Delilah |
Sir Thomas Jones Woodward, born June 7, 1940, known by his stage name as Tom Jones, is a Grammy Award winning Welsh popular music singer particularly noted for his powerful voice. He was born in Treforest, Pontypridd, near Cardiff in South Wales, Great Britain. Tom Jones rose to fame in the mid-1960s, with an exuberant live act which included wearing tight breeches and billowing shirts. In 1963 he became the frontman for "Tommy Scott and the Senators", a local beat group. One night, at the Top Hat in Cwmtillery, Jones was spotted by Gordon Mills, a London-based manager originally from South Wales. Mills became Jones' manager, and took the young singer to London. He also renamed him Tom Jones. It's Not Unusual, (co-written by Les Reed), was released in early 1965. Initially the BBC refused to play it, but an offshore pirate station, Radio Caroline, picked it up. In the same year, Jones sang the theme tune to the James Bond film Thunderball. On February 9, 1964, Jones appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. 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 panties on stage. At Caesar's Palace his shows were traditionally a panty-hurling frenzy of raw sexual tension and good-time entertainment. Jones and Elvis became good friends, spending time together in Las Vegas. They had a friendship that would endure until Presley's death in 1977. |