revised edition '98) (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1998 an imprint of
Macmillan Publishers Ltd) ISBN 0283063122
Chris Roberts:
"Tom Jones" (1st edition) (
Virgin Books, 1999 an imprint of Virgin Publishing Limited) ISBN 1852278463
Lucy Ellis, Bryony Sutherland:
"Tom Jones: Close Up" (
Omnibus Press, 2000) ISBN 0711975493 (Hc) ISBN 0711986452 (Pb)
Robin Eggar:
"Tom Jones - The Biography" (1st edition) (Headline Book Publishing, 2000)ISBN 0747275785
*
www.tomjones.com - Tom Jones Official Website*
Australian radio interview with John Farnham February 2005*
BBC interview from November 5, 2004 with video*
BBC Wales Bio*
Biography from the BBC UK*
Radio interview from December 10, 2003*
SoundtrackINFO project*
Tom Jones Lyrics*
Transcript of interview with Larry King November 7, 2003*
VH1 artist page featuring Tom Jones*
Yahoogroups: tomjones
