The industry’s biggest names have the last word on their life in music... Tom Jones, artist
Now more than 40 years into a truly epic career that has yielded millions of record sales, not to mention a knighthood, Tom Jones knows all there is to know about the changing faces of pop. Here, he shares his lessons from a life in the spotlight...
INTERVIEW: CHRIS CATCHPOLE
Always be yourself, especially when it comes to your hairstyle… “You can listen to advice, but pick for yourself – throw some things out and keep the things that are important to you. When I first came to London, they told me that curly hair didn’t work any more because The Beatles and the Stones and all the other groups had straight hair. People straightened it on purpose to look like The Beatles. I said, ‘Fuck that.’ I’ve got curly hair and that’s it. You gotta stick to your guns and do your own thing. I’m not saying close your ears off to advice. If I hadn’t listened to other people I would have never recorded What’s New Pussycat?. When I first heard it I said, ‘I can’t do that, it’s crazy!’ But they said, ‘Sing it like you mean it, like you’re singing Midnight Hour or something.’ We did it and it worked. I always listen. You’ve got to try things, but trust your basic instincts.”
You should definitely meet your heroes... “All the people I’ve met, the bigger they are the nicer they are. Elvis Presley was one of the nicest fellas you could ever wish to meet. Sammy Davis Jr was fantastic, Frank Sinatra… They were real people. It was the ones you’d meet who were like Frank Sinatra copies and the Elvis Presley merchants. They’d try to give you advice and you’d think, ‘What the fuck do you know? You’re just copying somebody else!’ But when you meet the real people they’re unbelievable. You’d meet these people like Jerry Lee Lewis, he was crazy but he was great. We had a night out together and became really great friends.”
Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra used to give me conflicting industry advice… “Elvis was always buying my records and he would pass comment on them. I did an album called From The Heart that was all old standards and he said, ‘Tom, we don’t do that. You leave that to Frank Sinatra…’ But then at the same time, I’d go to a bar and Frank Sinatra would be there and I’d have a drink with him and he’d go, ‘Tom, you need to do more standards, fuck that rock and roll stuff…’ So I had Elvis Presley pulling on me to do more rock and roll tunes and Sinatra telling me to do Fly Me To The Moon! As a singer it’s not a bad position to be in, is it?”
102 | Music Week
There are still songs I’ve waited my entire career to sing… “When I went in to make my new album Mark, my son [and manager], said, ‘Think of songs that you’ve always liked and you’ve never had a chance to do.’ One I really wanted to do was I’m Growing Old, which Bobby Cole did. He was the writer, he gave it to me when I was in my 30s and I said, ‘I can’t do it yet, but I will.’ He said, ‘What? You’re not growing old now?’ I said, ‘Well, yeah, but I’m not old enough yet, I’d like to be old when I do it. So now I have.”
I’ll never forget the last conversation I had with Little Richard… “In 2019, we were doing the New Orleans Jazz Festival. Little Richard was in Nashville and I had a day off so I flew up to see him. I called up and they said he didn’t want to see anybody, I said: ‘Let me talk to him.’ First of all he tried to make out he wasn’t him, ‘[airy voice] Mr Penniman is not seeing anyone at this time…’ I said, ‘Richard, it’s me.’ He was saying he couldn’t see anyone because he didn’t have his wig on and he didn’t have any make-up on. I said, ‘So what!?’ I went up to see him and he was in a hospital bed but he looked great. I said, ‘You don’t have a line on your face, Richard, I’ve got more fucking wrinkles than you!’ And he said, ‘Well I’ve got Indian blood, Tom…’ I’m glad I went to see him, because he died last year.”
After almost five decades, I’m still proud of being a pop star… “I’ve covered Pop Star by Cat Stevens. I knew Cat Stevens in the ’60s and I remember him saying to me, ‘They want me to be a bloody pop star! The record company want me to do pop songs.’ With that song, he was saying, ‘I wanna be a pop star, look at me, I’m on TV,’ taking the piss out of it, but for me it resonates. I remember calling people and saying, ‘I’m going to be on a talent show on BBC Wales!’ I wanted to be a pop star. When you first start out you’re proud of the fact. Getting your first hit record and playing Sunday Night At The London Palladium, that was huge, you wanted people to know that you’d broken through. It was jubilation for me. ‘Look at this! I’m a pop star!’”
What’s new pussycat?
Tom Jones releases Surrounded By Time on April 23 via EMI
“I was getting advice from Elvis Presley and
Frank Sinatra, that’s not a bad position to be in”
musicweek.com
PHOTO: Rick Guest
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104
