Tom named his favorite 13 albums (a baker’s dozen) in the article below. It is crystal clear that Tom was influenced by these musicians and has spoken of some of them (Amy Winehouse and Jerry Lee come to mind immediately) often.

Please read it and think about it. Do you know this music? What do you like?

Baker’s Dozen
“Shit, That Sounds Tremendous!” Tom Jones On His 13 Favourite Albums
Laurie Tuffrey , May 17th, 2012 05:33, The Quietus.com

With his new album, Spirit In The Room, on the way, Sir Tom Jones reflects on his favourite LPs and tells Laurie Tuffrey about his friends Elvis, Aretha and Stevie.

Big Bill Broonzy – Trouble In Mind
It was on the radio, I was just getting it, I was thinking, ‘Fuck, what is that? Who is that?’, it was so different. I would say ‘Black, Brown and White’ is my favourite song. It was played on BBC radio, and at the time – he said it himself – that he couldn’t record it in America, so I think he recorded it in France, because they said it’s too controversial. Even black friends of his said, ‘Don’t you stir up the shit here! We could get repercussions.’ But I thought he put it… He was just stating a fact. He wasn’t saying ‘you white bastards’ or ‘the whites won’t let us’, he wasn’t saying anything like that. It’s just ‘me and a man was working side by side, this is what it meant, they were paying him a dollar an hour and they were paying him 50 cents’. You know, he said, ‘If you’re white, you’re alright, if you’re brown stick around, but if you’re black, get back.’ Which I thought was tremendous.

Little Richard – Little Richard’s Greatest Hits
It’s got all the classics on it: ‘Good Golly Miss Molly’, ‘Rip It Up’. It’s tremendous, when you put that thing on: from start to finish, it’s boom all the way! First of all, I thought he was a girl, because I heard him do ‘Rip It Up’ and I’d heard Bill Haley & The Comets – they covered a lot of things where we didn’t know what the originals were at first, but then you’d hear them – sometimes in movie houses funnily enough, like in Pontypridd, between films, they would play records. Sometimes they’d play the original American ones, but that’s when I heard ‘Rip It Up’ by Little Richard. I thought, ‘Some chick has covered Billy Haley & The Comets’, but it was the original record. And then the same thing with ‘Ain’t That A Shame’ – I heard the Pat Boon version before I heard Fats Domino. We never got to them that early – there was always somebody covering them first, getting the jump on it.

It definitely made me appreciate the songs more when I first heard it, no doubt about it. Americans – they’re paranoid about the lyrics that might be a little risque. With Big Joe Turner, on his version of ‘Shake Rattle and Roll’, there’s some – ‘you’re wearing those dresses, the sun comes shining through / I can’t believe my eyes, all that mess belongs to you’ – [laughs] well, they cut that back out straightaway! Bill Haley & The Comets: ‘Wearin’ those dresses, your hair done up so nice / you look so warm, but your heart is cold as ice’ – they changed it.

For the rest of Tom’s choices and to comment, please click here to

Hank Williams – Hank Williams as Luke the Drifter
That’s when he did all talking songs. He had this pseudonym, Luke the Drifter, but I remember it for ‘Beyond The Sunset’ and every track was where he sang a little bit, but he talked a lot. The earlier ones that I heard Hank Williams doing were the classic hits that he had, ‘Cold Cold Heart’ and ‘Your Cheating Heart’. This one I came to later. I heard Hank Williams as Luke the Drifter first in America. When I first went to the States in 1965, I was finding albums in the Colony record shop, right in Manhattan.

It was the honesty of the songs – they were very well written, the lyrics, which were tremendous. That’s what I liked about it and what I still do. The ones were he talks, that’s another thing again. He went a step up there: it was great to hear him talk as well as sing. ‘I Dreamed About Mama Last Night’, that’s a great song, just about life, talking and singing.

Solomon Burke – Rock ‘n Soul
The first time I heard him was in London, it was 1964 and he had just come out with that album and I got it. It was in my manager Gordon Mills’s Notting Hill Gate flat and he just had it because they used to send him stuff – things that I might like. There was this album, so I thought “Shit! This is tremendous” and recorded a bunch of the songs on there – ‘If You Need Me’ was one of the ones on the first album. Solomon was always my favourite soul singer, more than Otis Redding, Sam and Dave or Wilson Pickett. Solomon was a step above. He was more of a singer who happened to sing blues and gospel – you could tell that he came from the church, but he sang it better. Otis Redding used to get trouble with this throat – you could hear it in him. He was struggling to get out what he did. Wilson Pickett had great feel and great drive, but there was a roughness to his voice, and Solomon could be rough or sweet when he wanted to be, he could put his voice into different areas. And his range was huge – there’s that track on it, ‘Goodbye Baby, Baby Goodbye’, he sings that in two octaves, which is tremendous. Real, very honest.

Elvis Presley – Elvis Presley
That first album, that sounds great to me. The first one we heard was ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, because I don’t think they ever released the Sun records – the RCA records came out first.

We had a great friendship – I met him in 1965 the first year I went to the States. He was doing a movie at Paramount Studios, and I was at Paramount to talk about a song for a movie and they said ‘Elvis Presley is filming here today, and he heard that you’re coming over, and he’d like to meet you.’ Like to meet me? I tell you, I didn’t even know he knew I existed. I had three singles out at the time: ‘It’s Not Unusual’, ‘What’s New Pussycat?’ and a ballad called ‘With These Hands’, and he had the three of them. He was walking towards me singing ‘With These Hands’ – [impersonates Elvis] ‘with these hands’. And then he said, ‘How do you sing like that?’ And I said, ‘It’s your fault, you were partly to blame!’ He said, ‘Well, you know, I come from Mississippi, I was born there, I was brought up with this stuff. What’s it like in Wales? Are there any black people there?’ I said, ‘Only when they come out of the coal mine! No, it’s listening to American music on the radio – that’s where I’ve got it from.’ He couldn’t believe that somebody could sing like me not being influenced first hand, like he was – the gospel thing, listening to gospel groups and blues clubs like that.

He preferred a lot of the later things that he did. I said, ‘That early stuff on Sun Records, man, I mean jeez’. He said, ‘Ah, it was very primitive – we didn’t have very good equipment and it’s a lot better now.” And I said, ‘But there’s fire there’, and he said ‘I’m glad you think so.” But he didn’t do them on stage. I said, ‘You want to open with them, open with ‘Blue Suede Shoes’.’ But no, he wouldn’t do it. Then one time, on his own special, he starts to go into some ‘Whole Lotta Shakin” and then he goes on into another, and he said, ‘We could do this all night’, so you could see he was really wanting to do it. But he wasn’t thrilled with those early recordings, he thought he made better records later on.

Charlie Rich – The Many New Sides of Charlie Rich
‘Mohair Sam’ was one of the tracks on it – I recorded it on my first album because of hearing him do it. But I liked him before that – ‘Lonely Weekends’ was the first one I heard him sing. Heard it on the radio, on the BBC – some people had condemned the BBC because they didn’t play enough of this or enough of that but at least you would get a smidgen of things coming through. I’d be getting records then from Spillers in Cardiff, but there was a shop in Pontypridd which was more local, called Freddy Feys, and I would get a lot of stuff in there. On another album later on, I did the song that was on The Many New Sides… called ‘Field of Yellow Daisies’ that his wife wrote, which I learned later – when I met him, he said “Thanks for recording that.”

Aretha Franklin – Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You
The rawness is what perked me up when I heard this first – and I’ve never forgotten that. You know, I’ve gotten a lot of her albums since, but that first one… There’s an American singer called Nancy Wilson and the tone of their voices is very similar. When they first played it, I was driving back down to London from the north of England – it came on the radio and I thought, ‘Thank God, Nancy Wilson has gone back to church.’ You know what I mean, Nancy Wilson has got more soul, because the tones of their voices are very similar. But then they said ‘this new singer, Aretha Franklin…’ so I went out and bought the record in London.

Meeting her for the first time [Franklin appeared on This Is Tom Jones], Aretha was very quiet – unbelievably quiet. I mean you’d go ‘Hello’ and she’d say ‘Hello.’ ‘How are you?’ ‘Fine thank you.’ ‘Great!’ And that’s it. And when we were doing the rehearsal, and she’d open her mouth to sing, the volume that came from this woman – how can a girl who’s so shy and quiet – all of a sudden BOOM – burst?

Jerry Lee Lewis – The Sun Years
‘Whole Lotta Shakin”, was the first time I heard him, in Pontypridd, being played from Freddy Fey’s record shop. People used to ask me, because I loved music so much, ‘What do you think of this record, what do you think of that record?’ When Elvis Presley came out, I said he can’t be the only one – a white man being influenced by black music in the South. So when ‘Whole Lotta Shakin” came out, my friends said, ‘Is that what you’re talking about?’ I said, ‘That’s exactly what I’m talking about!’ Another guy, playing piano, similar to what Elvis was doing, but even more syncopated, white and from the South. It was unbelievable to hear that record. Then ‘Great Balls Of Fire’ followed, and ‘High School Confidential’ was a great record.

When you listen to his records, he always sings up, except towards when he got older and the pressures of life got on him. In the beginning, he was always up, you know the ends of everything came up. Little Richard was pushing the shit out of everything but Jerry Lee, he had his syncopation, it was like he floated. He fell out of favour, because he married his cousin – it was a shame, he was still making great records. There’s one called ‘Loving Up A Storm’ and that’s equally good. That’s on The Sun Years, they’re all there.

I saw him live in Cardiff in 1962, and Johnny Kidd and the Pirates were there and they were slick… I thought, ‘Shit, how’s Jerry Lee going to get over this?’, because they closed the first half. He came on, and instead of how Johnny Kidd and the Pirates were very aggressive, Jerry Lee was the opposite, he opened up with ‘Move On Down The Line’ and the band were like [sings] and he just walked on and was like [gestures] showing us the the chord he was going to play. He just sat down at the piano and – boom – went into it. It was like ‘Jesus Christ!’ You know, it was smooth, it was slick, it was rock & roll but he wasn’t like, screaming – he had a different take on it and yet it was rocking.

Stevie Wonder – Talking Book
Great songs. I had it on 8-track in my car. I heard ‘Fingertips’ first, and I thought “Shit! Who’s playing harmonica on that for a start off?” So those Motown records were happy records, great for dancing and parties and things. But then it got deeper, more personal, which is why I picked that record. I think people should try things and if you have something to say, something in you, then do it. That can happen in different times of your life, and I think for him, he had that to prove – you know he had done the jolly records, and wanted to get deep. And he did.

Favourite song would be ‘Blame It On The Sun’. It was different, “but my heart blames it on me” – blame it on this, blame it on that, but at the end of that day, my heart blames it on me. I love clever lyrics… and its a simple story but the way he put it together was very clever.

Bill Withers – Just As I Am
I heard this on the radio in the States, and I loved the songwriting. He was coming up with something different, it was a soulful folk, so I went and bought the album in LA, I thought “I gotta hear what this guy does” and every bloody track on it is a gem.

I’ve always loved the sound of an album, maybe as much as the songs themselves, you know the performance, the sound of it makes a big difference to me. And now you know you can get box sets with alternate takes, and you realise then how long it took them sometimes to get the final take. The first time they did it was good, but then all of a sudden – boom – and there it is. I think there’s a good learning process to listen to the ones they didn’t let go, where the producers said “not yet”, and they persevered until… there it is.

When I’ve been in a club sometimes, I’ve gotten up [on stage] and they’ve been like, “Do ‘Delilah’!”, and I’ve said “Let me just do this, which I don’t normally do”. So it is, because when you’ve made big records – great onstage, the way you do your own show – but it’s great to do other stuff when you don’t have to do those things. Not that I don’t like them, you know ‘Delilah’’s a great record, but its nice to do other things. So when you hear someone like Bill Withers doing something like that and being successful, you think, “See, there’s room for that.” There’s room for all different kinds of records. They don’t all have to be the same, or in the same vein, or chasing some things just to get a hit record.

Keb’ Mo – Keb’ Mo‘
I was at my son’s house in Henley, we were having dinner. Mark likes to play me things that he knows I’ll like. So he didn’t say anything, he just put it on. We were having dinner, and I hear ‘Am I Wrong’ and I said, ‘Who the hell is that?’ He said, ‘Who?’ I said, ‘What you’re playing there!’ ‘Oh, a guy called Keb’ Mo’.’ So I said, ‘Turn it up!’ It’s tremendous. [sings ‘Am I Wrong'] You just think, Jesus! Something that I haven’t heard before, that first initial thing, is always the most exciting to me. I’ve heard him do other things since, but that, ‘Am I Wrong’… great. When I’ve listened to him singing, there’s a similarity in our vocal tone and syncopation. When I was playing it in my house, funnily enough, back in LA – I play guitar, nowhere near as good as he does, but a few chords – so I’m playing it downstairs and my wife was up in the bedroom, and I said ‘did you hear that thing I was playing?’ She said ‘you got your guitar out, right? It was you?’ I said ‘it’s not me’. She said ‘I heard you get your guitar out and start singing’, I said ‘no, it’s not, it’s a guy called Keb’ Mo”. And she thought that it was me, and I thought, ‘wow, that’s great, that she thinks I can play as well as him’.

Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
When she did the video of ‘Rehab’, I thought ‘Jesus, what is that?’ – again, that initial thing… I thought, ‘shit, she sounds tremendous, who is this kid?’ And it looked great, and the arrangement was great and the whole package was great, and I had to get the album. So I got the CD and it just got better and better. You hear her getting into the ballad, ‘Love Is A Losing Game’ – that’s like a standard, that comes from a jazz standard, something one of the old jazzers would have done, that’s how good that is. She nails the shit out if it. The whole album is tremendous, and it’s just a shame – making an album like that and then nothing.

The band I take on the road with me is the same brass section that she used to use. So when she died, we were in France and I saw it on BBC news, and I came down to the bar that night and I said ‘my God, how did that happen? She must have thought she was indestructible’, and they said the opposite – she had loved living on the edge apparently, it was that thing of danger, that’s what they felt. I wish I’d met her and had a chance to sing with her because she had a lot to offer, and she had a great spirit and what she sang was tremendous. I would have loved to duet. When you record something was somebody, it lasts forever, and if you haven’t, it’s a shame.

It’s a shame that it [drug addiction] happened to her so early. With Whitney Houston, she’s left a wealth of material to listen to, but Amy Winehouse, I know she did an album before that, but Back To Black is tremendous, you just think ‘shit!’ Just waiting for the next, and now there is no next and it’s a bloody shame. The drug thing, it never appealed to me. Sniffing cocaine, I know what it does. For singers, it’s death – it gets on your vocal chords, it’s bad news. Burns your bloody nose out. I’ve never taken any drugs. The only thing I took was at the beginning, purple hearts, because I was doing so many shows and I was getting tired. I think it was Viv Prince, who used to be a drummer with The Pretty Things, who said, ‘try one of these, that’ll keep you awake’, but then I realised you couldn’t go to sleep! So that was a short-lived thing. And I’ll take a sleeping pill when I’ve got to go to sleep and I know I need to get up, but mild ones, nothing heavy, because I don’t want anything to get in the way of what I do. And when I’ve gone a little too far drinking and I think ‘oh shit, I’ve got to get up tomorrow’, then you see it, and you think ‘you fucking idiot! You stretched it too far last night’. So you do that enough times and you learn, but some people don’t learn.

Paolo Nutini – Sunny Side Up
I saw him on the Jay Leno show, and I thought ‘wow, this is a good band’. It was like the Kings of Leon, southern rock, and he came on with that thing and I thought ‘I wonder where this kid’s from, he must be from the South somewhere’. And then when Jay Leno says ‘that was great’, Paolo says [adopts Scottish accent] ‘thank you very much’, and I thought ‘he’s fucking Scottish!’ So it’s great, but the album he did as well, that’s great. I play that – there’s so many great things on there. Again, it’s fresh, it’s different from other things, so I hope he can come up with more, because he writes as well. And Ethan John [Jones's producer for Spirit In The Room] produced the album, which I didn’t know, when I heard the album. There’s a jazz band thing, a traditional jazz band thing. ‘Simple Things In Life’, I like that, about going round to his mother’s for tea, it’s great. He paints a picture, you can see him do it.

Palladia HD TV showed a bit of Tom at the 2011 Isle of Wight Festival. It had very little music, but some nice chat. Thanks to Lois for sharing it with other fans!

If you, as I was, wondered why Tom didn’t have a presence at the London Olympics, the wondering is over. Even though he’s not performing (as far as we know) at the games, he will be doing a London concert on the opening day. It’s free to the public and, hopefully, it will be broadcast on TV.

In The Mirror on May 15, 2012, Laurie Hanna wrote:

Voice of the Olympics: Tom Jones to headline massive free London 2012 party in Hyde Park

It is part of a series of parties across the capital which will see bands, DJs and giant outdoor screens showing live 2012 event

Tom Jones was today named as the headline act of a huge free gig to celebrate the start of the Olympics.

The Voice star, 71, will perform in Hyde Park on the first day of action on Saturday, July 28.

It is part of a series of parties across the capital which will see bands, DJs and giant outdoor screens showing live 2012 events.

London Mayor Boris Johnson said: “We’re presenting an unprecedented number of events to suit every taste and make this a summer like no other.

“It’s a fantastic way for hundreds of thousands of people to experience live Games action for free.”

More than one million free tickets are available for the outdoor parties.

They will be in Hyde Park, Central London, and Victoria Park close to the Olympic Stadium in East London. Events end in Trafalgar Square for the Paralympics.

Visitors can play volleyball, tennis, basketball and cricket.

There will also be a 180ft observational wheel in Victoria Park where people can see into the stadium. There will also be some guaranteed entry tickets.

Dame Kelly Holmes, who won gold at Athens in 2004, joked it made the Games accessible to everyone “from posh blokes like Boris to normal people like me”.

Ian Livingstone, chief of BT which is sponsoring the events, added: “The Olympics will not only be a great sporting event, it will be a great cultural event for London.”

The parties open and close with two paid-for gigs in Hyde Park.

Duran Duran will headline the first on July 27, where they will join Snow Patrol representing Northern Ireland, Stereophonics for Wales and Paolo Nutini for Scotland.

Blur headline the closing show on August 12 along with the Specials and New Order.

The photo at left is of Tom leaving The Punch Bowl restaurant in the Mayfair section of London on May 16. It is one of four in the TJI flickr set Pap Shots: The Paparazzi Capture Tom.

It was nice to see personal assistant Don Archell back with Tom. It was not nice to read the caption on the photos. The photographer wrote “Tom Jones appears to have taken his tanning a little bit too far, as he appears slight orange after leaving The Punch Bowl.” I, for one, disagree and wish the idiot British tabloids and paparazzi would just stop trashing Tom (and their other celebs). Is it supposed to be a sign of respect?

This is not a film you’re likely to see in theaters but, if you wish, you can see a few seconds of the trailer for Suing The Devil.

NBC in the USA just announced that there will be a fall edition of The Voice and they are looking for judges. The four on the season just wrapped — Adam Levine, CeeLo Green, Blake Shelton and that woman “XTina,” who wore the rhinestone frisbee way too often, will be back for the spring edition but, the network says, “two commitments a year is more than they expected.”

So, let’s see: is it time to contact your local NBC station or, perhaps, start a Facebook page to promote your choice for the fall USA judging panel?

This is absolutely the best episode of The Voice UK from the perspective of fans of Sir Tom and Will.i.am. It is well worth watching the entire one hour-27 minutes-57 seconds. You see a bit more of them and see their human side. (Moderator’s Note: I was correct about Tom Jones, golfer:)) There’s footage from Team Tom’s no-reason-to-happen golf outing. Both Team Tom and Team Will sing Ray Charles. Reaction in the press and on blogs has not been fabulous, but they are fun songs.

Several news outlets have written that Tom is very pleased with the marriage of Prince William and the Dutchess of Cambridge (which must, in turn, please them no end:)). One source, Canada’s CTV says:

Tom Jones praises William and Catherine.

Sir Tom Jones believes Britain’s Prince William and Duchess Catherine have the “ingredients” to succeed at marriage.

The ‘What’s New Pussy Cat?’ singer – who has been married to wife Melinda for 55 years – admits he thought of the royal couple’s nuptials at London’s Westminster Abbey in April 2011 as a “fairytale” and thinks they will have a long and happy union.

He said: “The wedding really was a fairytale and the fact it was so popular worldwide shows how much our royals affect people.

“Everyone was affected by the pageantry of the occasion, but ultimately it was great to see two lovely young people in love. You can never know if a marriage will last, but they’ve got the ingredients to succeed.”

Tom has met Queen Elizabeth before, and admits he was worried she would send him to the Tower of London when he revealed he lived in Los Angles instead of the U.K.

He said: “Before one of the Royal Variety Performances, she asked me I liked living in America. I said I only lived there because it was more convenient, rushing my words out as if Her Majesty could still send me to the Tower!”

Veteran crooner Tom Jones appears to be the most hands-on judge meanwhile, with recent departure Adam Isaac speaking of his ‘positivity’ and ‘warmth’.

The 29-year-old said: ‘Tom invited Matt and Sueleen and myself back to his dressing room after the show and said how hard the decision was for him to make.

‘He’s very positive and warm and was such a laugh backstage – it was really funny when we went to play crazy golf with him.’

From The Independent | Sunday, May 13, 2012
The fall and rise of Tom Jones: The singer reflects on an extraordinary life

He’s not only been thrilling the nation with his turn on the BBC’s reality show The Voice; Tom Jones has been back in the studio, too – and he has rarely sounded better, says Nick Duerden.

In a windowless but well-appointed basement suite of a London hotel – there are drinks and nibbles, and the sofas are plump – I have just asked Sir Tom Jones whether he harbours any major regrets in life. His eyes, which, up close, are pale enough to appear translucent, flash with the sudden effort of concentration.

“Regrets?” he repeats. “No, no. No, I don’t think so.” But then he changes his mind. “Actually, wait. One night in 1965, I was in this club in Los Angeles watching Little Richard perform. My visa had run out a few days previously, and my manager had advised me not to do anything that might constitute work. Halfway through the show, Richard invited me up on stage. He was on fire that night, and I wanted to help him rip all hell out of that tune, but I didn’t. I just stood there, shaking my head, like I was convinced the moment I opened my mouth, Immigration would appear.” He shudders. “I tell you, I still think about that sometimes. That’s a regret.”

And here comes another.

“It was one night, can’t remember the year, but I’d just finished a show in America. Elvis,” he says, before adding helpfully, “Elvis Presley, was in my dressing-room. Now, Elvis was well aware that people were forever taking pictures of him, so he always made sure he looked his best. Sure enough, somebody soon came up and asked to take a picture, and so there we were, arm-in-arm, Elvis looking all perfect, like, and me…” He waves his hand up around his face, as if to suggest the presence of a double chin. “…I hadn’t straightened myself up properly, see? I looked awful. And in that picture, I always will. I bloody regret that an’all.” He sighs. “But other than that, no, no regrets.”

Little wonder, really, for here is someone who seems, in every sense, to have had it all. Having served out his three score years and 10, Jones has recently tipped into his eighth decade looking remarkably fit and healthy. He confirms this, more than once, by exclaiming: “There’s nothing wrong with me! I don’t have any ailments!”

He certainly looks more robust than your average 71-year-old, and, in a general sense, remains statuesque: arms like tree trunks, thighs like bigger tree trunks, a wide smile and a voluble presence compounded by his deep, rich voice which fills the room with an almost biblical resonance. He stopped dyeing his hair Dracula-black a few years ago, and thank goodness for that, frankly, because the grey suits him more, as does the physical evidence of his advancing years. Given that he has called California home for the past 35 years now, you fancy he must have had some work done, but it doesn’t show. When he says something that causes him to frown, his forehead frowns right along with him.

At an age at which society tends to consign people to the sidelines, Jones is experiencing something of a renaissance. Of course, musically speaking he has been in the middle of a renaissance since 1988, but this is a multimedia renaissance. He now has Saturday-night telly fame – on the BBC1 talent show The Voice – and he has just made his acting debut in a short film called King of the Teds, which aired on Sky Arts last month.

“I’ve been asked to do things – films and that – in the past, but they were always too cheesy, and always musicals,” he says, lip curling in distaste. “Elvis – and I don’t want to name-drop too much here – but, well, Elvis bloody hated those things, so I always stayed well clear. I never wanted to be in a movie with a bunch of dancing girls.”

King of the Teds, which co-starred Brenda Blethyn and Alison Steadman, did not feature dancing girls. Written by Jim Cartwright, the man behind Little Voice, it was a poignant drama about a man with a natural talent for singing but for whom the cards never quite fell correctly.

Jones felt confident he could deliver, he says, because it was essentially the story of his life: “A fella from a small town, two girlfriends, got one pregnant, and married her. Only thing was, I escaped from the small town, he didn’t.”

Throughout the filming, he would experience eerie waves of not-quite déjà vu, a parallel universe in which another Tom Jones was condemned to live forever, undiscovered.

“The house it was set in was basically the house I grew up in, in Pontypridd, so it felt very weird. I couldn’t help thinking, “There but for the grace of God.” It made me feel so grateful that I got lucky. OK, I may have had this voice, but luck was definitely involved. It always was. It still is.”

Tom Jones escaped Pontypridd in 1962, and by 1965 was already on the way to superstar status, “It’s Not Unusual” spearheading a run of hits that would span the next six decades. Unlike, say, Cliff Richard, for whom fame always seemed to compromise the maintenance of his halo, Jones relished his success and, despite being a married man and a new father, he lived up to his reputation as one of the UK’s most virulent men with unstinting enthusiasm.

His musical career ebbed and flowed over the years, as he drifted in and out of fashion. Never a songwriter, he had instead to rely on the strength of the songs that were provided to him. Many of them – “Delilah”, “She’s a Lady”, “Thunderball”, countless more – proved timeless, but even the less memorable ones – 1977′s “What a Night!”, for example, or 1979′s “Dancing Endlessly”, neither of which make Greatest Hits retrospectives – were emboldened by a voice that, like his friend Elvis’s, could breathe life into the most flatlining of rhyming couplets.

By the mid-1970s, he had fallen out of fashion, famed now only – and wrongly, he still insists – as one of Las Vegas’s more enduring star attractions. “I only ever played two-week residencies maybe four times a year,” he grumbles, “but it was reported like I was always bloody there, and I did get tarnished with a particular Vegas-y image that probably didn’t do me any favours.”

A decade on, and he was, in effect, history, no more the leather-clad colossus with his own primetime TV show, but rather a singer of syrupy standards that were big in America’s country-music charts, and nowhere else. It was only after the death of his manager and long-time friend Gordon Mills in 1986 that his career was rescued by his own son Mark, who took over management duties and attempted something that seemed destined to fail: reviving a 1960s sex god into an artist of renewed relevance.

But he did it, and within two years Jones was back on Top of the Pops, chomping his way through Prince’s Kiss as if it tasted like Peperami. Over the ensuing three decades, Mark Jones, now 55, would continually reinvent his father, getting him to record better songs, with better producers, and often doing high-profile collaborations with the likes of Manic Street Preachers, Hugh Laurie and Jack White.

“We have a very special relationship, me and Mark,” he says. “I’m grateful he’s done so much for my career, of course, but I’m also gratified as a parent that he is doing something that clearly makes him so happy. He’s not just good at his job, you know. He loves it.”

Jones is now set to release a new studio album, his 38th. A scenario in which, say, Mick Jagger’s new work would be proclaimed among his very best would be an unlikely one, yet you could comfortably say this about Jones’s Spirit in the Room: the man has rarely sounded better.

Like so much of his back-catalogue, it is essentially another covers album, but the songs – by artists such as Paul Simon, Richard Thompson and Odetta Gordon have a depth to match the voice, and if there is a unifying theme, it is their sense of reflection. Like Johnny Cash in his latter years, Jones is increasingly using songs to brood over an increasingly evident mortality. “All my friends have gone, and my hair is grey,” he sings on the opening track, Leonard Cohen’s “Tower of Song”. “I ache in the places where I used to play.”

“I wouldn’t have been allowed to do this kind of music 30 years ago,” he suggests, “because it wouldn’t have been seen as commercial enough. But I love that I’m now able to make music that really reflects me, who I am.”

Only one track on the album gave him pause, Tom Waits’ “Bad as Me”, which, in featuring lyrics about Mother Superior in a bra and Jesus working behind a bar, he feared was blasphemous. Jones, a committed Christian – those crucifixes that used to nestle in his chest hair were not merely for show – would never knowingly blaspheme. But he liked the song, and his producer encouraged him to have a go at it.

It needed, however, some kind of damage limitation, just in case. “And so I inserted a laugh in the middle of it,” he says. “You know, to show I was only joking, like. Because, let’s face it, it is a pretty cheeky bloody song, isn’t it?”

His most recent album, 2010′s gospel-influenced Praise & Blame, reached number two in the charts, and Jones is already eager, if not downright anxious, to learn whether Spirit in the Room can go one better. This speaks volumes about his ambition. But why? What does a man who has already sold 100 million albums have left to prove? Shouldn’t he be off playing golf instead?

“Golf?” he booms, horrified. “I never bloody liked golf. No, no. I’ve no hobbies. Music is what I do. It’s why I’m here. I wouldn’t know what else to do, to be honest with you.”

Which is why this late renaissance has been so welcome. It gets him out of the house, and away from the pool – sunbathing being his only guilty pleasure these days. “Don’t get me wrong, I do like the pool, but there’s still so much more to do, the way I see it.”

Consequently, he is always open, in theory, to any offers of gainful employment. No, he insists, he was not invited to represent the UK at this year’s Eurovision before they plumped for Engelbert Humperdinck, but when BBC TV executive Alan Yentob approached him to become one of the judges on X Factor facsimile The Voice, he jumped at the chance, and not only because Yentob was very complimentary: “He said that whenever I was on TV, ratings shot up,” he beams.

Nevertheless, surely he had to think long and hard before accepting what could so easily have become a poisoned k chalice? “Absolutely,” he agrees. “And I had to wonder whether I really wanted the fame and intrusion this kind of thing brings. I also wanted to know who my fellow coaches would be. That was really important. I wanted to know we could complement one another, you know, appropriately.”

Every Saturday night, then, Jones can be found sitting alongside Jessie J, the Black Eyed Peas’ Will.I.Am and the Script’s Danny O’Donoghue in his fancy red chair, dispensing wisdom and shedding, as is mandatory for TV talent shows, the odd tear. What is it, I ask, that he feels he brings to the show?

He stutters before answering, and as he does so, a blush actually rises to his cheeks. “Well, the others appeal to the young and hip folk out there, while I’m the old… the old… well, you know, the old-timer, I suppose, the one with all the experience, experience that I can hopefully bring to bear.”

He reveals that the producers wanted him to spend as much screen-time as he could boasting about all those he has sung with over the years – Elvis, Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr – but he has so far proved resistant. Or so he seems to think. “That would be showing off,” he says, “and I don’t want people to think I’m showing off, you know?”

Last year, halfway through a tour, Jones was admitted to a hospital in Monaco suffering from severe dehydration. But, as his website later protested, “There were NO heart problems.” He recovered quickly, and says he has since remained in rude health. His vices, these days, are few. He has even cut down on his drinking. “I do still like a drink – drinks – especially with food, but the problem is that I find wine fattening now.” His eyes widen, like a scientist making a new discovery. “There are calories there, you see. I never had to worry about calories before. My metabolism took care of that. It doesn’t so much any more, so I’ve had to cut back.”

And if he is not taking his health for granted any more, he says, it is because he is becoming increasingly aware that time for him is running out.

“I’ll be 72 next month [Jones' birthday is on 7 June], and so I suppose I’ll be lucky if I have another 20 years left. Twenty years is nothing. The last 20 have gone by like that,” he snaps his fingers, “and that’s scary, it frightens me. You know, if I could have one wish granted, it would be for immortality. God has given me this most wonderful life, and the only thing I hate about the ageing process is that, one day, I’m not going to be able to live it any more.”

Suddenly, he looks quite bereft. He leans forward on the sofa and, his voice dropping to a gravelly whisper, says: “Hank Williams once sang a song called I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive. I never thought of it like that, but you know what? He’s right. None of us will.”

*The Error: In the 12th paragraph, the word should be “virile,” (defined as “having strength and energy”) not “virulent” (defined as “a disease that is extremely severe or harmful in its effects” or “bitterly hostile.”)

Don’t miss the story under the video at the bottom of this post.

Sir Tom arrives at BBC studios, May 10, 2012. Photo: Bauer Griffin

Just below are some select tweets from @RealSirTomJones, Tom’s twitter feed. The moderator of TJI has gotten a couple of emails about these tweets. (The moderator doesn’t read “his” tweets as she rarely goes on twitter. Too busy to keep up with everything, although she does have an account.) The writers say that the tweets are not reflective of Sir Tom. After all, would he use “v” for very? Does he use phrases like “cranked up” to describe music? He may (and often does) pronounce “beautiful” as “boot-i-full,” but would he write it like that? Or is it just supposed to be cute? And (the one with which your moderator heartily agrees): Would Tom Jones — usually very well-spoken — say “Me and my team rehearsing”? He probably would not. And, though he signs many autographs “with love,” would he end every tweet with “X?” Clearly, the RealSirTomJones himself has nothing to do with this Twitter account. It is (badly) written by someone hired or assigned to do the job. Obviously someone thought he needed a twitter account to be cool and appeal to a specific demographic but there’s nothing cool or appealing about putting words in his mouth that he’d never put there himself. What do you think?

In an article in the Daily Mail (photo top left) Tom allegedly talks about his family (“the missus?!”) and his career. He also “looks horrified” when asked if he tweets (or, as he calls it, “twits.”) Thus, the question above is definitively answered. You can read the article here.

Tom went out to dinner with Jessie J after they did their duet for Chris Evans in London (video above) on May 10. Of course, the paparazzi were on hand to catch the event. There are, thus, 14 new photos in the TJI.com Flickr set, Pap Shots: The Paparazzi Capture Tom. (One of those 14 is the bottom photo at left.)

Playing Games: On the Saturday telecast of The Voice UK Team Tom will be shown playing a round of miniature golf at Dinosaur Safari Adventure Golf near the studio (photos at right). News reports say Sir Tom got a “couple” of holes-in-one, which is very nice because he doesn’t really look too much at ease holding the clubs. (In looking a the group shot close-up you’ll see his hands are gripping the club tightly and you can also see his knees appear to be locked — not the correct stance. So, good for him that he got those holes-in-one!)

And, the genius who tweets in Sir Tom’s name tweeted on this occasion, “Me and #TeamTom playing some crazy golf!” One would think they could find someone who speaks English as well as Sir Tom to write his tweets. Not doing so is embarrassing and demeaning to Tom and his brand.

Anyone who knows him still misses* Herman Matthews, the world’s best drummer. He’s still drumming, but he’s also making his old family recipe peanut brittle. It comes in five sizes (5, 8, 12, 16 and 24 ounces) and is always fresh and delicious. (I loved it and Susanne PDX — a major peanut brittle fan said Li’l Herman’s is the best she ever tasted.) The link is in the sidebar, bottom left. Even though it doesn’t play the drums, Herman’s brittle is as wonderful as he is. It’s very reasonably priced for handmade/homemade candy. Makes a great gift!

(*Gary Wallis is also a great drummer, too. But it’s Herman’s personality — his warmth and humor — that are missed by people fortunate enough to know him.)

Tom with Jools Holland

SET YOUR DVR: If you missed Tom on Jools Holland’s show this week because it wasn’t announced in many places (including OFFICIAL Tom Jones for some reason) the show will be repeated on BBC2, Friday night at 23:50 (11:50 pm). You’ll see Tom sing Tower of Song and Traveling Shoes from Spirit In The Room accompanied by the wonderful piano of Jools Holland. He’ll be on BBC 1 with Graham Norton next week.

To watch Tom’s beautiful performance of Leonard Cohen’s Tower of Song on Jools Holland’s show, please click here.Watching it performed live is so much better than even the very good video of the song.

Here is Tom singing Traveling Shoes.

Watching him respond to Jools Holland — his enjoyment of working with Jools — is an added pleasure.

There’s an article in The Express that manages to say how great Tom is (“TOM JONES’S A CLASS ACT”) while getting the name of the TV show he did wrong: (Gotta love those Brit tabs!) It is from Wednesday May 9,2012 and was written by Lizzie Catt with Lisa Higgins and Jack Teague (Imagine! Three writers and no proofreader!) Blethyn’s quote at the end is lovely:

HE HAS been a music superstar for nearly 50 years and is currently an expert judge on The Voice but Sir Tom Jones was a bundle of nerves when he recently made his acting debut in a TV drama.

He starred opposite award-winning actresses Alison Steadman and Brenda Blethyn in the Sky Playhouse drama King Of The Mods and Brenda recalls: “Tom had never acted before and was incredibly nervous. He just kept saying ‘sorry’ during the reading of the play and asking if he was doing right. We said he was doing fine and tried to reassure him and calm his nerves.”

She tells Yours magazine: “He’s a peach. He is such a gent and so down to earth. There’s nothing egotistical about him. It was so refreshing that someone who is a megastar is so lovely and amenable.”

REVIEWS: Please watch the video before you read the reviews!

In The Telegraph Rachel Ward gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars and said: “It’s not unusual to see Tom Jones on our TV screens at the moment. As one of the four coaches on the BBC’s popular talent show The Voice, he’s become a permanent weekend fixture, looking all dapper and having a ball on those spinning chairs. And now, like his friend Elvis Presley, he is trying his hand at acting, branching out at the ripe old age of 71.

“In the short three-hander King of the Teds – part of Sky Arts’ Playhouse Presents series of home-grown dramas – Jones played out a very different role. He was Ron, an embittered ex-Teddy Boy recently made redundant from his northern bottle-factory job.

“We got our first sight of Jones as he peered out from behind a copy of The Racing Post while sat at the kitchen table in his run-down terraced house. Dressed in a dowdy diamond-print cardigan and snapping at his long-standing and put-upon wife Tina (Alison Steadman), it was a tiny glimpse of how Sir Tom’s life might have panned out had he not gone on to superstardom (Jones used to work in a glass factory in his native Pontypridd and married his childhood sweetheart).

“The story was well formed and neatly unfolded as the couple received a surprise visit from their best friend from the fifties who had got in touch via Facebook. Nina (played by Brenda Blethyn) and Tina used to wear “way out pink” lipstick, matching sticky-out dresses, and walked out on the arms of local hero Ron.

“‘Eeeee, we were something else,’ they reminisced.

“Steadman and Blethyn were wonderful – their energetic jive scene in the living room a particular highlight – and although Jones made a credible debut, he occasionally looked awkward, which showed all the more alongside such accomplished actors. How Steadman managed to keep a straight face as he took her in his arms and upstairs to lay her on the bed and serenade her with Love Me Tender is just another testament to her unshakable talent, and maybe a tip for Tom that the green, green, grass isn’t always so lush on the other side.”

In The Independent Tom Sutcliffe said: “Tom Jones was apparently making his acting debut in Playhouse Presents: King of the Teds, helpfully cast as the kind of figure he might have ended up as if he’d never got his big break – a local hero reduced to painful memories of his glory days. Brenda Blethyn and Alison Steadman played his youthful sweethearts, one of whom had married him and the other of whom had spent her life regretting the fact that she never did.

“Jim Cartwright’s script didn’t really have the elbow-room to avoid coming across as a little trite. But Tom held up his corner of the triangle well and there was a nice echo of Nigel’s sorrows when Ron’s wife pulled an old drape jacket out of the wardrobe. “Keep meaning to chuck it,” she says. “Don’t you dare!” replies her friend. Careful, love – that kind of thing can easily get out of hand.

The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan trashed Tom’s performance saying unkind things seemingly for the sake of being a smart-ass: “I am assured, by several ladies older and wiser than myself, that Tom Jones was once possessed of a raw sexual magnetism that made Bryan Ferry look like Val Doonican. (We’ll just wait a few minutes, to allow our younger readers to away and Google. OK? Back now? Then on we go.) I can’t see it myself, mainly because the cruel hand of either fate or an ill-chosen plastic surgeon has given him the look of the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, but perhaps if I had the folk memory of his glory days, last night’s King of the Teds (Sky Arts) would have felt slightly more plausible.

“Then again, maybe not. Jones played the newly-redundant and emasculated Ron, husband of Tina (Alison Steadman) and former teddy boy who once held both her and her best friend Nina (Brenda Blethyn) in his thrall. Nina comes back for a visit after 40 years and the little terraced house in which her old friends live is soon filled with doubts, regrets and unlived dreams. The first half passes off nicely, thanks to Steadman and Blethyn, who could make you empathise with a cigarette packet if they put their minds to it, but after that it is revealed that Ron chased after the coach Nina took to London all those years ago when she found out Tina was pregnant, and Jones is required to do some Acting.

“And when it comes to Acting, well, Tom Jones is a very good singer. For the last 10 minutes, as Ron emerged in his old teddy boy suit, wordlessly announcing that he had chosen to stay with Tina rather than seize his long-delayed chance to run off with Nina, carried her up to bed and serenaded her with Love Me Tender, the whole thing took on the air of a Victoria Wood sketch gone horribly, horribly wrong.

“Still, it was quick and painful. And it was a chance to marvel anew at how very, very brilliant Blethyn and Steadman always, always are. If only the rest could have been silence.”

Check back here on Wednesday for some very special video that most of the TJI FANSITE community wasn’t able to see before!

As my TJI.com Fan Calendar tells me, 40 years ago today The Special London Bridge Special aired on TV. Tom Jones (at left as he was then — check those sideburns!) got top billing, ahead of Jennifer O’Neill, Kirk Douglas, Rudolf Nureyev, Merle Park, The Carpenters, Jonathan Winters, Hermione Gingold, Lorne Greene, Charlton Heston, Michael Landon, George Kirby, Terry-Thomas and Engelbert Humperdinck. In the show, Tom sang a number of songs, including a duet with Kirk Douglas and his favorite song from childhood. Click here to see Tom singing Ghost Riders In the Sky on The Special London Bridge Special in 1972.

If you recall the show fondly, or have never seen it, you can buy it on the Tom Jones Collector’s Page. There’s lots of other stuff there, too. Be sure to check it out.

Don’t know if this is true, but time will tell:
From The Sun | Monday, May 7, 2012 | Exclusive By LEIGH HOLMWOOD, Deputy TV Editor.

In truth, this sounds entirely made up. Yeah, they took a beating in the ratings, but BGT is ending soon and there’s a week of live shows so it’s natural the ratings of The Voice will suffer. Still, being mean is absolutely not the nature of The Voice. To make it so ruins the brand. One is hard-pressed to believe that the BBC is that stupid. But, not Jessie J. She can sing but, remember, when she speaks (as below) you are listening to the immature kid who bragged about peeing in a cup.

Producers want the Delilah star, Jessie J, Will.i.am and Danny O’Donoghue to tell wannabe singers the truth instead of constantly sugar-coating their comments.

The move comes after viewers slammed the BBC1 show for being dull and too nice, while ITV rival Britain’s Got Talent surged ahead in the all-important Saturday night ratings battle.

The Voice’s audience on Saturday was down a MILLION on the previous week, leaving Simon Cowell’s BGT nearly two million ahead.

Producers hope getting the judges to talk tough will win back lost viewers. They are also planning a radical shake-up, axing four singers each week instead of two to up the pace of the show.

And contestants will sing with their coaches in an attempt to increase entertainment levels.

An insider said: “The Voice originally sold itself as being the ‘nice’ talent show and viewers loved that when it was coupled with the drama of the spinning chairs during the blind auditions. But once the show moved into its live stage, a lot of viewers have tired of it and criticised the coaches for being too nice to singers who just aren’t that great.

“Bosses have now told them to toughen up, be meaner and to really speak their minds — even if it means upsetting people.

Great photo from the lame BBC quiz linked to below.

Jon Harrison said: “Boring singers, boring songs and boring nicey nice judges.”

Kerplonker wrote: “Awful compared with last week. Dull, boring and obscure song choices. Wish judges were more honest.”

Julie Cooke blasted: “Could the judges be more sycophantic?”

Other viewers complained that the coaches used too many technical terms that weren’t explained, while some moaned that they talked too much.

Jessie has already admitted: “I am going to be meaner. It does get to the point where everyone is a bit too nice. It is hard when Tom, Will and Danny are saying people are great and I think they are c**p. The first results show got really emotional and everyone was in tears and it just really p****s me off!”

Four singers will now be axed each week until the final early next month. Producers hope it will allow the best singers to shine.

But The Voice faces a fight when the final of BGT overlaps with it by 15 minutes on Sunday night.

ITV chiefs were thrilled with BGT’s showing on Saturday, when it peaked at 11million viewers to The Voice’s 9.1million. BGT also won the highest average rating — 9.5million to 8.2million.

ITV chiefs hope to win bumper ratings for BGT’s week of live shows, which kicked off last night.

Cowell had a cheeky pop at The Voice when raving about boyband The Mend. He smirked: “Being a star in the music business is more than just a voice. You have got to have charisma and chemistry.”

Fellow judge Amanda Holden laughed as she shouted: “Nice!”

The BBC has posted a quiz about Tom Jones — with that great photo above — that is so simple that even someone who’s not a fan can ace. You can check it out here.

JUST ADDED!!! PLEASE CLICK TO SEE A 2-MINUTE, 37-SECOND PREVIEW OF TOM IN KING OF THE TEDS. (Thanks, Garrett!)

Breaking news (with updates): According to The Mirror, all four Voice UK coaches have signed for a second season. Update #1: The exact quote from Tom is: “I’m really loving it, it’s been great fun. The BBC has already asked me to come back for the next series and I’ve said ‘yes’ – we have already begun discussions.

“They are on-going but I would very much like to do it again. They’re happy with the judges as we are, and it looks like all of us will be back, even Will.”

Don’t be surprised if the news is picked up by several outlets and, at first, denied by OFFICIAL Tom Jones. History has revealed this is a pattern. Tom said yes, he wants to do it. So it’s almost certain he will (unless someone decides the money isn’t enough). If they acknowledge it as fact right away, it’d be terrific. Anyway, congratulations, Sir Tom!

UPDATE #2 TO BREAKING NEWS NOTE ABOVE: @REALSIRTOMJONES, Tom’s twitter feed, says Wednesday, May 2: “Hey – re MIRROR article today – complete BS – all of this…no matter what the ‘fansites’ say. Cheers all x” Again, the oft-demonstrated need to be first with everything is in play here. As noted above, this is a pattern. Also as noted, if it’s true that he’s resigned to The Voice UK that means another success for him and that’s terrific news. Again, “congratulations, Sir Tom!” What it also means is that Tom’s management — that is absolutely not Sir Tom Jones himself tweeting! — reads TJI.com. But, really, “BS”? Nice.

And, by the way, they wrote “‘fansite’” on Twitter in reference to TJI as if this weren’t a fansite. Well, www.tomjonesintl.com IS a fansite — here to give voice to the fan community, whether that voice is, in the opinion of Management positive or negative. It is, as you all know, the fans who gave/give Sir Tom his career. (Although as is clear below, that Gordon Mills got it all going and, one must say, Mark Woodward revitalized it at one point. They, too, get credit for what they did. And, part of what they did was get the fans to notice and, when fans notice, they’re the ones who buy tickets and recordings.)

Please don’t forget episodes 7 and 8 of The Voice UK in the post below. And, please, take time to read this entire post, watch the documentary and answer the Question of the Month! I know this is a long post, but please give the time to your answer!

Because Gordon Mills brought Tom to prominence and because last night (May 1) on BBC Wales there was a short documentary about Mills (embedded below) he is the topic this month:

The TJI Question of the Month for May is in two parts:

(1) Did you ever meet or did you know Gordon Mills? If so, please share share your story.

(2) What do you think the career of Tom Woodward would have been if he had not met Gordon Mills?

Published Saturday, April 28, 2012 in Wales Online:

He was the man behind Tom Jones’ worldwide success and worth an estimated £50m. But, writes Nathan Bevan, a new documentary will show how the same gambling streak that brought Gordon Mills huge success also brought his music empire crashing down

WHEN collecting eggs as a boy, Gordon Mills’ father would warn him against being greedy.

“Only take one from each nest,” he’d say. “That way its parents won’t notice.”

One day though Mills found a heavily stocked bed of twigs, moss and feathers and emptied it of all its contents, resulting in him being swooped upon and attacked by the distraught mother bird.

“He was completely broken up by that,” recalls Juliette Terry, one of Mills’ four daughters, in a new BBC One Wales documentary about the Tonypandy lad made good. “That incident really changed him.”

Although watching further reveals how in going from rags to riches and back again – leaving the Valleys to become a multimillionaire music manager and producer behind some of the world’s biggest talents, only to lose it all in messy legal wrangles and neon-lit Las Vegas’ gambling joints – the temptation to take too much and leave too little never fully left Mills.

“I met Gordon at a 21st birthday party, he arrived with Engelbert Humperdinck, who was still Jerry
Dorsey at the time,” recalls his widow Jo Mills.

“There was just something about him, you just felt he was very sure about his life – we were soon engaged and got married in London.”

Mills himself was also quick to reveal in various vintage television interviews that he had an innate drive and determination to succeed that put him ahead of others.

“I would look at a nice car and think, ‘I’d like that car’, not because I was jealous of the man driving it or wonder why he should have it and not me,” he once admitted.

“Same with a house – if I saw a beautiful place in the country in some magazine it would stay at the back of my mind because I always knew I wanted my own little place in the sun, as rosy as I could make it.”

And that chance finally presented itself when he came across Tommy Scott (AKA Tom Jones) and The Senators on the South Wales working men’s club circuit, Mills realising half way through the band’s opening number to a packed house that it was the greatest thing he’d ever seen.

For the rest of this article, the video documentary, a link to new photos and to answer the Question of the Month, please click here to

But, despite playing it cool in front of Jones, he knew he’d found the man who would help him make his fortune and could barely contain himself on the car ride back to London.

“Suddenly Gordon pulled the car over and said, ‘I’ve got to do something here’,” smiles Jo. “The rest of the drive was us excitedly making plans about bringing Tom to London, wonderful.”

Despite early success in the ’50s as singer with The Viscounts, Mills had seen in Jones something he didn’t have, although he claims to have had no intention of managing him, only of getting his voice heard by a wider audience.

Not that many outside of South Wales seemed that intent on listening, as Jones, with his broken teeth and labourer’s build, proved a turn-off to the female fans and there were countless fruitless auditions and months spent eking out an existence on the breadline before success came in the form of a song Mills had co-penned.

“It’s Not Unusual changed life dramatically for us all, no one could move for reporters gathering at the door at all hours,” says Jo, she and Mills moving from their small bungalow in Bayswater to a huge sprawling mansion in a gated Surrey community they christened Little Rhondda.

Tom Jones attends the South Bank Sky Arts Awards at Dorchester Hotel on May 1, 2012 in London, England. Photo: Ian Gavan/Getty Images Europe

“We were like one big family – us, Tom, his wife Linda, Engelbert,” she adds, the situation helping Mills keep a close eye on his other bit of hot property, namely Jones – telling him
what to wear, what to say and what not to say like a true Svengali, or the Simon
Cowell of his day.

Mills was in control of everything, choosing the songs, the arrangements and even producing the recordings from the early ’70s onwards – and Jones was happy to be controlled.

Attempts to make it big in the States saw Jones win the attention of Elvis Presley in Las Vegas, his subsequent patronage meaning the Welshman would never play to any empty seat on the Sunset Strip.

However, the inherent gambling streak which had got Mills this far in the industry would prove his undoing when it came to Sin City’s miles of casino craps tables.

“He’d never know when to fold and Gordon lost a lot of money over successive months and years,” says Chris Hutchins, Jones’ former PR man, of Mills’ reported racking up of millions in debts.

“Gambling was both his weakness and part of his spirit of adventure.”

By the late ’80s, however, Mills’ marriage was over, Jones’ hits had dried up and both Humperdinck and his other big client, Gilbert O’Sullivan, were suing him, the latter successfully
for a seven-figure sum.

On top of it all he was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died just days after
being admitted to hospital.

“On the day of the funeral I walked with Tom around Little Rhondda because he wanted to find a specific rose to put on dad’s grave,” says Mills’ eldest daughter Tracey. “And I remember pulling out of the driveway when this beam of light came through the car between us and we just sat there looking at each other. “It was a strange experience, like he was sending us a sign or something,”
she smiles.

For four other photos taken June 1 of Tom at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards, please visit the TJI.com flickr set Pap Shots: The Paparazzi Capture Tom.

On episode 7 of The Voice UK the coaches (Jessie J. has changed her hair) sing U2′s Beautiful Day. (Remember when TJI posted U2′s Bono sings a snippet of Sugar Daddy? On episode 8, Sir Tom himself has to send one of his team members home.

For people who get BBC Wales: On Tuesday, May 1, a documentary about Gordon Mills will be broadcast at 10:35 pm on the show They Sold A Million. TJI will have that for you.

And, on Thursday, at 9 pm, SkyArts 1 will show King of the Teds, the half-hour teleplay in which Tom appears.

In Wales Online Nathan Bevan interviewed playwright Jim Cartwright (are names destiny?) for the April 28 edition:

Jim Cartwright on how Tom Jones went from Sex Bomb to depressed ex-Teddy Boy

He’s been one of the most famous singers in the world for the last 40 years – so why, at 71, has Sir Tom Jones decided to try his hand at acting? Nathan Bevan talks to the hit playwright responsible for recasting Wales’ Sex Bomb as a depressed former Teddy Boy

All you see of him at first is the crown of grey hair poking out from above the copy of The Racing Post he’s hiding behind to escape his wife’s nagging.

But when that voice comes, with a rumbling Valleys burr – exasperated, pleading, “What are you going on about now, woman?” – the penny suddenly drops and you realise it’s the same one that’s thrilled music fans all around the world for the past four decades or more.

So begins the opening scene to King Of The Teds, in which Sir Tom Jones makes his much-publicised first foray into acting – aside from his self-lampooning turn in the 1996 Tim Burton B-movie homage, Mars Attacks! – alongside the Oscar-nominated likes of Brenda Blethyn and Gavin & Stacey’s Alison Steadman.

For the rest of this insightful, interesting article, please click here to

Sir Tom with Alison Steadman in King of the Teds.

And when she does, Jones’ one-time leader of the local Teddy Boys, now reduced to moping around his run-down terraced house in a dowdy cardigan, must confront some long-buried feelings about whether he ended up marrying the wrong woman all those years ago.

“I remember as a young kid sitting in our council house watching Tom Jones on the telly with my older sister who was a fan,” says playwright and King Of The Teds director Jim Cartwright, who specifically penned the lead role of Ronald with Jones in mind.

“If I’d have turned to her then and said, ‘One day I’ll be working with him’ she’d have no doubt laughed her head off and clipped me round the ear!”

And like the Lancastrian’s best-known previous work like The Rise And Fall Of LittleVoice (which was made into a movie starring Michael Caine) this new one-act comedy drama for the Playhouse Presents season on Sky Arts ploughs a similar frustrated working class furrow – perhaps even tipping a wink to some parallel universe in which Jones’ star hadn’t ignited and he’d ended up swapping working in a Pontypridd glove factory for a bottle-making business up North.

“I’m a big Tom Jones fan, along with everyone else in the world as far as I can make out, and the character of an embittered and depressed ex-factory worker is, of course, a long way from who he is, but to watch him embrace him and become him was something special to see,” says Cartwright, adding he wasn’t concerned about the singer being an unknown commodity on the thespian front.

“Although we didn’t know what his acting ability would be, it never felt like a gamble in any way, no.

“I instinctively knew that someone who had performed such dramatic songs as Delilah in such a real and moving way would be able to do it.

“But it was still an incredible moment when the call came through saying Tom had agreed to do it, not to mention the rest of the cast coming on board too.”

And despite thinking he’d managed to write the script relatively quickly, Cartwright was doubly amazed at how effortlessly the filming seemed to come together.

“Yes, the process was all very fast and I think you’ll probably gasp when you hear that we only had one-and-a-half days of rehearsal and then four days to film it all,” he says.

“It’s one thing never having acted before and being given lots of time, coaching and as many takes as you need to get it right, but it’s quite another to be thrown in at the deep end on something like this.

“It was testament to Tom’s professionalism and pure talent that he took it all in his stride,” adds Cartwright.

“I knew as soon as we were in the costume fitting that everything would be all right as he instinctively sought out the oldest, most used-looking cardy for Ron to wear.

“There was no ego or vanity involved, it was just, ‘What would this character choose to put on’?”

Indeed, Cartwright freely admits to being very impressed by the Welshman’s down-to-earth nature on set.

“Tom has a great power and soul to him, meaning that anything he creates is going to have a real depth and truth to it,” he says.

“There is no grandeur about him either, no pulling rank. In fact, I often had to remind myself, ‘I’m working with a global superstar here!’

“And, apart from being so professional and focused, he is also great fun – one of my favourite things to do was put my head around the door of the little room that the actors rested in between takes.

“It was always so full of laughter and life and I loved listening to Tom, Brenda and Alison telling each other tales, absolutely priceless.”

And the sentiment is shared by executive producer Sandi Toksvig, who came up with the idea of the Playhouse Presents series as a homage to the golden age of TV drama when shows like Armchair Theatre and Play For Today were a regular fixture. Although the Copenhagen-born writer, broadcaster and comedian manages to convey her feelings about the septuagenarian Sex Bomb rather more succinctly.

“Tom was a charm bucket,” she laughs. “He’d be sat on the catering bus with everyone else, tucking into his cottage pie and having a laugh during breaks. It was quite a thing watching him walking up the nearby lane on the way to the set each morning in his wellies, I can tell you.”

Sartorially speaking, it was certainly a world away from how he appeared during their first meeting about the project.

“I’d arranged to meet him at The Savoy in London for lunch, but it turns out 1pm is a little early for Mr Jones,” says Toksvig.

“So I sat with his son and his daughter-in-law for a while before going up and knocking on the door of his suite, upon which Tom materialised wearing the shortest shower robe I’d ever seen and went, ‘Hello Sandi’ in that deep, gravelly voice of his.

“So deep was it and so Welsh that it almost sounded like someone else doing a Tom Jones impression,” she laughs.

Toksvig adds that Jones, who hadn’t even seen a script at that point, only had one concern about branching out into the world of drama for the first time ever.

“He just wanted to be looked after, I think, acting being something that was completely new to him,” she says.

“The great thing about him is, even after all this time in the business, he’s not one to rest on his laurels and is totally open to trying new things and pushing himself.

“And I honestly believe most people will be genuinely surprised by just how well he pulls it off, you almost see him disappear behind that frumpy cardie.”

And, of all the 12 weekly plays featured in the series – which also draw on such similarly starry names as Emma Thompson, David Tennant, Stephen Fry and Richard E Grant – Toksvig says working with Jones was the experience she’ll remember the most.

“I’ve met a lot of famous people in my time, but I have to say that Tom was one of the most humble,” she smiles.

“Through the whole process there was absolutely no sign of any ego, no airs and graces – he was just a really grounded bloke, which is quite unbelievable when you consider the kind of life he must have had.

“We encouraged all our writers to think big about who they wanted to bring their work to life on screen, so while Jim wrote (King of the)Teds with Tom in mind I doubt any of us genuinely thought for a minute we’d actually get him.

“Looking back on it now though I’d struggle to think of how anyone else could have done a better job,” says Toksvig.

It’s always sad to report something like this:
Lorraine Giordano, a long-time fan of Tom’s from New York, passed away Thursday. She was a dear friend of Mary Muratore’s and they went to lots of shows in lots of places together.

Matt and Sueleen, 34, Canterbury: This couple dreams of appearing on Jools Holland — a step up compared to their gigging in the local pub.

Tom: “I thought they were brilliant. I love their harmony — they complement one another.”

Sam Buttery, 20, London: While some might have groaned at hearing another Adele cover, Tom heard something special in Sam’s version. Watch out for the big quiff and big glasses as battle commences.

Tom: “There were a few notes in there that I thought sounded like me — sounded like me in my head anyway! I think he’s got a great voice.”

Leanne Mitchell, 28, Lowestoft: Leanne almost had a record contract when she was just 15 and, 13 years down the line, she’s ready to aim for the big time once again. She plays piano and the organ, and writes her own music.

Tom: “I listened to the tone of her voice and liked the lower register. When she started, I thought she had a lot of timbre in her voice — very appealing for me.”

Ruth Brown, 20, London: This shy girl is completely transformed when she takes centre stage. It’s a wonder she finds the breath for those fantastic long notes.

Tom: “She’s a great singer, that’s why I hit the button. I really wanted her on my team.”

Adam Isaac, 29, Exeter: Adam is a very cool customer, having played regularly in the South West for ten years. He’s already released an EP, but this boy wants more…

Tom: “I’ve sung with a lot of people and I’ve recorded a lot of different kinds of songs — I needed somebody with a strong voice who can sing and play like that.

For a funny video and the latest on what Tom allegedly said about Britain’s Got Talent and for some nonsense about Tom vs. Will. i. am, please click here to

So you can get an idea of what Tom means by “dancing dogs,” here’s a video someone sent me a few months ago because it’s funny. It’s from Britain’s Got Talent in 2008. Silly, yes, funny, yes and it does require some degree of talent. (The woman on the panel is Amanda Holden, that person who was so rude about Tom’s age a few weeks ago.)

‘The Voice”s Tom Jones on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’: ‘I’d rather judge singers than dancing dogs’

Welsh crooner takes a dig at Simon Cowell’s show ahead of live finals this weekend (April 29)

The Voice judge Tom Jones has taken a dig at Britain’s Got Talent as the ratings battle between the Saturday night light entertainment shows intensifies.

Speaking to NME, the Welsh crooner said he’d “rather judge singers than dancing dogs” ahead of the first of the live finals for the BBC 1 talent show this weekend.

He commented: “I’m better qualified. I’ve been a singer. I’ve never been a dancing dog.”

Jones added that he was pleased that The Voice was a “very honest show” and hoped that the contestants on the programme didn’t get shaken by performing live in front of millions this weekend.

The show, which also features Jessie J, will.i.am and The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue as judges, broke the record for the most requested shows on the BBC’s iPlayer service earlier this week. It sees aspiring singers attempt to impress the panel – who are initially only listening rather than watching their performance.

Although The Voice initially suffered in the ratings, it has now forced Simon Cowell to move his reality behemoth Britain’s Got Talent back by half an hour to avoid clashing with the end of the show.

Lana Del Rey is reportedly booked to sing on this Sunday’s edition of The Voice, with Emelie Sande set to follow on May 6.

Britain’s Got Talent, meanwhile, has made ‘stars’ of a succession of dancing dog acts in recent years.

On the other hand, the articles say Tom has given the team his “private email address.”

That is most interesting because Tom Jones does not use a computer. So, they’ve probably been given his office email. This goes in the category of “anything for publicity.” Now that The Voice UK vs. Britain’s Got Talent has gotten old, some jerk is trying to make it Tom vs. Will. i. am. Hope her doesn’t engage as he did with the BGT nonsense.