Tom Jones International

If you haven’t done so, please answer the Question of the Month and Question of the Month Part II. They are both posted below. And, don’t forget to check out my interview with producer Ethan Johns in the Huffington Post.

Tonight is the big night in Las Vegas! After seven months or so Sir Tom Jones is back at the MGM Grand tonight for the first of 14 shows.! If you are visiting from another city/state/country, you be aware that the average temperature here is more than 100º (37º+ celsius). So, bring lots of sunblock and don’t plan to sit in the sun all day. The good news is that there are no tickets for sale for Tom’s opening night. All that’s left are casino comps (free tickets given to high rollers). Great news for him!

Pat was kind enough to send this article. It’s from 2008 but it’s also a very slow news day in TJ Land. It’s from the (rather odd, don’t you think?) series called How I Get Dressed. One might assume that everyone gets dressed one leg at a time….but….

How I get dressed
How to wear tight leather pants, by singer Tom Jones, 68

The Guardian/Adam Matera/Sunday, 10 May, 2008/
Photograph left: Christopher Owyoung /Rex Features

When I started out I’d wear a blousy, Edwardian-type shirt – a jacket was too restrictive – and tight pants. Everyone wore tight pants, but maybe not quite as tight as mine. I perspire a lot on stage, so the pants had to be black, otherwise the sweat would show. I liked to look smart on stage. But what I wore had to be practical too.

We didn’t have stylists then. You could get a shirt like mine in Carnaby Street, and the Cuban-heeled shoes were from Anello & Davide in Kensington; the Beatles wore them, too.

I remember being resident singer in a club called Beat City on Oxford Street in 1964, and the Rolling Stones were booked one night. I would always wear jeans to the venue and change when I got there. They arrived all suited up, then changed into jeans and T-shirts. And I see that with bands today. Some of them go out of their way to look scruffy. But they’re still aware of how they want to look.

I’d grown up watching black-and-white rock’n'roll movies and people like Elvis – he always wore his shirt collars up. I saw Jerry Lee Lewis in concert once and he came out in red pants and a plaid jacket, and then Gene Vincent, who would always wear black leather. Those guys had a great sense of style.

By the 70s I’d moved to Los Angeles, and by then it was all silk shirts, flared pants, platform shoes. I remember doing the cover photo for Rescue Me where I’m sat under these girls’ legs with tight jeans and my shirt open, showing off my chest and grinning. But it was all done with a sense of humour.

Once I was singing Kiss at a TV special in Cardiff and I came to the part where I do a squat, and these leather pants I was wearing split up the back. So I said: “This is for people who don’t believe I wear underwear” and bent over so you could see the red briefs I had on. I’ve stopped that move now. You can’t always count on the pants holding up.

If I’m going out around LA in the day, I’ll wear a tracksuit or something comfortable, but if I’m out in the evening I’ll dress for the occasion. I like to dress smart. Now I do have a stylist, Peter Hawker, so he’ll get suits for me – Oswald Boateng, William Hunt, Gucci – and I pick out what I want.

The first thing I had done when I started to make money was have my teeth capped ’cause they were in bad shape. Then I had my nose fixed because it was broken through all the fights I’d had. Then a lot later I had some fat taken out from under my chin – hence the goatee. I haven’t had my face pulled or anything. The guy I saw in LA said you’ve got to be careful. You want to look like you.

Every Christmas I take five weeks off and stop dyeing my hair. It used to come out as a dirty grey, but this year it was more white and it looked pretty good. So for my first engagement I tried it out and people were shouting: “You look great, Tom.” So I thought: “Thank God, now I don’t have to dye it any more.”