Tom Jones International

You can watch Episode 2 of The Voice UK Blind Auditions. Apparently, in the UK version, unlike in the US version (don’t know about the others) they invite established talent to audition.

In this case, it’s Kerry Ellis, a musical actress with a solid West End career. Considering some of the people for whom they’ve turned around, one wonders if that — which got a lot of press when it was taped — is a put-up job. Just saying.

Please take a moment to comment on The Voice UK. Posting it so all outside BBC1′s viewing area can see it took a lot of work by two people. Please take a moment to show a bit of appreciation.

In other news, Media Wales reportsa Welsh contestant snubbed Tom even though he turned his chair.

The Telegraph says the coaches’ music is experiencing good sales.

MTV UK reports that Jessie J. says she’s definitely going to duet with Tom “in the near future.”

Other stories go over Tom’s fear in the 1990′s that he’d lost his voice when he needed surgery.

Finally, on Saturday, March 31, the Daily Mail carried the following story:

‘It makes me cry’: 100 million records sold, 17 No.1s but Tom Jones says The Voice is the hardest thing he’s ever done

His musical career spans six decades and his placed on the biggest stages with some of the world’s most legendary singers.

But Tom Jones says his role as a judge and coach on BBC1′s talent show The Voice is the hardest thing he’s ever done.

The 71-year-old admitted that having to send home young hopefuls makes him cry.

‘It makes me cry’: 100 million records sold, 17 No.1s but Tom Jones says The Voice is the hardest thing he’s ever done.

His musical career spans six decades and his placed on the biggest stages with some of the world’s most legendary singers.

The 71-year-old admitted that having to send home young hopefuls makes him cry.

Speaking to The Sun’s TV magazine Buzz, he said: ‘This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. You have to critique people, which I’ve never done. I have to make a decision about somebody’s future and it’s really got to me.

‘I’d seen people on other talent shows get upset and thought: ‘That’s just TV.’ But here I am, watching our singers and I end up going: ‘Oh s***,’ and trying to keep it together.’

He also told The Mirror: ‘God, it is very intense and emotional. And you do cry. You are holding their future in your hands. You’re told to drag it out a bit for dramatic effect, ‘And my choice iiiiis…’ but I felt terrible.’

The singer, who was born Thomas Woodward, is the most experienced member of the show’s judging panel which includes Jessie J, Will.i.am and Danny O’Donoghue.

And thanks to his hugely successful singing career he has rubbed shoulders with some of the greats, some of whom are no longer with us.

For instance, he counted Elvis Presley as a friend when the two were both big hits in the early seventies.

Tom Jones was recently embroiled in an exchange of catty comments with Amanda Holden, from rival show Britain’s Got Talent.

Holden was asked by website Digital Spy why viewers should tune into the ITV show rather than The Voice, and she joked: ‘Because [Tom] will be spinning in his grave next week.’

The singer apparently took a pop at Amanda in retaliation by claiming to have had no idea who she was before he was made aware of BGT recently.

‘I had no idea who she was or what she did,’ 71-year-old Jones reportedly told the Daily Star.

Competition is heating up between the shows after The Voice beat BGT in the ratings war.

The Voice peaked with 9.8 million viewers, while just 6.56 million watched the first episode of Britain’s Got Talent.

Happy April Fools Day. Have fun!

First, please take time to read the post below and to comment if you wish. That’s the purpose of this site — of a fan community. Your participation enriches us all.

A lot of the conversation on this site these days and, in actual conversation among fans, concerns the direction Sir Tom’s career is taking.

Let’s all agree that he should probably tour North America (and South and Asia, too) and that it’d be so terrific if Spirit In The Room were released worldwide for both maximum exposure and — for Tom and those who make money when he does — maximum profit. That’s be great, wouldn’t it.

But, aside from touring in North America and elsewhere outside of Europe, and aside from seeing the new CD in wider release, here’s the TJI.com April 2012 Question of the Month:

You are granted the power to make one decision about Sir Tom Jones’ career. What would that be? Would you choose a particular song? A specific venue? An acting job? Think about it and please share your idea. and your reason for believing it would be a good career move. And have fun with it! (Maybe, for example, you believe Tom should perform on the moon — the first singer to sing Fly Me To the Moon and mean it:))

From OFFICIAL Tom Jones:
We are pleased to announce the follow up to 2010’s acclaimed collection of songs that was Praise and Blame with the release of Spirit In The Room on 21st May 2012 through Island Records.

Universally graced with critical and commercial success – reaching No 2 in the UK, Praise and Blame saw Tom mark a return to his roots and emerge with a powerful body of work drawn from the American spiritual repertoire. Now moving forward with Spirit In The Room, Tom draws on an evocative range of compositions executed with an unprocessed passion that make them his own. There is a raging interpretation of Tom Wait’s Bad As Me, a wonderful rendition of Odetta’s Hit Or Miss, the front porch blues of Vera Hall Ward’s Travelling Shoes and a stunning reading of the other-worldly Charlie Darwin by Low Anthem— all revealing Tom as he continues to explore his artistic landscape.

Spirit In The Room once again brings together Ethan Johns (Brit Award Producer of the Year 2011) and Tom for intimate performances with a very considered and select group of musicians— multi instrumentalist Johns, Richard Causon on vintage keyboards, piano, guitars (Ryan Adams, Kings Of Leon and Rufus Wainwright), Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa on drums, and Ian Jennings and Sam Dixon on bass.

Recorded at Bath’s Real World studios, Spirit In The Room, like it’s [sic] predecessor, allows an unvarnished Tom Jones to bring a voice to songs as only he can. Accompanied by Ethan Johns throughout, the album includes gems from a diverse choice of writers – Richard Thompson, Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon and Paul McCartney amongst others. Simple, raw and soulful, welcome to ‘Spirit In The Room’.

As we’ve been reporting, Tom has also graced a recent single on Jack White’s Third Man label . Featuring Howlin’ Wolf’s Evil in his own inimitable style and produced and played by White and some of his Racanteurs,[sic] the single comes backed with a reworked version of Frankie Lane’s classic Jezabel [sic] and has already picked up widespread praise .

1. Tower of Song (Leonard Cohen); 2. (I Want To) Come Home (Paul McCartney); 3. Hit Or Miss (Odetta); 4. Love and Blessings (Paul Simon); 5. Soul of A Man (Blind Willie Johnson); 6. Bad As Me (Tom Waits) 7. Dimming of the Day (Richard Thompson); 8. Traveling Shoes (Vera Hall Ward); 9. All Blues Hail (Joe Henry); 10. Charlie Darwin (Low Anthem)

There will be a Deluxe Edition album which will contain the additional recordings Just Dropped in, Lone Pilgrim and When The Deal Goes Down.

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If you order from Amazon UK, the cost for album and shipping will be, in USD, $21.61. In Euros it will be €15.45. Standard shipping inside Great Britain is six to 10 days. Judging from my own experience with calendars and such, it can take two or three times as long outside of Britain.

In the US, where it will be available on May 29 as an import, it’s $29.49 plus shipping on amazon.com and if you live in the US, it gets there much more quickly than the one from the UK. You can order from Amazon.com (US) using the link at right. Or, you can save your money and await the deluxe edition. It’s also less expensive if you wait for an MP3 download. And, one wonders if there will be a vinyl edition as there was for Praise and Blame.

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A moderator’s editorial: What the hell is going on here?
Never mind the dumb spelling errors of English words in OFFICIAL Tom Jones’ announcement of the release (including misspelling Jezebel, the title of the B side of his Jack White record and the name of White’s band, The Raconteurs) — look for the “[sic].” Did you find it odd that they suddenly stopped dismissing Sir Tom’s work with White as “a side project?” Now, they say he “graced” the project. And, for the record Praise and Blame wasn’t “graced with critical and commercial success.” It was GREETED with critical and commercial success. Wrong, awkward word.

I was told the other day that Tom is no longer with his Praise and Blame US label, Lost Highway Records, the Nashville Division of Universal. Don’t know if he lost it or they lost him. But, that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that, apparently, it’s true so the record, as of now, will be sold only as an import outside the UK. That’s more than too bad. That is pathetic.

All but one song on this album is a song written and originally sung by someone from the United States, the single exception being a tune by Paul McCartney who, although a Brit, has for almost 50 years been very present in and aware of his fans in North America. Yet, this album is not being released in North America. It’s as if someone has taken a stand that Tom Jones is completely irrelevant outside of Europe. I don’t know if this is a smart decision but I do know that this kind of decision-making is going a long way toward making him irrelevant.

Sir Tom deserves much, much better and, sadly, it appears that he’s the one who’s going to have to fight for that himself.

Don’t want to insult any of her fans, but Amanda Holden, a judge on Britain’s Got Talent seems to be a minor actress who was looking for a minute in the spotlight and decided to get it by saying the Tom Jones may, in a week The Voice be “spinning in his grave.” Sir Tom finally answered and did so the right way. He brushed her off as if she were an annoying gnat. The article below is incorrect in that Tom did not “reignite” the war of words between the two shows. Also, while it’s a fact that in the 20 minutes the two shows competed head-to-head, The Voice had more viewers but, overall, BGT had more.

THE VOICE: SIR TOM JONES BLASTS BACK

Daily Star | 29th March 2012 | By Daily Star Reporter

THE Voice star Sir Tom Jones has reignited the war with TV rival Britain’s Got Talent by claiming he has never heard of judge Amanda Holden.

As the two Saturday night shows went head to head last weekend, BGT judge Amanda Holden, 41, joked that the 71-year-old legend might not last the series and could end up “spinning in his grave”.

But Sir Tom, who is a coach on BBC1’s talent show The Voice, hit back at the ITV star yesterday.

He said he had brushed off Amanda’s “joke’’, and added: “I had no idea who she was or what she did.

In the 20-minute scheduling overlap between the two shows last weekend, The Voice had 8.9m viewers against BGT’s 6.71m.

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A very silly poll: Entertainment Wise has a 14-question poll asking readers to name the best judge on The Voice. Sir Tom is way ahead of the others in the voting.

Each of the 14 questions is the same — you see the results after you vote each time — but, because it’s so stupid, it does not prove Sir Tom is the favorite (even though we all believe he is).

It only proves that Tom Jones fans will tick off his name over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over (That is 14, isn’t it?) even though it’s a senseless exercise, essentially meaningless except for on that one website…no prize, no plaque or little gold statue for the winner.

Tom has gotten 100 percent of the votes after questions 1 and 3 (where this gret photo of Sir Tom on the BAFTA red carpet was posted) and high numbers after all the others, probably because enough of his fans posted the link on facebook.

On the first page of the 14, here’s what it says:

Well it’s here, The Voice has landed in the UK. The first of the blind rounds may be a little early to judge all the acts so instead we’re asking you to judge the coaches, to find out who your favourite is.

Is it Sir Tom Jones, the elder statesmen, who likes to reminisce about his younger days when he used to make girls faint with some bloke called Elvis Presley?

Or will.i.am who tried to top Sir Tom by name dropping Michael Jackson? Given that Uri Geller could also make the name drop the Thriller star you might choose him for being so dedicated that he’s turned his dressing room into a studio.

How about Danny O’Donoghue, The Script’s Irish charmer?

Or chirpy songstress Jessie J, whose hits were a popular choice amongst the contestants?

Whichever one it is, you can voice your opinion here in our poll.

Vote here.

Don’t forget to watch Tom on The One Show. The link is in the post below.

Tom will be at the Jazz Festival at Juan Le Pins in the Côte d’Azur on the French Riviera on Monday, July 16. Tickets online here. The page says there are 548 available. (That doesn’t sound right but, in case it is, you should hurry.)

Here, as you can see, is the complete first episode of The Voice. And, of course, there’s been lots of press. Here’s one interesting article:

‘The Voice U.K.’ Just May Boast the Most Awesome Judging Panel Yet

By Lyndsey Parker | Reality Rocks | Sun, Mar 25, 2012 10:33 PM EDT

We may all enjoy watching The X Factor USA’s Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid bicker, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler dote and gush and overpraise on American Idol, or Adam Levine and Blake Shelton carry on their bromance on The Voice USA. But the judging lineup for the British version of The Voice, which premiered this weekend, just may be the most awesomely chemistry-filled yet. The Voice UK cast consists of the Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am, Jessie J, Danny O’Donoghue of the Script, and–here’s the real kicker — SIR TOM JONES.

Yes, the Tom Jones. And there he is, upstaging all his castmates during their group performance of BEP’s I Got A Feeling.

Bloody brilliant.

For the rest of this article, an amusing video about Tom and name-dropping and for instructions about how and where to download the episode of The Voice UK, please
click here to (more…)

As noted here yesterday (as Tom told Chris Evans on the radio he’d be doing) Tom flew back to Los Angeles from London on Friday, March 24. He was on the same flight as Usher. He said he’s staying for a month; until the live Voice shows begin.

Tom and fellow coach Danny O’Donoghue were guests on BBC 1′s The One Show on Thursday, March 23.

Hosts Alex Jones and Matt Baker helped them promote The Voice UK. They were on for most of the half-hour show — a total of a bit over 15 minutes.

You can see the video of The One Show in the TJI.com Video Library.

There are five new photos — two of them shown below in the March 24 post — in the TJI flicker set Pap Shots: The Paparazzi Capture Tom.

Thanks to J and to KT for your contributions to today’s post.The TJI fan community is the very best!

Articles about Elvis are in many ways appropriate on a Tom Jones fansite because so many of Tom’s fans — the site moderator included — are — as is Tom — fans of Elvis. So, for a very nice, really long (1,106 words) article about Tom and Elvis, please click here to (more…)

Please don’t forget all the stuff in the post below!

In the video at left, all four coaches open the show singing the Black Eyed Peas hit I Gotta Feeling.

Ratings War: According to BBC News,The Voice and Britain’s Got Talent both proved to be ratings winners for the BBC and ITV when they were shown in opposition on Saturday night.

ITV had the most viewers, with a peak audience of 11.5 million watching Simon Cowell return to Britain’s Got Talent.

On the BBC, new reality series The Voice, which features Tom Jones and Jessie J amongst its judges, had a peak audience of 9.8 million.

But BBC One came out on top during the two shows’ 20-minute overlap.

Moderator’s Note: Of course, the next few weeks will tell the story.

You can read a one-off live blog about the first episode of The Voice in The Guardian.

It’s a minute-by-minute account of what happened and it’s fun to follow.

When you comment on what you see, please be honest — pros and cons.

For example, the guy writing the blog just above clearly wishes Will Young had been retained as a coach. How do we know? The clue is in the fact that he calls Danny O’Donoghue “not Will Young” or, simply, “NWY.”

For a video of a few of the show’s highlights and to read about a friend of Sir tom’s who turned down the show, please click here to (more…)

Hoping there’s not too much in this post and that you take time to read it and post comments!

These photos by Bauer Griffin were taken Friday morning as Tom Left the BBC Radio studios in London.

Among other items — the link to the hear show is below — Tom announced the name of his new album is Spirit In the Room. It is, again, American roots music, he said. Thus, it would make eminent sense to promote in the US where the music originated. If so, perhaps the people in the Grammy Foundation/Awards and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will be pay him the attention he is due.

British bookmakers are posting odds on the shows and on which Voice coach will win. The odds posted are that BGT will get better ratings than The Voice and that Jessie J will have the winning talent on her team. Next they say will be Will. i. am and, finally, Tom, followed by Danny O’Donoghue.

As this post title states, the gloves are off! The people from Britain’s Got Talent are responding to what they, apparently, perceive as a challenge from Tom and The Voice.

To read what Cowell and an awful woman who is a judge on BGT said, along with a rather reasonable article from Wales Online with a new angle, to hear the rock classic Tom chose to play on the radio Friday morning, as well as the link to the half-hour of show highlights, please click here to (more…)

Tom will play a gig at Scotland’s Hamilton Park Racecourse, on Friday, July 6. According to STV: Organisers expect fans to travel from all over Scotland and the north of England to see Sir Tom, full name Sir Thomas John Woodward OBE, show off his voice.

Hamilton Park chief executive Vivien Kyles said: “It’s not unusual for us to attract superstars of music yet still we are incredibly excited to welcome a global superstar of Tom Jones’ calibre to Hamilton Park in July. It is a real coup for us.

“We have earned a strong reputation for bringing big names to Scotland and working with Liz and her team again, we were all determined to attract the right act to Hamilton Park this year.

“Tom Jones certainly fits the bill and we can’t wait to see him on stage wowing another big crowd.”

Vivien added: “With tickets going on sale tomorrow at 9am we are expecting demand to be very high from the offset.

“Tom Jones is one of the most recognisable names in music with a huge fan-base so we really would encourage fans to act fast to avoid disappointment.”

Tickets go on sale Friday, March 23 at 9 a.m. Prices start at £45. You can by online at the Hamilton Park website or by calling 01698 283 806.

Tom went to the press showing of one of the very best works of 20th century musical theater that opened recently at the Adelphi Theatre in London.

We’re talking about the classic work of that musical theater genius Stephen Sondheim, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: A Musical Thriller.

(It is difficult to describe how much better — leagues better! — the work is in the theater than it was in the awful film Tim Burton made in which Johnny Depp was merely OK and Helena Bonham-Carter, who cannot sing, was woefully miscast. Trust me on that.)

A fictional character from the 1840′s, Sweeney Todd (whom many believe was a real person) is the story of a barber who, angry at the authorities who imprisoned him and kidnapped his daughter while driving his beloved wife mad, sets on the seek revenge. He teams with Mrs. Lovett, whose pie shop is downstairs from his barber shop, to get rid of evidence of the murders he commits. They do this by grinding up the bodies and baking them into meat pies.

Sondheim’s musical has been performed by many actors in a lot of productions. The Sondheim version — an instant classic — first premiered on Broadway in 1979 (starring Len Cariou, who is now playing Francis’ father on the Tom Selleck TV series Blue Bloods and Angela Lansbury) and won every award in sight. (Sitting in the front row at that show, I remember getting a spot of stage blood on my foot.) It is, as noted, a work of genius and it’s great to see Tom — who has said often he doesn’t like Broadway musicals — having the experience of being in the audience for Sweeney Todd.

This production stars the wonderful Michael Ball and the equally wonderful Imelda Staunton.

There are four more photos of Tom at Sweeney Todd that you can see in the TJI.com flickr set Pap Shots: The Paparazzi Capture Tom

For the new video and the 2 new articles, please click here to (more…)

Tom on TV & Radio Thursday & Friday. He will be on:

• BBC1′s The One Show this Thursday at 7pm with Danny O’Donnahue;

• Chris Evans BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Friday morning. The show begins at 6:30 a.m. GMT (four hours ahead of EDT in North America).

Also, he may turn up as a “surprise” guest on Sport Relief — the annual UK fundraiser that runs from March 23rd through March 25 — on Friday, March 23. (Actually, you can bank on that appearance, as OFFICIAL Tom Jones is once again playing coy, as they do with all these “surprise” appearances.) No time yet, though.

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If you didn’t see the two posts below, be sure to catch up on them and give your opinion in the comments.

At left, a quick, fun video that demonstrates the interplay between the judges on The Voice. You can watch another, longer, interview with Sir Tom here. It’s worth waiting for the ad/advert to end to see the interview.

Still lots of articles about The Voice UK. One awful London tabloid — The Mirror — refers to Sir Tom as the “60s singer.” Jeez. Below is an article with an obvious error. It says the show began Saturday night. It didn’t. So, if they’re that careless about facts, how are they with stories like this? Guess we’ll have to tune in to see. Apparently, it’s a true story and it surely speaks to the issue of speaking out of turn. Just wondering if this stuff should be made public before the show airs. Now, anyone watching it knows what happens before the contestant even has a chance to sing. That is ridiculous. Why bother watching?

Tom Jones Criticizes Non-Performing Talent Show Judges, Then Makes Major Mistake on The Voice
Tom Jones may think twice before criticizing other’s abilities at judging on talent show.

Vintage Vinyl Music | Monday, March 19, 2012

Jones is one of the four judges on the new British version of The Voice and, while publicizing the show, talked about Simon Cowell who judges on the competing show Britain’s Got Talent.

Tom said “I have problems when people who have never got up on a stage to sing judge those who do. Who are they to say? Simon Cowell is a record man, not a singer. How can someone give advice if he or she is not qualified? It’s like critics who criticise actors, never having been on a stage. Or having a teacher not experienced in teaching.”

The British version of The Voice premiered on Saturday night with Jones, Jessie J, will.i.am and Danny O’Donoghue as judges, all recording artists. For those not familiar with the program, during the early rounds, the contestants sing while the judges are on rotating chairs facing away from them, essentially allowing the judges to make decisions based solely on the singer’s voice and not on looks or other factors. If they want the singer on their “team”, they hit a button to turn the chair around.

Unfortunately for Jones, one of the contestants on the opening program was Alison Jiear, a singer who had done backup work for him during Australian tours and had opened for him at a recent show in London.

When Jiear sang, Tom didn’t turn his chair around.

A source told Britain’s Sun that Jones was torn up by his mistake. “Tom really likes Alison and felt terrible. It just shows how tricky the show is.”