The Flaming Hits Of The 50s,60s,70s and now 80s!

Tom Jones

On Tom Jones In his native Wales, he is known as "Jones the Voice." Today, he is one of the most enduring personalities in the music entertainment business. His unique vocal power, ability, and charismatic persona make him one of the most respected, admired and loved performers in modern music. Tom's unique weighty voice is a baritone to tenor range. He is a vocal powerhouse with the ability to give his audience every ounce of his energy, enthusiasm and concentration. If his delivery is vigorous, he invites his audience in with the vulnerability of his emotional conviction. He is a natural, a Welshman, a worker, an artist. Tom possesses a wide range of musical expression. He is first and foremost a rocker with a true rhythm and blues soul. In his youth, he was a "Teddy-Boy," a rebel, with not much on his mind but music and sex. His young style and attitude was dominated by the birth of rock 'n' roll. Thomas Jones Woodward was born at 57 Kingsland Terrace, Trefforest, Pontypridd, near Cardiff in Wales; his parents were Freda Jones (died 7 February 2003) and Thomas Woodward (died 5 October 1981), a coal miner. His maternal grandfather was of Welsh descent, while the rest of his ancestry is English.[4] Jones began singing at an early age; he'd regularly sing at family gatherings, weddings, and in his school choir, and it was clear that he had singing talent. However, he was struck down by tuberculosis and bedridden for almost a year. It was a critical time for him, but he could do little else but listen to music and draw. On 2 March 1957, at the age of sixteen, Jones married Melinda Trenchard, and had a son named Mark, long before becoming a pop idol. Jones quit school with no qualifications and took a variety of jobs including a builder's labourer and a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. Shortly afterwards he became a singer. Tom Jones  Sings "I Believe" Early fame Jones rose to fame in the 1960s as a singer with an exuberant live act that included wearing tight pants and billowing shirts, in an Edwardian style popular among his peers at the time. In 1963, Jones became the frontman for Tommy Scott and The Senators, a local beat group. Clad in black leather, he soon gained a reputation in South Wales, although the Senators were unknown in London. In 1964 the band laid down seven tracks with maverick "Telstar" producer Joe Meek, who took them to various labels in an attempt to get a record deal, with no success. The plan was to release a single, "Lonely Joe/I Was A Fool", but Meek wasn't able to lease the tapes. Only after "It's Not Unusual" became a massive hit was Meek able to lease the tapes to Tower (US) and Columbia (UK). Record companies began finding Jones' style and delivery to be too abrasive and raw.[citation needed] Jones' vocals were considered to be too raucous, and he moved like Elvis (whom he later cited as one of his influences). But eventually, Decca rekindled their early interest, and Jones recorded his first single, "Chills And Fever" in late 1964. The single didn't chart, but the follow-up, "It's Not Unusual," which Mills wrote and composed jointly with Les Reed, was an instant hit, released in early 1965. The BBC initially refused to play it, but an offshore pirate station, Radio Caroline, picked it up. Its orchestrated arrangement, coupled with Jones' energetic delivery, proved infectious, and by March the song reached number one in the UK and the top ten in America. In the same year, Jones sang the theme song to Thunderball. Jones was awarded the Grammy Award for Best New Artist for 1965. In 1966 Jones' popularity began to slip somewhat, causing Mills to redesign the singer's image into a more respectable, mature, tuxedoed crooner. Inspired by long-time influence Jerry Lee Lewis's country version, Jones released his most successful single ever, "Green Green Grass of Home" (written by Claude "Curly" Putman Jr. in 1965), and began to sing material that appealed to a broad audience, as well as a string of hit singles and albums including "What's New Pussycat?", "Help Yourself", and "Delilah". The strategy worked, as he returned to the top of the charts in the UK, and began hitting the Top 40 again in the U.S. International success In 1967 he performed for the first time in Las Vegas at the Flamingo. In 1968, starting at New York's Copacabana night club, women would swoon and scream, and some would throw their knickers on stage. Soon after, he began to play Las Vegas and began recording less, choosing to concentrate on his lucrative club performances. At Caesars Palace his shows were traditionally a knicker-hurling frenzy of raw sexual tension and good-time entertainment. There, they started throwing hotel room keys. Jones and his idol Elvis Presley met in 1965 at the Paramount stage, when Elvis was filming Paradise, Hawaiian Style. After that they became good friends, spending more and more time together in Las Vegas. Their friendship endured until Presley's death in 1977. Jones had an internationally successful television variety show from 1969 to 1971, titled This Is Tom Jones. This hit TV show was aired by ABC in America and ITV in the UK Decline and resurgence The 1970s saw Jones' popularity leveling off, but had multiple successes: "Daughter Of Darkness", "She's A Lady", "Till" and "The New Mexican Puppeteer" were all hits in the UK, and he scored a #1 country hit in the U.S with "Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow", which also reached #15 on the Billboard Hot 100. On 29 July 1986, Gordon Mills, Jones' long-time manager, died of cancer. Jones' son Mark became his manager. In April 1987, Jones re-entered the singles chart with the hit "A Boy From Nowhere", which got him back into the public eye. A few months later he performed a version of Prince's Kiss, which he recorded with The Art of Noise. In 1999 he recorded the album Reload, a collection of duets with various artists, which brought him back into the limelight. On New Year's Eve to ring in 2000, United States President Bill Clinton invited him to perform at the Millennium celebrations in Washington, D.C. Highlights His early hits include: "It's Not Unusual" (1965), Jones' signature song. "What's New Pussycat?", written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for What's New, Pussycat?, released in 1965. "Thunderball", the theme for the James Bond film of the same name (1965)—an urban legend states that upon hitting the final high note of the song Jones actually passed out, but Jones was impressed with it so much that it was the version that was released. Jones later denied this. "Green Green Grass of Home" (1966), his most successful single in the UK, which was interpreted by many to refer to Jones' native Wales (correctly, according to Jones), despite having been originally written (by Curly Putman) about the USA.[12] "(It Looks Like) I'll Never Fall In Love Again" (1967) "Delilah" (1968) "Help Yourself" (1968) "Without Love" (1969) "She's A Lady" (1971), his highest charting U.S. single, peaking at #2. Written by Paul Anka. Jones' recording career slumped on the pop charts during the 1970s and '80s, although he placed 16 singles on the Billboard Country Music charts between 1976 and 1985, the biggest of which was "Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow" (# 1 Country, # 15 pop) in 1977, and his touring continued successfully. When his son Mark became his manager in 1987, his musical style was taken in a different direction. His recording career was revived with his first major hit single in over a decade, "A Boy From Nowhere", taken from the musical Matador. In 1988 he collaborated with The Art of Noise to record Prince's popular song "Kiss"; this was featured on the My Stepmother Is an Alien soundtrack. Following this, he started to record in collaboration with a younger generation of musicians: Prince's "Kiss" (1988, with The Art of Noise) EMF's "Unbelievable" – a staple of his 1990s live shows "I Wanna Get Back with You" (1995) features Tori Amos on its chorus vocals Talking Heads' song "Burning Down the House" (1999, with The Cardigans) "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (1999, with Cerys Matthews of Catatonia) Iggy Pop's song "Lust for Life" (1999, with The Pretenders) Randy Newman's song "Mama Told Me Not to Come" (2000, with Stereophonics) "Sex Bomb" (From 1999's Reload, with Mousse T) "You Need Love Like I Do" (2000, with Heather Small of M People) His Reload album, released in 2000, became the biggest hit of his career. An album of cover versions recorded as duets with contemporary artists, using their record producers and their recording methods, it reached number one in the United Kingdom, and sold over 4 million copies worldwide.[13] In 2002, he released the album Mr. Jones, which was produced by Wyclef Jean and included the singles "Tom Jones International" and "Black Betty".  In 2003, he was honored with a BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2004, his "Sex Bomb" single became a major club hit. For his contribution to the recording industry, Jones was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6608 Hollywood Blvd