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Kumars at No.42 - BBC America

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166735_1.31BBC America Part scripted comedy, part improvisation, part genuine interview, Kumars at No. 42 is like nothing you've seen before. The Kumars are a typical (albeit exaggerated) Indian-British family, living in North London, who have come across a unique method of "keeping up with the Joneses". They have bulldozed their back yard and built a state-of-the-art TV studio from where they host their very own talk show. Last year Tom and Jools Holland appeared on the show to promote their new album 'Tom Jones and Jools Holland'. Here in an interview on BBC America Kumars' host Sanjeev tells all about what it was like to interview 'the Voice'... Sanjeev on Working with Tom Jones Q: What was it like working with Tom Jones? Sanjeev Kumar: Obviously Tom Jones and I have been mutual admirers for years, even though he'd never heard of me. But I feel it works like back taxes, all the admiration he owed me came flooding out even though my family claim they couldn't see it. Also we had two love Gods on the show, how often does that happen? Q: Were you nervous to meet him? Sanjeev: I was nervous because I knew Tom had to deal with my family. I have to deal with them every day, Tom had to deal with them for 30 minutes, I feared it could be his last. Granny particularly had designs on Tom and I don't mean the kind you can find in the Guggenheim. Q: Even though you paid him in chutney, was there anything Tom wouldn't do? Any questions Tom wouldn't answer? Sanjeev: Well he was very vague about whether I could be in his band or indeed whether he would ever talk to me again. Q: You know how those stars can be, what was the most unexpected thing Tom did? Sanjeev: He was nice to my family, I'm always shocked when superstars are nice to them. Don't they realize they only have to be nice to me? Q: You're known for your innovative interview techniques and in-depth research. Still, were you surprised that Tom appeared on the show? Sanjeev: Not surprised but shocked. Tom Jones is a superstar known all over the world, I'm amazed he accepted a local bus ticket to get to our house. Find out more about this episode and watch clips online at http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/207/index.jsp

Message from the Heart

Tom Jones meets Message from the heartWe started working on this special gift for Tom last November. We named it “Message From The Heart – Gift for Tom.” We asked for fans to share their first concert, first time they heard Tom’s voice, saw him on TV. We asked them to express what he’s meant to us over the years. A notice was placed on Tom’s website announcing our gift for Tom. We had our first notice in our December newsletter. Messages started coming in from around the world. Some shared their poetry, artistic abilities and most shared what Tom’s voice and music has meant to them over the years. We were still receiving messages up till the end of September. I created an icon for the gift and I created the book using Power Point software on the computer. The final copy was printed on special mat finished paper. I found beautiful artwork for the front and back cover. The front cover artwork had the word “memories” which fit the book’s contents of so many wonderful memories. Our printer, who does our newsletter copies, copied the artwork on stock paper and bonded the book for us. We were so pleased with the finished product. On October 3rd, I e-mailed Tom’s management that our special gift for Tom was complete and we would like to present the book to Tom when we were in Las Vegas the following week. On October 4th, we received E-mail from Tom’s Tour Manager that Monday, October 10th would be fine for Tom for us to present the book to him. Tom put on a fabulous show that evening. At one point, a fan shouted out “Where did you get that voice” and Tom replied “It’s a gift from God and I thank God everyday for this gift. I just love to sing.” I thought at that moment I would use that line to present our book to him, because it says it all. After the show ended, we went over to the security guard who had our name and he escorted us backstage. Over the years we have met Tom many times backstage. This time I felt we were taking all of you back with us in spirit because your messages would be handed to him. We walked into the greeting room and Tom’s Tour Manager, Sandy Battaglia, greeted us.

A little while later I looked to my right and Tom came out of his dressing room wearing a checkered jacket, black turtleneck and black pants. He always looks so nice and he has such great taste for clothes. He came over to me and said “You have a book for me” and I said “Tom you were talking about your voice during the show, well this book says it all, your voice means so much to all of us.” Tom took the book from my hands and held it in his hands, and gave me a big smile and said “Thank you.” From the many times I’ve met Tom backstage I know when he’s very touched, he’s lost for words, but that smile on his face says it all. He then said, “let’s take a photo.” I gave the camera to Don Archell, Tom’s assistant, and Celine stood on Tom’s right and I on his left and Tom held the book in his left hand while Don snapped two photos. I turned and thanked Tom and he gave me that big smile. Sandy walked us to the door and we bid farewell and said, “We’ll see you again.” We were happy to deliver our book to Tom. The messages throughout the book describe how Tom’s beautiful voice touched our lives in so many ways over the years. We know that when Tom reads this book; we’ll touch his heart with our messages as he’s touched our lives over these 40 years with his voice and incredible talent. We plan on selling copies of this book to the fans. Check our website for details. http://www.tjfanclub.com. Tom Terrific Fan Club Margaret & Celine Mariotti Shelton, Connecticut USA By Margaret & Celine Mariotti

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa - Welsh crooner Tom Jones Still Rock

Tom Jones Tom Jones is 65, but this guy has still got it. Thanks to the birthday generosity of my second ex-husband, I had the supreme pleasure of seeing the Welsh crooner carefully moving those famous hips last weekend in Mississippi's northern version of Sodom and Gomorrah. He may have dyed hair and he may not move with constant gyration anymore, but let me tell you, Tom can sing. That strong, rich baritone is still working for him and it's driving the women crazy, oh yes! When it came showtime, Tom was everything we expected and then some. "My, my, my Delilah!" he wailed as the entire auditorium sang along. The sound rang across the Robinsonville night. True to form came "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," "Help Yourself," "Without Love," "She's a Lady" with classic whoa, whoa, whoa then "The Green, Green Grass of Home," "What's New Pussycat," "Without Love" and many more, including covers of "Mama Told Me Not to Come" and Prince's hit "Kiss." When Tom sang his classic "Sex Bomb," pandemonium broke out. It was women by the pairs, triplets and half-dozens pouring out of their chairs, charging the stage and security guards, then reaching pleadingly for Tom to touch their hands or dab his sweat onto an outstretched hankie. They were dancing in the aisles, from their gallery seats, waving and shouting to Tom for attention. It was fantastic! Rockin' and carefully swinging those hips, our guy had em in the palm of his be-ringed hands. It made me ponder if this performance might mirror one by The King, had HE lived to 65. But without him, Tom has it going just fine. Whoa, whoa, whoa - Welsh crooner Tom Jones still rocks Daily Journal By Patsy Brumfield

Home Town Triumph for Tom Jones

Tom JonesBBC News Tom Jones has staged a triumphant return to his home town of Pontypridd with an open-air concert for about 20,000 fans. He performed hits from throughout his 40-year career to the crowds at Ynysangharad Park on Saturday night. "Tom Jones in Ponty Park" marked his 65th birthday next week. Police said there were no big problems. There were three arrests in the park - two for trying to supply drugs and one for being drunk and disorderly. "I will never forget it and it is most definitely a story to tell the grandchildren. Tom Jones in Ponty Park - magnificent" Concert-goer Meriel Oliver It was a remarkable night, as Jones sang within a few hundred yards of Laura Street in Treforest, where he grew up honing one of the most distinctive voices in showbusiness. It's a voice which has brought him consistent success and untold wealth over four decades, and it was still in fantastic fettle back where it all began. Jones was greeted like a conquering hero as he appeared, dressed in lilac suit, studded black shirt and familiar cross medallion around his neck. Naturally, his greatest hits wrought the loudest cheers, from the breakthrough number one It's Not Unusual, through to What's New Pussycat, Thunderball, and Delilah. And - of course - Green, Green Grass of Home, with a nod of the head towards Laura Street as he reached the line... "The old house is still standing, though the paint is cracked and dry." But the ecstatic reception for more recent songs - from Prince's Kiss to Sex Bomb and his Stereophonics duet Mama Told Me Not to Come - showed how he has won fans across the generations to stay at the top. In between songs, Jones fondly recalled his visits to Ponty Park as a young boy and with his own son Mark, born when Tom Woodward was a teenager dreaming of stardom. Jones told the audience that his last concert in Ponty was on 30 June, 1964, at the White Hart pub with Tommy Scott and the Senators. The next day he went to London, on 11 November he recorded It's Not Unusual, and on St David's Day 1965 it hit number one. He spoke beforehand about how it would be a night for people from Ponty and the surrounding valleys, and the warm-up pushed all the right buttons. Highlights from Wales' recent Grand Slam rugby win were shown, with recorded tributes to the singer from some players and well-known Welsh faces. But some of these went down better than others: Pontypridd-born ex-international Neil Jenkins and former Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable won wild cheers, while both First Minister Rhodri Morgan - another 65-year-old who told Jones that was no age to retire - and teenage singer Charlotte Church were booed. There was, though, a warm welcome from both the star of the night and the crowd for Welsh classical singer Katherine Jenkins. She appeared after Green, Green Grass of Home to serenade him with happy birthday and to present him with a massive cake.

Most of the crowd appeared to be local, and some women wore spare knickers over their jeans, ready to throw on stage. But one man, Claudio Pini, had travelled from Palma, Italy, to be there. Claudio, aged 44 - and membership number 1,901 in the Tom Jones Appreciation Society - brought with him both his girlfriend and a beautiful £400 miniature pool table which he has been trying to present to him for some months. Claudio was disappointed at failing to meet his idol to hand over the table, but this fan of 28 years was clearly not about to give up. Other fans from closer to Tom's home were just as impressed with the show.

"I thought it was gwych (fantastic)," said Liz Cameron, aged 32, originally from Nantgarw, near Pontypridd, and now living in Cardiff. 'What a brilliant night': the verdict of Pontypridd fan Meriel Oliver "He was as good as I expected. And very sexy." Meriel Oliver, aged 26, from Trallwn, Pontypridd, said: "From a young age I've been aware of 'the importance of being Tom Jones'. "I feel extremely glad to have seen him in the home town and very proud of him as he is in my opinion a true Welshman. "What a brilliant night. I will never forget it and it is most definitely a story to tell the grandchildren. Tom Jones in Ponty Park - magnificent." Police said the event went smoothly after people arrived early and used public transport. Chief Superintendent Brian Greaves said: "It seems that most concert-goers heeded our advice and made use of the park and ride facilities signposted from major roads, or shared lifts, so the anticipated road congestion in the town centre and on the A470 was avoided. "It did take some time to get everyone away after the show with 20,000 people all leaving at once, trying to get to the park and ride and relatives and friends trying to pick people up. "

Luckily the delays weren't too long and the congestion was dealt with in about 45 minutes. "It was the first event of this kind in Pontypridd and the emergency services, the local authority and the organisers have learnt a great deal from the experience, which will help us to develop and improve any subsequent plan for events in the park." http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/wales/south_east/4590941.stm

Tom Comes Home - South Wales Echo

166735_1.24Tom Comes Home - South Wales Echo Review: Jo Manning Las Vegas! Hollywood! Ponty Park? There's only one person who could connect all three of those places - and that's Tom Jones. Having been around the world and sampled the kind of life the rest of us can only dream of for more than 40 years. The Voice was back performing in his home town at the weekend and it meant an awful lot to everyone there - even Tom himself. I spotted the singer striding from his backstage paddock to the stage just minutes before he was due on and Tom - the consummate cool-as-a-cucumber performer - actually looked nervous. But once the man hit the stage and started belting out hit after hit for his inflatable daffodil-wielding, knicker-throwing, Welsh flag waving fans, it was business as usual. And what a business. Tom may be 64 years old (65 later this week actually) but he's still got a wicked wiggle to go with those fantastic pipes. And it wasn't just those who paid who enjoyed Tom. The hills surrounding the park were packed with his fans, and they looked like something out of Braveheart as they gazed down on the 20,000-plus throng. Backed by a tight eight-piece band and backing singers, Tom played his greatest hits with his usual amount of gusto and good humour. The highlights depended on which were your favourite, but I adore the overblown ballads like (It Looks Like) I'll Never Fall in Love Again and A Boy From Nowhere which allowed Tom to show off that voice. The kitsch Kiss and You Can Leave Your Hat On were also great moments. Soprano Katherine Jenkins even joined Tom at the end of It's Not Unusual for some trilling and a special rendition of Happy Birthday for the local boy. But no-one could deny the emotion when he - and the crowd - sang Green, Green Grass of Home at the tops of their voices, backed by images of his Valleys home on gigantic screens.

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Wales & Me Interview - Western Mail

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Tom JonesFrom the words he wants inscribed on his tombstone to whether Wales should go it alone, our Tom lets it all out to Karen Price Karen Price, Western Mail COMING HOME "It's something I've wanted to do but didn't think it would be possible because where would you play? And Cardiff is so close and has always had the facilities. But I'm coming up to my 65th birthday and have been in the business for 40 years so now is a good time. Emyr (Afan, who is organising the event) from the Pop Factory in Porth looked into it and we decided on Ponty Park. The thing I've always wanted to do is sing live in Ponty." SONG LIST "We are trying to work out what songs to do. There were my last three albums - greatest hits, the Wyclef (Jean) album and the Jools Holland album. So there will be songs from them and a mixture of stuff from throughout my career." GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME "Singing the Green, Green Grass will definitely be a highlight I think. There will be a couple of other songs too and one which reflects my life and says a lot about coming from Pontypridd is Boy From Nowhere. It's about a Spanish bullfighter but it says a lot about me coming from humble beginnings." EMOTIONAL MAN "You have got to try not to get emotional when you sing. If you're too emotional, your throat closes up. But just thinking about it (the Ponty gig) I feel emotional but hopefully when I'm on stage and the people are there I'll be okay. I always feel emotional when I play in Cardiff but not so emotional as I will be doing a live show at Pontypridd for the first time since I left in 1964." ME AND MRS JONES "Linda won't be there at the Ponty gig. She doesn't like flying any more. In fact, she's not flown since 9/11. We were on a European tour when it happened and she really freaked and was nervous about going on the flights. So when we got back to America that was it." FAMILY TIES "I'm coming over for such a short time, it's only four days, but I will definitely see my family. We will get together after the show. But I won't have any time to visit any places - I will do that when I come back at a quieter time." HOPES FOR THE GIG "I hope the weather will be good - that's my biggest concern as it's an open air gig. I think it will be a great night. I'm bringing my own band over, sound people and lighting. I want to make it as great a show as I possibly can - all the ingredients will be there. It will be a great night and a first for the park - I just hope I don't get too emotional! I also hope more bands will play there (Ponty Park) as Pontypridd has been bypassed, in my opinion, so I hope this will be the start of something big. It's a great park and it's in a great location." MOVING BACK TO WALES "I have considered getting a house in Wales again but I'm just so busy. But maybe I can do it when I get a bit older and I won't be doing so many shows. I had a house in Cowbridge for a while but we were not there enough so it wasn't really being used." RETIREMENT PLANS "I haven't really got any plans to retire. I think time will tell. When I'm not feeling like performing as much, or my voice isn't working as well as it does, that will tell me to do it. It's hard to turn down engagements when you get so many coming in - there's always something that you want to do. "I hope I don't get to the bloody stage when I go past my sell-by date, when I can't sing songs like Delilah and Boy From Nowhere. But I love performing and will keep doing it for as long as I can." THE WELSH IMAGE ABROAD "I think Wales is starting to lose its image as a coal mining country. The mines have closed down but the sad part about it is nothing else has come along to take their place as far as industry is concerned. There was a lot of work in Wales and people would go there to work, especially from the south of England. Wales was known for its coal mining. But I know for a fact that people now know Wales as the Land of Song - they know people love to sing. So music is the thing people think about now when they think of Wales. And, of course there's the rugby. Anyone who knows anything about rugby knows that Wales is very passionate about it, especially now with Welsh rugby being so strong. And now we have people like Catherine Zeta-Jones and Anthony Hopkins so people are aware of Wales, although the Americans don't know where Wales is! So people think of Welsh people as being musical, poets and actors." THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY "I think it's helped Wales. I don't know about in world politics or European politics but I think it's a good thing. But I'm not a separatist. I think that united you stand and divided you fall. I think Wales should definitely be represented but I don't think it is big enough to go it alone. I think that Great Britain as a whole should stick together - that's what made Britain and the British Empire. As long as Wales is well represented, I think that's fine. You have to have a representative in Wales to know what the needs are so that's why the National Assembly is very important." TOM'S WELSH ICONS "No one's ever asked me who my Welsh icons are before. I would choose Lloyd George and Aneurin Bevan as far as politicians are concerned. Lloyd George did so much. He started the National Health Service, which was a great thing, and Aneurin Bevan carried it through. They were very important as far as a political Wales is concerned. Richard Burton was a great Welshman - he flew the flag a lot. Every time I was with him he would say, 'We are Welsh!' We were in Germany one time and I had to say, 'Take it easy Richard!' He was very patriotic. Of course, I think Dylan Thomas was a great poet who was well known worldwide. And people in America, in particular, know him and his work, which is nice. Catherine Zeta-Jones, of course, represents Wales very well today. We're friends but I don't see much of her as we are both very busy. But when we bump into each other we always have a drink or a bite to eat. We did a commercial together relatively recently for a phone company." CELEBRATING HIS 65TH BIRTHDAY "I'm actually flying back to LA from New York. I'm going there to do a charity show on June 6. I was going to have the day off so I did think about whether I should do it or not but it's for a worthy cause for young people. Mark and Donna (his son and daughter-in-law) will be with me so I suppose we will have a celebration at midnight and maybe a few bevvies on the plane. Then the plan is to have dinner with my wife and sister in LA." KEEPING FIT "I work out during the day. I use a cross trainer as you can burn more calories on that than anything else. I have a gym in my house in LA and do crunches and push-ups but I don't have a personal trainer, I'm not into that. I know what I have to do and just do it." LOOKING GOOD "Image is still important to a certain extent but I'm not a fanatic about it. I don't diet but I try not to eat too much. I think you should look presentable - you shouldn't look like a slob on stage. Maybe I should be a bit more disciplined and I could be a bit lighter than I am. As long as I'm fit, I'm fine." WHY ALWAYS BLACK OUTFITS? "It's to hide perspiration. I tried wearing colours but perspiration makes them change colour." COLLABORATING "There are a lot of people I'd like to work with. I'm thinking of maybe doing a Reload 2 album if I can get enough people interested in it. There are a lot of American bands I've never worked with so maybe we could do something here (in America). But there are so many musicians to choose from. I couldn't pick them out now because if it didn't happen it would be silly. I'd rather get the ball rolling first." NEW WORK PROJECTS "Reload 2 would be good but I have to find out who wants to do it and where the material is coming from. The hardest thing is to find the material as I'm not really a songwriter. But I'm very versatile - I like a lot of different things. During live shows I do all kinds of musical stuff." AMBITIONS "I just want longevity. I would like immortality but that's not going to happen! I just want to do more of the same. I hope I can come up with interesting albums and stuff which people like and I like. It's always an ongoing thing, finding new material and trying to figure out what to do recording wise." BECOMING A US CITIZEN "The only positive thing about American citizenship is the tax benefits you get. When you have a green card (essentially a work permit), I've been told that when a spouse dies they (the government) automatically take half of your money. But if I really wanted to become an American citizen I would have done it a long time ago. I'm British and I have a British passport and if I can remain that way, that's the way I like it." FAENOL FESTIVAL "I know Bryn (Terfel, who organises the annual festival in North Wales) - he's a lovely fella. I would love to take part in it and would be excited to do it but it's just getting the time." NEW WELSH MUSIC "I heard Goldie Lookin' Chain's album (Newport's tongue-in-cheek hip-hop band) and I absolutely cracked up laughing! I hope they can follow that album through with a great second album. I thought their first CD was really good as it has Welsh humour, an unique humour and I got it right away. The Stereophonics also have that style of humour and I realised that the first time I met them." CHARLOTTE CHURCH THE POP STAR "I've not heard her singing any pop songs. It's hard for opera singers to sing pop music but I hope Charlotte can do it. She's a lovely girl and has a great voice. I know she wants to do it." REMEMBER ME ... "As a hell of a singer!" HIS EPITAPH "Jones the Voice." WHERE DOES HE WANT TO BE BURIED? "That's a good question! All roads point to Wales for me - that's the way it is. It's just one of those things. I spent the first 24 years of my life in Wales and I loved it and have never really left. So I would want to be buried in Glyntaff Cemetery in Pontypridd - all of my forefathers are there." There are still some tickets, priced at £32.50, available for Tom's Ponty Park gig next Saturday. Get them from CIA box office: (029) 2022 4488; Ticketline UK: 08700 66779; Muni Arts Centre, Pontypridd: (01443) 485934 and Ticketmaster: 0870 4000688. The gates open at 5pm and the show starts at 6pm.

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The Devil in Mr Jones - Interview The Independent

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166735_1.27As he reaches pensionable age,Tom Jones tells Bob Guccione Jnr about the early days in south Wales, the nights with Elvis and Frank. And the legendary sparkle in his eyes. When I was a boy in the Sixties, Tom Jones was the biggest pop star in the world. More than that, he was sex. I didn't know what sex was but I knew it was really, really important and that Tom Jones was its king because women threw their underpants at him. The only underpants anyone ever threw at me were mine, by my mother, disgusted that I'd left them lying around the house. When you're young you have no sense of the trajectory of effort, success and failure, just of things being there, as permanent fixtures, like parents and buses. So Tom Jones was just there, the world's greatest pop singer, hanging statically in the firmament like a silver-paper star in a school play. There were other, smaller, less shiny cut-out stars that twinkled briefly when they caught the spotlight, who had hit records, some fabulous, some rightfully forgotten. But in the Sixties in England, there was the incredible, life altering rock'n'roll revolution, and there was Tom Jones. Forty years on from his first and greatest hit "It's Not Unusual", and countless albums and greatest-hits collections later, Tom Jones is still going strong, still just there - though he's now reaching pensionable age (he celebrates his 65th birthday on 7 June). Nor has he merely kept going, like a hamster on a treadmill wheel, keeping the dying flame of recognition alive by touring ever obscurer towns. In 1971 he went to Vegas, where performers' careers get embalmed to slow their decomposing, but he still plays it today, four times a year, for two weeks at a stretch, as potent a draw as when he first arrived. When and wherever else he tours he invariably sells out. Half his crowds are kids, and not necessarily the offspring of the other half. He's sitting across from me now in the bar of a trendy New York hotel, cold, late-afternoon light draped over us like a shawl. Thick, curly hair still frames the top of his head like a black halo though these days a fashionable Van Dyck beard sharply defines his face, giving him an almost Vaudevillian, mischievous look. When he smiles his eyes dance. When he isn't smiling he looks distant, guarded. He also looks remarkably younger than he is, which is minimally the result of plastic surgery and mostly, I suspect, the result of enjoying his life. He's dressed in jeans and a black turtleneck under a stiff black leather jacket, and he sits in his chair like a lion considering whether to eat you or to go to sleep. Which is not to say he's aggressive or easily bored - the opposite is true - but that he has a big cat's grace and power, sitting back with the regal ease of a man who regards any seat as a throne, or leaning forward into his words when animated, as if he feels a primal instinct to manifest every excitement physically. He's in very good shape too, particularly for a man about to collect his bus pass, with broad shoulders and a thick chest. He enunciates clearly, and his voice remains musically Welsh-accented and deep, as you might expect from the singer once known simply as The Voice. And he still places himself, of course, in the great tradition of Welsh singers. "In Wales there are choirs, especially male-voice choirs, which a lot of my cousins were in," he says. "A Welsh tenor will have a full Welsh voice, even though he's singing high - full-blown, window shattering material. Maybe speaking Welsh lends itself, the accent. Maybe part of it is the cheapest way of making music is to sing. You don't need to buy an instrument." When he first started singing in the clubs of south Wales, people would tell him he sounded black and later when he was first played on the radio, people thought he was black. In America he broke on black radio. "I was listening to the BBC radio in the late Forties, early Fifties, when I was a kid," he explains. "And anytime a gospel or blues song would come on, I would think: 'What is that?' It was rubbing off on me. I didn't know why, I just liked it. In school I sang the Lord's Prayer, and my teacher said to me, 'Why are you singing this like a negro spiritual?' I didn't know what the term was; I was very young, seven, eight. It was very natural for me to do it." Gospel may have woken his soul, but it was rock'n'roll that stole it. "What attracted me to rock'n'roll was the sound," he recalls. "I toured with Count Basie once and I asked him what he thought of it, and he said, 'What they've done, which we used to do, is to concentrate on the rhythm section, get that rhythm section hot. When Jerry Lee Lewis pounds out and the rhythm section kicks in with him, you can balance it because you don't have all those other instruments to worry about.' "When I heard Jerry Lee's 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On'," he continues, singing it now, "the piano starts like this" - his fingers hit an invisible keyboard - "and Sam Phillips [the f owner of Sun records] had a slap-back echo, because he didn't have an echo chamber, so he created a tape delay. He'd have two tapes running with one a little stronger than the other. It's only a simple thing that Jerry Lee is playing but because of that slap-back -" he starts singing again, c'mon over baby ... - "his voice is like, Jesus! Things hadn't sounded like that before." When Jones started performing with a group in pubs and local working men's clubs, he played acoustic guitar and sang. They had a rhythm section but Jones was limited in what he could do on the guitar. One Friday night, boy's night out - Saturday was the night you took the girls out but Friday was sacred time with the lads - he was drinking at a pub when a friend, Tommy Redman, the bassist for a local rock group with some renown, called Tony Scott and the Senators, came in and told Jones their singer hadn't shown up for the gig at the YMCA, and asked him to fill in. Tom was dismissive: a YMCA? On a Friday night? "Tommy, do me a favour," pleaded Redman, who said he'd smuggle some beers in, which the YMCA didn't allow. So Jones agreed, setting his friends up backstage with the beers, and singing Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis tunes, and by the end of the night concluding that this was it, that he didn't want to go back to the acoustic guitar. He'd found his calling and the band had found their singer. Jones got them gigs in the local area, because he was known in the clubs, but the venue owners would baulk, crying "Pay 'em off", when he turned up with the Senators, and they saw the electric guitars and amplifiers. "The owners would pay people not to perform. They had to honour the contract but they didn't want to listen to any of it. As soon as they saw us they were, 'Oh geez, rock'n'roll! Tommy, please ...' And I said, 'Wait a minute. Let's start the show. After a while, if we do three or four tunes and you're bothered by it and people are not digging it, fair enough.' So there we were on a Saturday night and 'Pay 'em off!' became 'Do you think we can get an extension if we call the police tonight?' and did we mind if they moved all the tables and chairs so everyone could have a dance, and I said, 'By all means.' So I introduced rock'n'roll to Welsh working men's clubs. They had never had it before." The Senators built up a reputation in south Wales, and one night Gordon Mills, the harmonica player, saw Jones perform and said he should be in London. I know where London is, replied the singer, but who do I talk to when I get there? Talk to me, said Mills, I've never managed anyone, but you're doing something I can't do - your vocal ability is incredible. Come to London, he said, I'll show you around. WHEN JONES arrived in the English capital in 1964, it was still emerging from the chrysalis of post-war staidness and slowly turning into the sexually liberated, artistically vibrant swinging London that would change the world. But before Jones could become a part of that, he had to make the frustratingly unproductive rounds of the record companies and live on the meagre salary Gordon Mills paid him and the Senators while waiting for them to get a break. Tom was already married and a father - having got his 16-year-old girlfriend Linda pregnant when he was 17 - and his wife and son, Mark, had to stay behind in Wales. A few weeks before Mills brought him "It's Not Unusual", Jones stared at a London Underground train approaching as he stood on the platform and thought how easy it would be to end it all by stepping in front of it. He'd released his first single, "Chills and Fever", which had fizzled, Mills was running out of money, and his wife was working in a factory in Wales because he couldn't support them. "For a split second I thought, aww, fuck it, if I just step to the right it'd be over. I felt so down because I didn't know what to do. That very rarely happens to me. I didn't want to go back to Wales without proving myself. I wasn't making any money. Fuck it. But then things flash through your mind. What about your wife? What about your son? What about your mother and father? How would they feel? But for that split second - that's as low as I've ever got. Just before 'It's Not Unusual'." Jones was recording demos at the time to make some money, vocalising songs that writers then took to more established singers. Mills had written "It's Not Unusual" with another writer, Les Reed, for Sandy Shaw, who had already had a couple of number-one hits. Tom and the band demoed it. But when he heard his performance played back to him in the studio, he said, "I've gotta have this song." Mills replied that Jones didn't want it, that he was a rock singer, and this was a pop song. "I don't give a shit what you call it, I've gotta have it," retorted Jones, who said he'd go back to Wales if they didn't let him record and release it. Mills knew he meant it, but explained he had to submit it to Shaw, because she knew about it and was expecting it. Mills promised he wouldn't try to push it, just play it for her and hope she didn't want it. "God bless Sandy Shaw," recalls Jones, 40 years later, "because she said, 'Whoever is singing this demo should put it out. I can't sing like that.'" Within weeks, the song was at number one. At first the BBC wouldn't play it: someone had seen Jones perform and thought he was too raunchy. But the pirate station Radio Caroline had created such a demand for the song that the BBC had to come around. Suddenly Tom Jones was a huge star, a development that seemed to take him somewhat by surprise. "I was on a package tour with a lot of bands and I wasn't aware that 'It's Not Unusual' was going so fast up the chart. We used to do two shows a night. So between shows I went to the pub and I was having a pork pie and a pint, and these girls were outside screaming. I thought they must be here for one of the rock bands on this package, but they'd all gone back to the theatre; the kids must think they're in the pub. So I walk out the pub, straight into this crowd, with a pork pie in my hand. And they go 'Oooooo' and they're on me. And they tore everything. I had this raincoat, the first decent raincoat I ever bought, and it went like in fucking shreds. I had to run to get back in the theatre." How did the underwear thing start? "It was in 1968. I was booked into the Copacabana in New York. An American agent had seen me at The Talk of the Town in London in '67 and asked me if I wanted to play the Copa and I said, 'Yeah, America, why not?' So we came in '68. It was a club where there's no stage; you're singing on the dance floor on the same level as the audience. So I'm doing my thing, and I perspire when I sing, and these women are handing me these table napkins, and I'm wiping myself and giving them back. Then all of a sudden one woman stands up, lifts her dress and takes her panties off. You learn when playing in rough places to try to make the most of it. Don't get offended, don't get thrown. So I said, 'Careful not to catch a cold.' All of a sudden it was written up in the papers, and there's underwear all over the place. But the original thing was a sexy thing." A string of hits followed each other, and Jones's fame grew larger and larger until he was too big for England and moved to America. He played the Ed Sullivan Show and was told, nine years after Elvis was filmed from only the waist up, that if he did his by-now f trademark snake-hips shake when singing, the camera would come off him. He continued to play the legendary Copa, and of course Vegas, where he befriended Sinatra and Elvis and straddled the Strip as an equal colossus. And the mafia loved him, which, let's face it, is a lot better than the alternative. "Thank God, they always said, 'Hey, Tommy, you're a man's man. Fuckin' beauuutiful!'" In Vegas, Jones and Sinatra played Caesar's Palace, and drew a lot of high rollers, and the mob. "Frank told me himself, 'You know we got things wrapped up. When we're not here, they can shoot cannons off the stage and it won't fucking hit anybody.' He'd tell me, 'You know who is in the audience?' and I'd say, 'Oh, I see 'em,' and he'd say, 'They love you. They've taken to you like you're me.' I always thought I was closer to Elvis Presley, but in that Vegas thing, I was closer to Sinatra in terms of the people we were drawing." Elvis thought Tom was the greatest singer in the world, and would sometimes walk out on stage when Jones was performing and say exactly that to the crowd. They were great friends too, and often sang together but only in private, just the two of them playing guitars and singing their favourite songs. Once when Jones was touring Hawaii, Elvis, there on vacation, invited him over to his house. When Tom arrived, Elvis was missing. He'd realised he didn't have any guitars at the house and had gone out to buy two, walking into the first instrument store he found and announcing to the dumbstruck shop assistant: "Tom Jones is coming to my house today and I need two guitars." Jones told me a story about being invited to Elvis's suite one day in Vegas. He walked in to find the King on an exercise bike, one that had the moving handlebars you're supposed to hold to work out your upper body at the same time. Elvis, in a tracksuit, was leaning back, pedalling, the handlebars moving in and out on their own, with a phone in one hand and a devilled egg in the other, a tray of devilled eggs balanced on his large belly and bits of egg between his fingers where he'd mushed them while eating. "Do you exercise, Tom?" he asked. "Yeah, I do Elvis, every day" replied Tom. "Me too," said Elvis. IN NOVEMBER 2004 I watched Jones on stage at New York's Irving Plaza. He delivered the consummate showman's performance, with much of the set made up of recent material recorded with the likes of Jools Holland and Wyclef Jean. No one sat, everyone cheered - with the loudest cheers reserved for the old classics: "It's Not Unusual", "What's New Pussycat?", "Green, Green Grass of Home" and, especially, "Delilah" - and panties were thrown. Lots of panties. Enough surely to pose a health threat. After the show Tom invited me to join him for dinner at a "wise-guy joint downtown", an Italian restaurant on touristy Mulberry Street. It was late when we got there and the place is mostly deserted except for the party of Tom's friends gathering at the back. The proprietor, Frankie C, who goes by that assignation so familiarly that I think even he has forgotten his last name, greeted Tom affectionately. They go way back. Frankie C told the story about the time he was honeymooning in Vegas and his wife saw Jones walking through the casino and excitedly pointed him out to her husband. "Tom Jones? I know him!" said Frankie, who chased the singer down and introduced his new bride. She wanted an autograph. Tom looked for a piece of paper and she looked at him, hurt, and opened her blouse. "She wanted him to write his name on her breasts," exploded Frankie, who then shrugged. "So he did." A couple of days later in Jones's skyscraping hotel suite I asked him how he explains his sex appeal. "It's the sound of my voice, it's got to be. The way I interpret songs. And if they're sexy songs, then that's the way they feel." Are you surprised to still have this much sex appeal 40 years after you started? "Well, yeah. I didn't know what shape I was gonna be in. I didn't know vocally ... I didn't even know I was gonna be alive this long. So I think if you don't lose it, if you're still your own person that didn't put a false image on to start with, because my image has always been very natural. You know, very" - he smacks his hands together for emphasis - "straight in your face, and that's the way it's always been." It's apparently no secret that you have an open marriage ... "Well, it's not really open," he says. "It seems to some people, but no. It's not discussed. My wife is a very private person and I respect her privacy. I would never openly flaunt anything. It's an old-fashioned way, but it's to protect. "One thing I want to say is, absence makes the heart grow fonder. We're not on one another all the time. Some people are, and there are frustrations and they take it out on one another. I don't have that. I love doing what I'm doing. My wife knows I could not be doing anything else. My wife would say we're best friends. As much as love and everything, we could talk to one another. And we have our own little thing." I don't want to push it, so I ask instead if there's anyone he regrets never having recorded with. "If I could have recorded with Elvis that would have been great. But Parker [Colonel Tom, Elvis' manager] wouldn't let him sing with me. Elvis never did a duet with anyone. I've never recorded with Jerry Lee Lewis either, and that would have been great." And the oddest place he's ever played? "It was the Talk of the Town, in London. Ben E King was a friend of mine, and he was coming to see me and I thought, great, because it was a great venue. When he came in, I told him, 'You're gonna dig it.' But then Gordon said, 'I forgot to tell you, the show's been bought out tonight by a male convention.' I replied, 'But there's gotta be women in there, right?' He said, 'No, no women. It's a stag thing. There's nothing you can do about it, they bought it.' "So I thought, shit, Ben E King, great soul singer, coming to see me and I gotta go up and sing to all men - which I hadn't done since I worked in this club in Wales, with people that I knew. It was strange to come out on stage and see the place full of men, but as it turned out it was a great show. They dug the shit out of it." No panties, though? "No, no panties." Tom Jones celebrates his 65th birthday with a one-off concert at Ponty Park, Pontypridd, on 28 May

VIP Passes

166735_2.28For Tom's biggest fans, a very select number of VIP tickets for the ultimate homecoming gig at Ponty Park, Wales on May 28 are being made available exclusively to Tomjones.com members. For £195.00 per person members are offered;• A souvenir ticket per person • Priority access (no queues) into the Park and concert ground from 6pm • A Commemorative VIP Laminate pass allowing access to "Exclusive VIP Area BBQ & Bar" private enclosure • Souvenir programme per guest • Champagne on arrival • Two hour pre-show party • Backstage BBQ, Bar and buffet with occasional and informal seating. • Pre-show complimentary bar of selected beers, wines and soft drinks • One hour post show party with private cash bar facility • Luxury toilet facilities • Luxury coach return transfer to Ponty Park from a central Cardiff pick up point

Hospitality package rate £195.00 per person For further information and to be in with a chance of booking the ultimate concert experience please contact the promoters on the telephone number below and mention you are a Tomjones.com member. Chérie Evans-White Marketing & Events Manager The Pop Factory +44 (0)1443 688 500 +44 (0)1443 688 514

Muni Arts Centre - Rhonnda Leader

166735_1.30Rhondda Leader Tom Jones fans packed outside the Muni Arts Centre when it opened its doors last Wednesday. It followed the announcement of the May show to be held in Ynysangharad Park. The queue streamed down the side of the Pontypridd building by the time it opened at 9am, as news spread of Jones The Voice's homecoming. Fans with cash and credit cards at the ready waited patiently for the £32.50 tickets and were not even bothered when it started to rain. There were 25,000 tickets up for grabs for the May 28 concert, but a limited number of 2,000 went on sale at the Muni the day before going on general release. It was all part of Tom's plan to make sure the home audience got there first. The tickets were sold out in no time, with Muni Arts Centre Lisa Morris anxiously awaiting the second batch of tickets to arrive. Tom could have chosen Las Vegas, Paris, London or even Cardiff for his celebratory concert. But Ponty's proudest son wanted to perform once again in the home town where his illustrious career started. It will be his only concert in the UK this year. "I spent the first 24 years of my life in Wales, so that never leaves you," said the proud Welshman. "I carry Wales with me all the time. It's part of me - I'm Welsh." Tom's show will be similar to those performed at venues across America, where he is now based. "I will come over with my band and do my 90-minute show and keep the big songs in," said Tom, who lives in Los Angeles, as details of the gig were unveiled. "I think the stuff I'm doing will be great, and I think people will love it." He will also be performing songs from his duets album Reload and from his latest album featuring Jools Holland. Fans are warned not to expect to see any other stars accompany him on stage. As his agent Phil Bowdery points out: "This is all about Tom." Bowdery said that performing in Pontypridd again - where Tom famously made his mark on the club and pub circuit as he started out during the late 1950s and early 1960s - was something the singer had wanted to do for a long time. "It was a question of finding the right venue and right time," said Bowdery. "And due to the significance of this year, it was absolutely perfect." Tom's agent believes that on the night the superstar will be more than a little emotional, as he catches up with his old friends. "I don't think it can be anything other than emotional," said Bowdery. The concert - the first to be performed at Ponty Park and promoted by the PopFactory, in Porth - will certainly be a far cry from Tom's last performance in Pontypridd, in 1964. While he now commands thousands for a performance, for his pub gig he received just £10 - which he divided with his band. "It will be the first time for me to play a gig of that size in Ponty," said Tom of his anniversary concert. "The last time, before I moved to London, I played in the top room of the White Hart Pub." Although the pub may now be an empty shell of a building, the young musician who once played there is now a global phenomenon. Although the Pontypridd concert will mark Tom's 65th birthday, which is actually on June 7, the singer shows no sign of slowing down. He says he probably sings more now than he ever has before. "I'm singing most of the time," said Tom. "I love singing. If I was not doing a gig, I would be singing anyway." "People say, 'when will you retire?' but I say 'What to'?"

Nothing's Unusual - The Aquarian

166735_1.34Adrian Gregory Glover, The Aquarian We all know him as the dude who has had more panties thrown at him than any other 10 male stars combined on their best day. But Tom Jones is more than just a mack for show-bound MILFs across the globe. He's spent over 40 years in the spotlight as a consummate showman, vocalist and all-around entertainer that brings his A-game every time he steps in front of a microphone. Lately working with the likes of legendary keyboardist Jools Holland and Wyclef Jean, Jones has managed to keep himself relevant in a sea of kids who fade from glory in months. It was recently my honor and pleasure to drop a few questions his way. Simply put, dude, you are the man, and you got to know this. So looking back on it all, how did it all come to this point? The first thing that you have to get is a hit record, any singer will tell you that. That is the first and most important thing that you have to do and you will instantly see all of the big differences between how things were and how they are after you get that hit record. Then you have to be lucky enough to get another one. Some of us are not that lucky. I remember back in 1964, I recorded 'It's Not Unusual' and that came out in 1965. That was a hit for me and right after that I got really lucky and I received 'What's New Pussycat' from Burt Bacharach and then I ended up with 'Green Green Grass (Of Home).' So there has been some luck involved for certain. I got the right material at the right time and there are a lot of singers who don't get that. I'm versatile though. If you want the longevity you have to go for that. I can feel that. You are, hands down, one of the greatest showmen, singers and performers of all-time. How do you still get excited about doing the live thing? It's the people themselves digging what you do that gets you going. You don't ever want to stop. It's almost like a drug. It's the best part of my day. You know, sometimes I will be out in a club on a night off and the band will ask me to get onstage with them and I'll get up with them and you know (my handlers) will go, 'Are you crazy? Save yourself for your show you know. Don't go leaving your best performances here.' I can't stop myself from singing. You must think all of the breed of pop stars are crazy then. They work half your schedule and complain quite a bit about it. No I don't. I know how it is. When you first start out, it's different. It comes back to the first hit single again. Before you have that first hit single, you are not working as much, you are doing a gig here and a gig there. When you get that first hit under your belt, they want you to be in two places at once. You are not singing for pleasure anymore. You are singing on demand and that might not be so much fun when you are just becoming a professional. What does music contribute still to your life? It gives me something to do that I love to do and I can get paid for it. I thank God that I don't have to get up and do a job just to pay the bills like most people do. I thank God that he has fiven me this talent to do something that I really love. Music is always around me. I love new songs. They excite me, they really do. Doing them never gets old for me. I love hearing the music that other people have made so there is a combination of listening and creating. There is always a boom box around me or maybe a tv is on with music coming out of it from a video channel or a late night show with a performance. But it is always there for me. Tom Jones has always taken risks in what you put out in the marketplace. Has that been one of the hallmarks of your career? I like a lot of different kinds of songs. [But] I get resistance from record companies or even other singers sometimes about doing some things that I have tried. I remember when I first met Elvis (Presley) and he loved what I was doing and it was quite a thrill, you know, of course. I had done an album of standards at the time and I took it to him. He was always asking me what I was puffing out or what was new and he really enjoyed what he heard. But not with the standards album. Man, he pulled me aside and he said, 'Tom, we don't do that.' That was great for me because he pulled me into his world for a second. So he proceeds to go ahead and say, 'We leave things like that to Frank Sinatra.' Now I really like standards so it was too bad that he didn't enjoy it. But I will go into some areas that other singers will not go into. I will take that chance if I want to. Sometimes it has been wrong for my image and then it might have backfired because my shows are so tongue in cheek and maybe the songs were more serious but that is the way it goes. What attracts you to a song to where you want to cover it? There has to be a certain thing you look for? I have to really feel the song. I really don't write a lot of songs. Every now and again I will co-write a song but I really don't consider myself a master songwriter, so I have to feel a song as if I did write it. I have to be able to put my own stamp on it and make it sound genuine. I remember Frank Sinatra once told me how concerned he was for me because of how I sing. I get so into it, you know. And I told him, 'Hey that's the only way that I know how to sing!' I have to get out there and go for it, and a song has to let me do that. Some songs because of how they're built, they make it quite difficult for you to make them your own. I just did an album of songs with this boogie woogie player in the UK named Jools Holland. The songs are phenomenal. It's all songs that we love that go back to the roots of it all. There is a lot of Jerry Lee Lewis on it and as a matter of fact we went out of our way to pick some songs that were not so obvious. You can't really out-do 'Great Balls of Fire' anyway, so instead we picked a song called 'End of the Road'. It's a great tune. It was always an album track and when he [Lewis] came to see me in Las Vegas I played it for him. He looks at me and he goes, 'I wrote that, didn't I?' I said, 'Well, yeah.' and he goes ' Good, now I will get paid for it.' That's almost like a gift in itself Sure. He's one of the greatest and for him to give me his stamp of approval was amazing. That has been the best thing so far - meeting a lot of people that I grew up idolizing and respecting along the way. That has made it a lot of fun. Nothing is better than the people though and I guess that is the gift for me.

Tom to Perform at Ponty Park

166735_1.32Global superstar, Tom Jones, is proud to announce a return to his native Pontypridd in Wales this Whitsun Bank Holiday, for a spectacular one-off outdoor birthday concert for 25,000 people at the town's Ynysangharad Park, a.k.a. Ponty Park, on Saturday May 28th. As one of the world's biggest and most popular stars of the last 5 decades, Jones has performed at all of the world's most famous venues. The open-air concert at Ponty Park, however, will be Tom's first ever in his hometown, Pontypridd, and his only UK performance during 2005. The legendary Mr Jones, known simply by millions as "The Voice", will be 65 this year, and has been planning a major celebratory concert to mark the event for some time. He recently confirmed local production company, The Pop Factory, as producers of the event, and hopes that the show will prove to be an inaugural event for Ponty Park, encouraging others to follow in his footsteps, and bring further world-class concerts and events to the town. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Tom Jones - literally on his home turf - will be attended by fans from all over the world. In an extraordinary move to ensure his fellow Pontypriddians have first chance to attend the event, Tom has instructed organisers to confine ticket sales initially to his fan clubs and to the Muni Arts Centre in Pontypridd where tickets will go on sale 24 hours prior the national and international ticket agencies listed below. Tom comments: "I love the Park and I have a lot of wonderful memories there. I've flown the Dragon all over the world since 1965, and now 40 years later — in the Grand Slam year for our Rugby teams— I'm thrilled we've been able to organize a very special show for the town. The Park is a perfect place to bring everyone together – it's a beautiful spot and deserves to be playing an important part in creating many special moments in people's lives. It'll be a great night, so come on everybody—I'll see you there!!" Event promoter, Emyr Afan, of the Pop Factory said; "Tom has supported the Pop Factory from the outset and it's a great honour that he has turned to us to stage this landmark concert. It will be a truly great moment when he sings 'Green, Green Grass of Home'." Tickets are priced at £32.50 and will be on-sale Wednesday in person at the Muni Arts Centre in Pontypridd and to members of TomJones.com from Thursday March 24, via the CIA Box Office, Red Dragon FM ticketline, Ticketline UK, Ticketmaster, Swansea and The Pop Factory in Porth. Tickets will be advertised to the public as from Friday March 25. CIA Box Office: 029 20 224488 Ticketline UK: 08700 667799 Muni Arts: 01443 485934 Ticketmaster: 0870 4000688 The Pop Factory: 01443 688500

Fans Celebrate Tom Jones

166735_1.33Shirley Fishwick in California reports... March 1st is St. David's day, the national holiday of Wales. This St. David's Day, March 1st 2005, was also the 40th anniversary of It's Not Unusual hitting number one on the charts. To mark the occasion, two of us at Tom's March 1 show in Las Vegas made an anniversary card and took it around so audience members could sign it. Even working with two pens so two people could sign at once there wasn't enough time for everyone to sign who wanted to. The front of the card, decorated with an orange dragon, said, "Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus! March 1, 1965 — St. David's Day — It's Not Unusual hits #1 — Happy 40th Tom! Keep It Up!" Inside it said, "Tom, We're happy to be with you on this special night!" Among the audience were lots of people from the UK (Manchester alone had six representatives), one couple from the town next to Pontypridd. One lady had been a fan since 1969 and had never seen him in person. Even staff from the Hollywood Theater signed. After the third song, Tom walked back to the stool with his water and picked up, first, a leek, explaining that the leek is the Welsh symbol and that it was St. David's Day. He did the same with a potted daffodil. That, of course, was our cue. Two of the women at our table lifted up the card. Tom came right over and accepted it. "Oh, look, you've gone the whole nine yards," he said, indicating the Welsh words and dragon. "Tom," said one of the women, "please open it." He did and saw all of the signatures. "My, everyone signed it, didn't they?" he asked. We asked if we could take a photo of him with the card and he posed. As always, he was charming and gracious and, as always, the show was smashing. Shirley Fishwick San Mateo, CA, USA, formerly of Llantrisant, Wales