A Boy From Nowhere
TOM JONES
Born Thomas Jones Woodward on 7th June 1940 in the Welsh town of Pontypridd, Tom Jones is as synonymous with Wales as daffodils, coal and leeks.
Tom Jones sang from an early age; he was a member of his school choir, and he often sang at family gatherings. After leaving school with no qualifications, he joined a local beat group - Tommy Scott and The Senators - in 1963. Often performing in black leather, Tom Jones soon gained recognition in South Wales. However, The Senators were still unheard of in London.
The band recorded seven tracks with the legendary producer Joe Meek, but true to form, Meek refused to release the tapes. Tom Jones and the Senators returned to the Working Men’s Clubs and Dance Halls of South Wales, and it was in such a venue that London-based manager Gordon Mills spotted Tom Jones. Mills became Tom Jones’ manager, and managed to get him signed to the renowned Decca label.
Tom Jones’ first single Chills and Fever failed to chart when it was released in late 1964, but the following year, his next record It’s Not Unusual was a smash; hitting the number 1 spot in the UK Singles Chart and reaching the top 10 of the US Billboard Chart. 1965 ended with Tom Jones being awarded the ‘Grammy Award for Best New Artist’. A year later, his cover version of The Green, Green Grass of Home spent seven weeks at number 1 in the UK.
Tom Jones’ first international performance was at Las Vegas’ Flamingo Club in 1967. His performance at New York’s Copacabana Nightclub the following year saw him confronted by a swooning, screaming, knicker-throwing female horde. This marked the beginning of Tom Jones’ concentration on lucrative club performances, rather than on recording albums.
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The 1970s provided Tom Jones with multiple successes, including the records Daughter of Darkness, The New Mexican Puppeteer and She’s a Lady. He also starred in a number of variety shows on American television, including ‘This is Tom Jones’ and ‘The Tom Jones Show’. However - despite these numerous triumphs - his popularity began to wane towards the end of the decade. The 1985 single A Boy From Nowhere reached number 2 on the UK singles chart, and his cover of Prince’s Kiss (which charted at number 5) went some way to reintroduce Jones back into the public consciousness. His comeback truly arrived with the 1999 release of Reload, a selection of duets with several other high-profile artists including The Pretenders, Robbie Williams and Van Morrison. In 2000, Tom Jones was invited by the then president of United States Bill Clinton to perform at the Millennium celebrations at Washington D.C. That same year, Jones was presented with the BRIT award for ‘Best Male’.
He celebrated his 65th birthday in 2005. To mark the occasion, he performed a spectacular concert in Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd (his first performance in his hometown since 1964), which saw a musical legend returning to where it all began.
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