SIR Tom Jones is the first to admit he was born with the gift of a golden voice – but even he is amazed he is still belting out his hits at the grand old age of 83.
The Welshman is in the middle of his mammoth Ages and Stages World Tour, taking in countries such as Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. He has already played sell-out gigs in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the UAE and plays the first of many UK dates at Hampton Court Palace in South West London on June 11.
But despite his age, Sir Tom says he’s feeling fitter than ever thanks to having had both of his hips replaced in the last seven years He laughs: “Well, thank God my voice is still working. I am 83 years old.
“I mean I can’t believe it, but it is true. When I am singing I am like, ‘How the hell is this coming out of me?’ Honestly. If the voice was not there I am sure I would be going ‘Urgh, I don’t want to do so many shows’ but I love it as the voice is still working!”
The son of miner Thomas Woodward and his wife Freda, Sir Tom began singing at an early age, performing at family gatherings, weddings and in his school choir in Treforest, South Wales. He remembers his parents with great affection and admits it was their “salt of the earth” nature that kept him grounded when he hit the big time in 1965 with It’s Not Unusual.
After it topped the charts, Sir Tom splashed out on a red E-Type Jaguar, driving it home to his parents. He says: “I went home one night in the Jaguar and my mother was starting to cut sandwiches for my father.
“I said to my dad, ‘Where are you going?’ and he said, ‘I am going to work’. It was a Sunday night. I said, ‘You can’t be going’ and he said, ‘I am, I am a coal miner’. I said, ‘Not any more you are not’ and he said, ‘Yes I am’. I said, ‘Dad, I am selling records and making money’ and he said, ‘Yes, well how long will it last?’
“The pick and shovel he understood. Showbusiness, if you are not in it or attached to it, is a strange thing.” Thankfully, Sir Tom’s overnight success did last and it later took him all the way to America where he landed his own TV show and a lasting friendship with Elvis Presley.
Like many, Elvis was impressed with the Welshman’s natural charm, although Sir Tom was starstruck when they first met in Las Vegas. Sir Tom recalls: “When I first came to London in 1964 it was all groups.
“The group scene was so big with The Beatles and The Stones [that] individual singers had a job to break through. People used to say ‘That macho bullsh** went out the window with Elvis’, ‘Elvis is dead’ and I said, ‘Not in my house he isn’t’.
“When I finally got to the US, someone said to me, ‘Elvis is here. He would like to say hello’. I had this ballad out at the time called With These Hands and there was Elvis walking to me singing it. All I can remember thinking was, ‘Jesus Christ. It was Elvis Presley walking towards me singing my song!’.
“Elvis said, ‘How the hell do you sing like that, man?’ and I said, ‘You are partly to blame, listening to people like you’. When I used to sing in the working men’s clubs they used to say to me [I sang] as good as Elvis.”
Sir Tom would joke he would one day tell Elvis that when he met him, but his friends would be sceptical. “They used to go ‘Oh, yeah right!’,” he says. “So when Elvis was walking towards me all I could think of all my mates. Stuff like that is priceless.”
It wasn’t just the King of Rock ’n’ Roll who wanted to be friends with Sir Tom. He also met New York Mob kingpin, Sonny Franzese, the notorious underboss of the Colombo family at Manhattan’s Copacabana Club. Sonny liked Sir Tom’s no-nonsense Welsh Valleys attitude.
“I knew Sonny, he was all right,” says Sir Tom. “He walks over and sits at the table. He has got greased hair, a pin-striped suit, black shirt, white tie. He said, ‘What kind of man are you?’ I said, ‘I am man enough for you.’ I was like only 25 or 26 and I did not give a monkey’s spunk, to be honest with you. He goes, ‘I like you, kid. You have got balls’.”
Other A-list friendships followed with the likes of Sammy Davis Jr, Dionne Warwick, Johnny Cash, Stevie Wonder, Cher and Shirley Bassey. But due to the popularity of his US music TV show, This is Tom Jones, the star soon discovered how some artists were mistreated because of their race.
He says: “The black and white situation in those days, it was against the law to be segregated in America but they were still doing it. For me to do a duet with a black girl you had to be careful what songs you were doing because of the censor for [US] television. So you had to film everything twice.
“When we were filming the show for Britain it was fine but once it was going to be filmed for America, the censor came forward and said, ‘We have got to change that song. Aretha Franklin has got to change that dress. She is showing too much cleavage’. It was like that and I realised then that segregation was still going on in the States.”
With stardom came plenty of female attention, much to the frustration of Sir Tom’s high school sweetheart wife Linda, whom he married when the pair were just 16. The singer had a string of one-night stands, claiming to have slept with 250 groupies in a year during the height of his fame.
He also had longer affairs, including a high-profile one with The Supremes co-founder Mary Wilson. Next year marks the 60th since Sir Tom came into all of our lives thanks to It’s Not Unusual. His commitment to continue touring is a lasting tribute to Linda, who died from lung cancer aged 75 in 2016, and their son Mark, who is his tour manager.
Despite his infidelities, the Sex Bomb star always maintained Linda was “the most important thing” in his life, adding: “We loved one another ever since we saw one another.” And with his ongoing role as a coach on the ITV show The Voice and his current tours still going strong, it doesn’t look as if he is ready to slow down any time soon.
Looking back on his life, Sir Tom admits he is a born performer and has never wanted to share the spotlight. “I had an uncle, my father’s older brother, and his name was Georgie and he was a singing waiter and he used to sing in pubs so I would go and see him,” he recalls.
“I knew that I could sing and I was not frightened of anything. [But] I did not want to be part of a choir in Wales. I wanted to show off.” And, fortunately for his legions of fans, the showman in him is still very much alive.
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