In Conversation With: Sir Tom Jones

special guests in conversation this week how I have got this far into a career and I haven't interviewed him God alone knows I've followed his career from the early days through appearing I used to watch him all the time on live from her Majesties I could always tell when it was a Tom Jones night on there because that was when everybody went mad I've read loads of books about him I followed the career I followed him on the television I mean he is so phenomenally successful when I said to some people downstairs young people mind you and I said hope you've got coming in I said we've got Sir Tom Jones coming in and they went can we come and watch see Sir Tom Jones you are the legend over the top and back is the autobiography loads of books about you yes is your book there's my book this is your time yes because all these other books come out you see in and they say autobiography on them sometimes but it's it's not yeah I didn't write it you know a lot of the other ones yeah and people think that they're misleading so I thought it's about time that I did one that that I believe in and the stories in there that people don't know all the way from the beginning right up until now the highs the lows and we have an album to accompany it though it's they go hand in hand it's a trick to you well it's a fact you know I mean some of the the tracks that we that we've used because when I recorded this album my producer Ethan Johns he said this album sounds like an autobiography I said well as funny you should say that because we have one coming out so they really go well together it's it's a nicely I must say congratulations on the rugby I didn't want to say congratulations on the rugby well yeah yes it was a surprise because I thought going into the second half that that England looked like they were gonna win but yeah and of course you know turn around and there the dragon came through much jubilation I have to tell you where I live Lynn one of my that she's she's Welsh and she said she screamed from her balcony Wales what she was so excited he was so excited because I don't think anybody really thought they were gonna do it even you know at that point you know I mean I had to be I think they were both two great teams and I think it was I don't think there was any favorite there and unless it was going England looked like they were gonna win I mean they were all the way into the second half and and I thought oh my god this this is gonna be sweaty but you know this is it yes but all of a sudden bump you know and that was wonderful I'd I have to be honest I I have a hankering for Welsh Wales I've never been there I support max boys in there I've never been oh you should I mean I find it physically short clothes it's so close I mean kind of I can drive yeah I mean restrict only m4 yes well you can get the train from Paddington to Cardiff it's easy to do well as you're there it's interesting I've supported a group there called only boys allowed oh I who are well I lovely boy Turing the valleys and and they they formed a vocal group there's a hundred and thirty-four of them in this particular one yes it caused us so much unemployment in the valleys and because there's there's so much deprivation and people needed a boost yes singing is something that the band master the choir master set them is cool well I saw it's always been like that yeah I mean that's why they they created male voice choirs it started from a calm in the coal mining days you know and they've always had that he's always been a big male voice quite especially I mean there are female voice guys as well the trio kids very faith yes welcome Elvis choir so a lot of those coal miners you know that was something that they that they enjoy doing after doing a shift they would come and sing so singing has always been very big in Wales yeah they would be getting off the train at Paddington once in a male voice choir just got off the train as well and they sang and because of the acoustics yes blew everybody away just the summary about it so you were singing from a very early age yep very early very early as far back as I can remember my mother says that I could sing before I could walk I should crawl her on the kitchen singing what did you sing well songs on the radio apparently I was picking them up very very early and it was amazing I mean I've I've never known life without singing it's it's it's always been there yes it has I remember even even through the lean periods and you your career did take a dip while a boy yes well as far as recording was concerned you know that's what happened but thank God that people have always been there you see when I was playing casinos for instance in America a lot of all the way through the 70s I was playing arenas you know but then the the the hit records got a little slim and so that I would be playing casinos a lot you know but there were always people there so I never went through a dip way you you know because some people can go on stage and think oh my god you know there's nobody here or very few people here so maybe the writing's on the wall but that never happened to me but my recording career did suffer because I was more interested it seems to me now that I was more interested in doing live stage shows I thought that would be you know that's my mainstay but of course you have to have records you have to have records out there so people know that you that you're alive especially because I was in in the States and I had a lot of country records you know I recorded some country songs that didn't come out in Europe you know so uh Europeans thought that it that I'd stop recording because they didn't get those records so thank God that I did the boy from nowhere and then kiss and then of course we were and on and on from there I want to talk about the about the the change actually where I think I think your son Mark was very instrumental in going listen dad let's move in this direction it's going a lot of noise let's go down here and all of a sudden Tom Jones discovers a whole new audience but prior to that was I right in assuming that Joe meek was the man who didn't he record four songs with you at the beginning fires finds it with his five sides with him in like this 63 and nothing nothing really happened with it you know and afterwards though you know what when I had it's not unusual they put out a song called little lonely one especially in the states that Joe Mick recorded and it was a hell of a record it was I don't know why he couldn't get those early ones across you know yeah but he did try I mean I must say that he did try it's just that my style of singing I suppose at that time was not in fashion because you know that the Beatles are just broken and the stones you know so there was sort of a lot of boy bands yeah you know a lot of young looking to the looking depart well I know how was the match you know I was a match or Welshman with the curly hair and I don't think it was fitting there but but thank God I broke through in the end but thank God for tight trousers I always well this is it it worked for you yes it worked well me you sir prior to that when we knew with Tommy Scott and the Senators yes was that where Joe meek picked you up from yeah yeah we were sending tapes around to different people and your Mick heard my voice and said I want to I want to I want to hear you so we came from Ponte breathe to London and recorded for Joe meek and he loved the way that I sang and my band played and and he made some really good records those early records that I did what you meet were really really good and I always enjoyed his sound because he was an independent producer and he was an engineer you know the more I learned about Joe meek he was there he was the engineer on bad penny blues you know Farmville Littleton that made that record I mean it sound so great you know and then sanitarium Sonny Terry and brownie McGhee he did an album of this when he was before he was an independent producer you know when he was the engineer he engineered a lot of off from somebody said yeah would you keep some times you'd have to stay a stand in the bathroom you know because there wasn't enough room it was just a flat and that he had one one floor up that was it yeah the front room was the record is is you would record him in the front room and his is where he was in all his stuff was in the control room was in the back room so sometimes a saying I would have to get in the toilet in order to same because it was no room there was no room that gave it a very distinctive sound like that was the sound it could have been maybe that that's what it was it was acoustics yeah I mean the big record that he had was Telstar and I don't know whether I was record but that sounded like eerie you know he used to get a hell of a sound Joby but that was the thing in those days I mean all you wanted to do was sing so you'll get you're a young man you're 17 18 no I was I was in my early twenties 30 20 the others time so all you want to do is sing was this a career at that moment always it just something to do no no I always wanted to be a professional singer when I was when I was a kid I thought if I could if I could become a professional singer and concentrate just on that and don't have to do any other job of work in order to survive which I had to do you know I had many jobs in the daytime but I was always singing at night and I wanted to make that my career how far it would take me I didn't know but as long as I was a professional that's what I wanted to do to me that time you were father of course so yeah yeah I got support your father was 16 yeah almost 17 did star yeah my son Mark was born in 1957 he was born in April and I was 17 in June so you know not quite so you never had one child yeah it's a case if I was waiting for whole family so yeah be like the Von Trapps that's right I think my wife had had a problem after that did Russell so she we did we just didn't have any but mark is enough I believe so yeah and I think he's been actually really good for your career it's an unusual thing to have father and son you get on so well over the years yes arriving at airports and leaving to have a bond yes well he was my personal assistant for a long time but he was always very interested in what I was doing and on Gordon Mills with my manager there but mark was always there he was very instrumental in what I was doing you know why don't you do that way what are you doing there so he was very concerned so when Gordon died I said to mark you know why don't you why don't you do it because you know more about me than anybody yeah and since mark and Donna his wife have taken over you know that's when the researchers came yeah because they put new blood into it you know they they engage you new blood as well exactly you you begin to the right things yes you know because mark was really getting fed up with seeing me play these supper clubs and things you know and in the States and he he but but he's proving what you know he's proving it it's worth it definitely they saw that when I did because we listened to the boy from nowhere and that was the beginning of it you know and Gordon Miller said was dying and Mark sort of straight in there and we did the boy from nowhere and then kiss but after that which was Mark's idea he said the art of noise are in interested in you doing kiss with him and I think you should do it I said okay let's give it a shot and then it just went on from there you know just got bigger and better and and it's mark and Donna picking the right venues and I'm making sure that that I don't do anything stupid look at your clothes as well well yeah you know made me aware because I think I was like a you know III dressed a certain way in in the seventies it was like Saturday Night Fever and I couldn't let it go for a long time until I took a long look at myself and thought well maybe you know maybe they are right which they are too you know to sort of not not to be silly not to be you know because you can become a bit of a joke yes you know like with Elvis Presley god bless him but people towards the end of Elvis's life you know they were not taking him seriously because and that that bothered him yes listen I want to talk about Elvis in a moment and there's an album does the autobiography it's a weighty tome but then when you ask Sir Tom Jones and he does have the knighthood you know he's crammed a lot in and he shows no sign of slowing down he's got part of a mini tour he's got some audiences with I mean really that this man there was no end of energy so when we asked him what he had for breakfast and he said a bit of fruit I thought he's now on the health kick well from stomm after this special guest in conversation his autobiography over the top and back and believe you me he's been over the top he's been back he's been out he's been in there's a new album which goes hand-in-hand with it as well which is called long lost suitcase this man has lived out of a suitcase Sir Tom Jones has lived her you mentioned Elvis there is no way that we could ever do any interview with you without mentioning Elvis I met Priscilla and that was exciting enough yeah to meet Priscilla to think she was married to Elvis Presley you had jam sessions with Elvis yes in Vegas especially because we both worked at the same time so did you finish the the shows and then me time get together yes Wow yeah yeah Wow it was amazing he was at the Hilton and I was at Caesar's Palace and after the shows you know we would get to mostly at his suite because he'd like to get back to the Hilton earth and then he get his singers up there you know another piano player and we were just sing all night and it was tremendous I mean we couldn't record any of it because the Colonel Parker yes you know he didn't want he didn't know any of that he didn't want anything to slip away from him he wanted to control the whole thing yeah so it's just a shame that that there's nothing recorded that Elvis and I sang we had a great time doing it I mean yeah so the memories are with me you know and priscilla talks about it because i am still in touch with my eyes yeah she looks lopoliths yeah in Los Angeles and should we talk about it you know the first time we met was 68 and then I was in Hawaii with him at 69 you know and I got on great without his president we were on the same wavelength you know yeah he was a he was really serious about his music yes yes very serious yes yeah so towards the end of his life you know he was starting to become you got overweight and you know people were not looking at him in the same in the same way and I think he lost interest because he fell into that thing yes that I started to fall into did you a little later you know doing live shows yeah I'm not really keeping in touch with what's happening yeah you know what's going on you must keep your finger on the pulse you know and Elvis could have done it with the right people he could have he could have done that yes I agree with you I think towards the end when he would he'd he put on weight he had a lot of people who were just really after a piece of the action show they were all yes-men and that was the great sub but you're right he was he was passionate about his music totally I got us a series of albums which I think came out on RCA and it's the alternative recordings of some of his hits yeah which ride the slower or faster and he was talking to the sound engineer say oh yeah I think that's Presley it's I mean it's it's it doesn't get any you knew what he wanted yes I mean that Heartbreak Hotel which is was this the first big hit that we knew worldwide he had a lot of ticks on that thing you know and they said what but what else can we do that he said is just not right yet and I think it was like 17 or 18 takes which in those days were a lot of most things were done in one take yes he was a satisfied until it was right and he was very well it's amazing I think it's an indication of how big a star he he he was and still is that people are still passionate about Elvis because you talk about him but of course you were there and that's what makes us so jealous because you could call him a friend you could get out the phone and chat to Elvis Presley yes you could do that with lots of people well I I just did a song called Elvis Presley blues which is on the album on the album yeah and I played it to Priscilla in Los Angeles you know and she said well that's that is a great tribute you know because it's a tribute yes to Elvis's life yeah you know that's what it is and she was thrilled with it and Jerry Schilling was a was one of the assets mafia know who I'm friendly with and I played it to them and and they both loved it so you know I've got the rubber stamp from Goodlatte what do you but you get the rubber stamp reveling why did you never do movies why did you did you not want to go down the movie routes well it was a mixture of things that the things that were being offered to me were just like Elvis Presley you know I mean he fell into that he was waiting you know he's okay I'll do another musical all right but I want to get to you know I want to get to it he he thought he would get to more of a serious thing because he can act yes yes and I felt the same way I wanted to get something that was serious but it never came my way but you see when you're making a lot of money when your manager at the time you're out on the road and your new making hit records and you're doing life shows movies don't make they didn't anyway they didn't make that much kind of money who didn't get big advances for movies like you would you know with records and shows so I think maybe that had things to do with it because I've had producers come to me that were there then and they said the reason that we sent you scripts but Gordon always liked them so you never got you never got to because Gordon was looking after you angle Burt yeah and go solar Sullivan as well yeah I let me sing a photograph of you with the Rolls Royces yes I remember thinking not done badly well but I think you'd like to keep us out on a road there you know to zoo to keep their money rolling in and to do a movie is his chance Searcy yeah so I don't think so I think that was the reason but I wouldn't like to have had a go at it but then again my first love and always will be is singing so you know the movie part if it hadn't happened that fine you know it could still happen again I did something you know I do this thing called king of the ted's for its sky ox you know and then and I like that I got into that but you see the nice thing about you is that you know what considering everything you've been through in your life the hard work and don't let anybody ever tell you ladies and gentlemen but what Sir Tom Jones does is easy it's hard work out there to get out there and entertain people and keep them coming back week after month after year after year it's it's it's a very special gift you have to be able to do that what do you love is you've got to learn what you do you you can't do it I mean I I've talked to other singers sometimes and you know I've got an album out now and I've got to go on promoted and well that's the best part for me you know let's get an album done so I can sing it live on stage share you know so I can go on and promote it you know get into radio stations and then talk about it and present it for the people out there because if you don't get the product out of the people yes you know then you're not getting anywhere where but you never lost that you've always been a people person you exactly you haven't lost that I've seen other artists who've lost it along the way yet surround themselves with a huge entourage you think you can't quite get I mean Sinatra had a huge entourage I went with him as you know yeah but you've always kept very grounded well I like people I really do I mean I'll talk to people and now I do though you know I mean I would be talking to somebody sometimes I'll do an interview and they go you do individual very easily they say yeah well if I wasn't talking to you I'd be talking to somebody I'd be in a pub somewhere talking to so I like people yeah and I'm very proud of what I've done in my life yes and and and I love talking about right as if somebody wants to know about a record that I recorded I'll give them the information yeah and that could be at a bar in a pub doesn't matter it doesn't matter yeah you were the last man to have to have a Bond theme hit with Thunderball yes Sam Smith has just got to number one with his yes I heard it yet you must hear it it's a it will strike you it's a bit Michael Jackson earth song I only say that because that appears to be the riff that runs through it yours because your voice is you're a rich baritone you're yeah but you sent me to cover everything gospel country R&B soul is there anything you can't sing all that doesn't sit with your voice not really I mean if opera of course is is another thing you know if you're gonna be an opera singer you have to train for it a big barrel chest you have to but but then again I went for some lessons when I was young in in Wales and this soprano this lady that was giving me some advice on singing she said you have projection already you sing correctly but I can help you breathe I can give you some tips on on how to use your voice but she said you you have a voice you should be an opera singer and she said you're a baritone at the moment but I could stretch you to a tenor you know because apparently Caruso was a baritone yes that was you know he stretched his voice up to to attend us and we would do that so it can be done I print print travelhob relabel done Phil you know he said that you know you you could have been an opera singer with the right training and I agree with it but my love you see is the bluesy based you know I love the blues I love things to do with gospel blues country you know soulful kinds of things yeah and with opera you you have to do it a certain way and it doesn't give you that much opportunity to go bending notes right there you can't do you have to sing it a certain way what you like doing is coming out stage with a band behind you yes that's that's what you do a with it you know and and see what happens you know get get to get the basis of a song but but then you can different nights you can you can put things into it but you can't do that with opera it has to be a certain way listen we've only just touched the surface of sir Tom's career if you want to know everything and I mean everything he talks about it in the autobiography which is called over the top and back and the album long-lost suitcase accompanies it it's been a real thrill thank you thank you I do find it slightly depressing this obsession with the celebrity for its own sake especially with social media everyone thinks ever wants to be a star in their own movie in their head you know with Instagram and the like mean we'll just

Channel: LBC

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Keywords: LBC, LBC973, politics, UK Politics, talk radio, talk, radio, news, lbc, Nick Farrari, interviews, election, UK Election, debate, conversation, Tom Jones (Musical Artist)

Id: BI88i0yW3zA

Length: 22min 13sec (1333 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 31 2015