Tom Jones - What Good Am I? imagine...

Ladies and gentlemen...

APPLAUSE

# It's not unusual To be loved by anyone...#

Aow!

Tom Jones is 70 years old.

CHEERING

And to mark that occasion, he's agreed to meet me and to talk candidly about a remarkable life

lived in the showbiz spotlight.

# Your hometown looks the same

# As I step down from the train...#

How did the son of a Welsh miner end up living in a Hollywood mansion?

# My, my, my...#

What was it like at such an early age to sing with legends?

From Elvis to Stevie Wonder to Jerry Lee Lewis.

# One more time

# Well, sing it! #

How did it feel to be the original hairy chested male hunk?

And when did he realise he'd strayed into self parody?

I thought I was a young, verile...you know, no bullshit artist.

That's why...that's what I felt.

But maybe it was coming across that I was exploiting the sexual part of it

too much.

This is Peter Gabriel's recording studio in Wiltshire,

where I spent a remarkable couple of days with Tom,

and with his son turned manager, Mark.

Good to see you.

And no questions were off-limits.

Who greyed first, you or him?

In the real world?

In the real world we know Tom is in denial, but what about you?

I've been grey for a while, yeah.

-So you never went the full black?

-No, no, no.

Mark never dyed his hair.

-No.

-He left that to me.

There's only 16 years between us, you see.

-So you went grey before Tom?

-Yeah.

That's right.

It works for him, I thought maybe it'd work for me.

The hair may have gone grey and the hips may not swing as freely as they once did,

but Tom Jones is still taking risks.

He's back in the studio with a collection of rhythm and blues songs

that are part celebration and part confession.

With just three musicians and all mics live, it's a traditional way of recording that's long forsaken.

And it leaves the voice fully exposed.

# You may run on for a long time

# Run on for a long time

# Run on for a long time

# Good God almighty We'll cut you down

# My God almighty We'll cut you down

# Well, you can tell that Long tongued liar

# Tell that midnight rider

# Tell that gambler, the rambler The pack biter

# Tell them God almighty Will cut 'em down...#

He's been singing for well over half a century.

But when you're in the room, believe me, you still feel the presence and power of that voice.

# You may throw a rock Hide your hand

# Workin' in the dark With your fellow man

# Sure as God made day or night

# What you do in the dark Will be brought to the light

# Run and hide Slip and slide...#

It is like standing next to the tube coming in in the underground.

It's just this sheer energy that comes rumbling up from somewhere.

# You can run on For a long time

# Run on for a long time

# Run on for a long time

# Good God almighty We'll cut you down

# My God almighty We'll cut you down

He's got the elements of someone like Caruso, an opera singer, because he has that power.

But he also, more importantly,

has the sensibility of a soul singer or rock'n'roll singer.

# One of these days Mark my words

# You think your brother Has gone to work

# You sneak up and knock on his door

# Look out, brother You'll knock no more. #

The fact that he makes a hell of a noise,

and it sounds like he's ripping something out of his own history,

the history of Welsh singing, the history of gospel,

the history of all the music he likes.

it makes the voice have this kind of power that goes beyond just the fact that he can sing.

There's something going on, it's desire.

# Well you can tell that Long tongued liar

# Tell that midnight rider

# Tell the gambler, the rambler Pack biter

# Tell them God almighty Will cut 'em down

# Good God almighty will cut 'em down

# My God almighty will cut you down

# Oh, God almighty Will cut you down. #

Yeah.

CHOIR MUSIC

You were born, 1940, Thomas Woodward,

-in Wales, Pontypridd, your father, of course, was a miner.

-That's right.

What was the expectation? What did you think would happen to you?

I always thought I'd become a singer.

Because I've always been singing, as long as I can remember.

I had this voice.

And the love of it.

So any chance I would get, I wanted to get up and sing.

-Were you a singer...and I was going to say a performer, but a singer and a show off as well?

-Yeah.

Apparently I would say to my mother when I was a child,

"You know, Mum, you have to introduce me."

My mother said, "There's nobody here."

I used to get up on the window, apparently, and pull the curtains over. You know, the drapes.

And wait for my mother to say, "Tommy Woodward."

"Ladies and gentlemen, Tommy Woodward."

And I'd jump out of the window and sing in the kitchen to my mother.

What were you singing?

Well, one of the first songs that I remember was a song called Ghost Riders In The Sky.

I used to bang the table so I could accompany myself.

Dum, de-de-deum, de-de-deum.

# An old cowpoke went riding out One dark and windy day...#

When I used to try and imitate him, I'd go,

# An old cowpoke went riding out...#

He had a voice like that.

# On a ridge he rested As he went along his way. #

So that affected me, the sound of people's voices.

CHOIR SINGING

The popular image of music in Wales today is still one of voices in harmony

and the big sound of the great choir of voices.

CHOIR SINGS

People had hard jobs, whether it was factories or digging coal.

Women were in the house looking after very large families.

And people didn't complain.

People got on with it, had a great sense of humour,

had a laugh. They looked forward to the weekend,

and people got over it by having a sing-song.

SINGING

In a working class town like Pontypridd,

which is basically a coal mining town,

or was, I never felt alone.

The closeness of those streets, everybody looked out for everybody else.

To grow up in that environment,

I think, did a lot to form my character.

'This is the BBC, from London.'

What were the records being played, what were you listening to on the radio?

The BBC played a lot of different kinds of things.

So when something would come on, like a gospel song or a country song, even,

I sort of, "Wow, that's great!"

-So you're listening to singers and how they use their voice?

-Yeah.

And a lot of the time, they were black.

# Sometime, I'm standing, crying

# Tear running down my face

# I cried to the Lord Have mercy. #

Mahalia Jackson, who was the first gospel singer I knew by name,

because of the voice.

I remember being in school

and I sang the Lord's Prayer and the teacher said to me, "Why are you singing this like a negro spiritual?"

I didn't know what she was talking about.

I really loved to sing, it was like breathing for me.

But then, at the age of 12, Tom Jones contracted TB.

Tuberculosis was still a killer in the 1950s,

and the doctors recommended complete bed rest

and no strain on the lungs.

COUGHING

I was bedridden for two years in the house.

COUGHING

They told me not to sing. I couldn't do anything physical.

I had to be as calm as possible

You know, I couldn't really get out of bed.

Looking out the window and seeing kids play was terrible.

Tom had only the radio for company.

But this was the 1950s,

and filtering across the airwaves was a revolutionary new sound.

# 9, 10, 11 o'clock 12 o'clock rock

# We're gonna rock Around the clock tonight

# Put your gladrags on...#

Bill Haley and the Comets, Rock Around The Clock, that was the first rock and roll record that I heard

and the sound of Rock Around The Clock was tremendous.

# We're gonna rock, gonna rock Around the clock tonight. #

# Come on over, baby Come on, shake on over...#

And Jerry Lee Lewis? Jerry Lee Lewis was, I know, your idol.

Whole Lotta Shaking, and I thought, "My God, this sounds like it's going to jump out of the radio."

# Well, I said come on, baby...#

I think maybe the tuberculosis was a blessing in disguise because maybe if I hadn't had it,

I would have gone to work in the coal mine with my father.

I learned to appreciate just walking down the street.

# Let's shake, baby, shake...#

The impression I get is, by the time teenage Tom sprang from his sickbed,

he was keen to make up for lost time.

And the first thing on the agenda, apart from Shake, Rattle and Roll, that is,

was girls.

And Tom already had his eye on local beauty, Linda Trenchard.

I was aware of her when I was bedridden,

I used to see her, and she was a very pretty girl.

She lived around the corner from me on another street.

She told me later on she was aware of me because I was a nice looking kid, apparently.

In the 50s with the Teddy Boys, we started dressing different.

We had long hair, tight pants, long jackets instead of those bum freezers, we used to call them,

you know, that the older fella used to wear.

# Come on, everybody And let's get together tonight...#

I don't know whether it was rebellious, and the music went along with it.

I remember some woman, she said to my mother, "You know, your Tommy's hair is longer than his girlfriend's"

You know what I mean? It's, like, disgusting.

# Woo, come on, everybody. #

We thought we were, like, slick.

But I was too slick for my own good, because she fell pregnant.

And she fell pregnant before she became your wife?

-Yeah.

-At the precocious age of 15.

-Yeah.

Which, at the time, must have been a bit shocking in Pontypridd.

Yeah, there was a family meeting about what was going to happen.

And while all this was going on I was talking to Linda, we were so wrapped up with one another.

We were in the corner of the room, chatting away while all this is going on. And my mother, God bless her,

she said, "Look at this, we're trying to decide what's going to happen,"

and she said, "Look at them, they're oblivious to what's going on here.

"So how can we get in the way of that?"

Linda gave birth and Tom's son, Mark, was born.

So 16-year-old Tom was a husband and a father working in a glove factory in a small town in Wales.

It was 1956.

You've got to make a living, you've got a child, a Teddy Boy wheeling pram.

-Yeah.

-You were still you were going to be a singer?

-Oh yeah, definitely.

I didn't know how far it was going to take me,

or if I'd ever make a recording,

but I knew there were these working men's clubs.

If you had to do job of work in the day, you could still go and get your kicks.

I could, anyway, by going into a working men's club and singing.

Tom worked on building sites by day

and sang in working men's clubs in the evenings.

It was a rough and ready showbiz apprenticeship

that required him to live off his wits.

This club said I stole a chicken and I said I never stole a chicken in my life.

It was a turkey. LAUGHTER

And there was a fight broke out in the club,

so everything went mad, you know.

Brand new club, all the furniture was flattened.

So they closed the curtains and there were these three hampers on the stage.

They were going to raffle them off. It was Christmastime.

I saw this turkey on top and thought, "I've got to have that."

Everybody was fighting, nobody knew what was going on.

I stuck it in the back of the amplifier.

When I got home for Christmas...

I said, "Look at this." The turkey.

"Where did you get that?"

I said, "It was in the raffle."

I didn't say... I didn't say I'd nicked it!

LAUGHTER

Ladies and gentlemen,

the boy with the voice for the future.

In 1961, Tom found himself a band,

but the new sound of rock and roll

wasn't always welcomed in the traditional Welsh working men's clubs.

# ..in the chapel... #

'The first night I remember... I was booked there by myself.'

But I took this group in with me.

Well, when they saw the amplifiers and, you know...

And the drums, you know, coming through the door,

that was the first, "Pay 'em off!" I said, "Wait a second."

So I got on stage and I said,

"Let us play," you know what I mean.

"Now, come on, now, Tommy!" You know, cos they all knew...

"We don't want any of this bloody...electric guitars and that."

I said, "Look, just let us play."

Tom got the break he desperately needed on the 10th of May, 1964,

when a songwriter on holiday from London,

went to the Top Hat Club in Tonypandy

to see what all the Welsh girls were screaming about.

An old school-chum of mine

said, "What are you doing?" "Not much."

He said, "You must come and see this boy."

The place was heaving!

Half-way through the first number, the greatest thing I'd ever seen.

Gordon Mills was a former musician who recognised Tom's raw talent.

He became his manager and would steer his act for the next 20 years.

He had a vision for the voice

and he began by changing the name to Tom Jones.

# What I say

# Tell me what I say... #

Gordon said, "What do you think?" I said,

"I think he's fantastic! The best voice I've heard in my life!"

This rough, tough guy in his leather jacket and his broken nose.

Gordon Mills brought his discovery to London

and persuaded Decca to release his debut single, Chills And Fever.

# Now when it's late at night

# And I wanna hold you tight

# I tell you... #

Tom was crushed when it failed to make the top 40.

Chills And Fever hadn't done what I expected it to do,

so I was still working on building sites.

I needed a hit record.

Homesick and broke, with his first record a flop,

Tom needed a miracle.

It was like a spark of magic that came out of the air.

I wanted Sandie Shaw to sing it.

Gordon wanted Frankie Vaughan to sing it,

but we'd get Tom to do the demo.

Les wanted Sandie Shaw to have it because she'd already had a couple of hit records.

Tom, I think you could improve it...

'So I went and did the demo for Sandie Shaw'

and when I heard it back,

I said, "Gordon, this is... This is it!

"This is the song."

And he said, "No, not for you. It's a pop song."

It was a song called It's Not Unusual.

And there was this person singing it

and I was totally mesmerised

and so she said, "Do you like it?" I said, "Absolutely brilliant!"

She said, "Shall I book the studio?" I said, "No way! Why?"

So she said, "You're doing it." I said, "No, I'm not. He has to do it!"

"Oh, no. He's just the demo singer."

We were in the pub and he had a face as long as a fiddle.

I said, "What's the matter?"

He said, "I want that song."

So I said, "Look, if I don't get this song, I'm going back to Wales."

And I said, "That's going to be the end of it." I felt so strongly about it.

I said, "No, he's not just a demo singer. This is going to be a really big, big singer.

"It's his song! This would be the making of him! How could anybody take this away from him?"

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# It's not unusual to be loved by anyone

# It's not unusual to have fun with anyone

# But when I see you hanging about with anyone

# It's not unusual to see me cry

# I wanna die... #

When it came out, I was sitting in the bar

and these fellas were playing darts, I'll never forget it,

and they kept playing it.

And they said, "Who the hell is this Tom Jones? Who is this?"

You know, they were saying this amongst themselves. And the bar maid who was there, you know,

washing the glass and drying the glasses going...

You know, like...

It was a tremendous, such a tremendous feeling.

I felt, "Wow. I going to make it now."

# Love will never do

# What you want it to

# Why can't this crazy love be mi-ii-ii-ii-ne... #

So you get your massive number one hit. What next?

Well I thought now that I've gotten in with a hit record

I want to get some rhythm and blues songs.

And I thought that I would be doing more of that.

# Oh, baby Lucille

# Baby, satisfy my heart, yeah... #

Tom may have wanted to return to the blues

but now he was a pop star and his manager Gordon Mills had other ideas.

CROWD SCREAMS OVER BAND

He wanted to harness the flagrant sexual energy that Tom had displayed to great effect

and attach it to a naughty novelty pop song

to be written by Burt Bacharach.

# What's new, pussycat?

# Whoa, whoa, whoa, oh

# What's new, pussycat?

# Woah, woah, woah, woah, oh

# Pussycat, pussycat... #

Burt, you know, he's not a very good singer.

He knows that, you know. So he's...

MIMIC BACHARACH: # What's new, pussycat? Whoa, whoa... #

And I thought, "What the hell is this?"

I'm saying, "I don't know about this." HE LAUGHS

# Pussycat, pussycat I've got flowers

# And lots of hours to spend with you

# So go and powder your cute little pussycat nose... #

What's New Pussycat turned out to be an even bigger hit in the US charts

than it was in Britain.

No British solo singer had yet conquered America.

But Tom Jones would be the first.

# What's new, pussycat? Woah, woah, woah, oh... #

The British invasion was well underway

but amidst the rock'n'roll bands - the Beatles, the Stones and the Kinks,

here was an old-school, all-male solo singer

that America would take to its heart.

# ..To care for you

# So go and make up your big little pussycat eyes... #

So Gordon obviously decided that the world was bigger than London and England

because he took you to America.

Things happened so fast.

I remember when I was in, in New York and I stayed in this small hotel...

..and it was hot outside, so I had the windows open.

In those days the taxi cabs used to honk the horns, you know.

Beep! Beep! Which I'd seen in movies.

And I'm laying on the bed and I'm thinking, "Good, God! I'm in New York!"

For or five months before, you know, I was struggling.

It was unbelievable, really.

And Gordon, you know, was with me.

# Oooh, with these hands

# I-I-I will sing to you... #

When I first met Elvis Presley in '65...

um, in Hollywood. I went to see him at Paramount Studios.

He was walking towards me, singing With These Hands.

-As you sang?

-Yeah.

# ..I'll provide for you... #

And I thought, "My God. Here comes Elvis Presley, singing my song!"

It's interesting because at this time, if you were thinking about your career path,

-here you are, you really wanted to be a rhythm and blues singer...

-Hmm.

On the other hand what you've done doesn't kind of classify it as quite that.

For example, Green Green Grass of Home.

# The old hometown looks the same

# As I step down from the train

# And there to meet me

# Is my mama and papa... #

That's a smash hit, but it's a country song.

So how did that happen?

I've always been a fan of Jerry Lee Lewis so I said,

"Has Jerry Lee got a new album out?" And he said, "He's got this album called Country Songs For City Folk.

"That's what he's doing, he's done this country thing."

The Green Green Grass Of Home was on there

and it stuck out to me.

I though, "My God, what a great song this is."

I don't care what you call it, this is a meaningful song.

You know, he's singing about the green grass of home, you're thinking about your home.

But then, then I awake and look around me

and thought, "Good God, this man is in a prison cell."

# Yes, they'll all come to see me

# In the shade of that old oak tree

# As they lay me 'neath The green, green grass of home. #

The thing about the human voice is that it's the one instrument

that all of us have and all of us carry with us.

Tom, he has a very powerful voice, but that doesn't make a great voice,

What makes a great voice is where it comes from.

It comes from the heart.

So when he sings a song,

as well as having a beautiful voice,

he believes the song.

And he has to believe a song to be able to sing it.

So you, the listener, are taken into the song.

Really, only the really great singers have that.

That's the bit of Tom Jones I've always liked.

The dark side, something dark

that means when he sung some of them songs,

that in the the hands of others could be really schmaltzy and kitschy,

they take on a great grace, a kind of operatic power.

He's bringing something darker to it.

# I saw the light on the night that I passed by her window

# I saw the flickering shadows of love on her blind

# She was my woman

# As she deceived me I watched and went out of my mind

# My, my, my, Delilah... #

It's strange because most people think... They hear the chorus.

# My, my, my, Delilah... #

You know, it's like...

..with the waltz tempo and people can sing it.

But it's actually, you know, a serious song about,

"Why did this girl do this to me?"

# She stood there laughing

# I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more

# My, my, my... #

By the late '60s, Tom Jones was firmly established as a pop star.

# I've been in love so many times

# Thought I knew the score

# Now you treated me... #

But in so many ways - his voice, his dress, his demeanour -

he was at odds with the times.

1967 is remembered as a year of LSD, sexual liberation and flower power.

But it was also the era that housewives' favourite Tom Jones had five top ten hits in 12 months.

# Fall in love

# No, I'm never gonna fall in love

# I mean it... #

The truth is, not everyone was growing their hair and dropping out.

And Tom's craggy good looks, drug-free lifestyle and classic foot-tapping songs

appealed across the generations.

Part of his charm was that you could tell he was from the valleys

and that he was a miner's son.

He was just kind of naive and just totally in love with the fact that he could actually sing.

His whole life...like, the lights came on as soon as he started to sing.

It's always been like that with him.

# I can't get no satisfaction

# I try

# Oh, and I try

# We have tried

# We try and we try, try try... #

He always handled fame very well, I thought.

He's a very polite man.

He's Welsh to the core.

He loved going back there.

One day I took a picture of him in the street with his new Rolls-Royce.

And the neighbours were out waving at him...

I mean, he was like the Pied Piper, they used to follow us about everywhere.

I took him round the mines with the mine background, he's lighting a big cigar and all that.

Papers loved him. They couldn't get enough of him.

How did you behave during this time? Were you a bit of a prima donna?

I don't think I've ever been a prima donna.

I hope not, anyway.

But sometimes you catch yourself maybe getting a little complacent.

You know. I remember I had to be in the make-up chair at nine o'clock in the morning.

So... And I'd been drinking the night before.

And I'm in the back of a Phantom 6 Rolls-Royce.

I came out of the back of this Rolls-Royce going, "Oh, God, I got to go and do this..."

And there was a kid going up a ladder with this rod.

And he went, "Hey, Tommy, can you give us a hand with this?"

And I looked at this kid

and I thought, "Jesus Christ," you know, "there but for the grace of God..."

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Tom Jones.

APPLAUSE

The mix of classic songs and old school charm

had attracted the attention of an American television network,

who believed they'd found the British Elvis.

Hello!

# I gotta wait till the midnight hour... #

In 1969, Tom signed up to present a TV show on an unprecedented scale.

# It's not unusual to be mad with anyone... #

'This Is Tom Jones.'

'He's a turn-on.'

'From Motown to Nashville to London.'

'I like the way he moves.'

Shot in London and Los Angeles,

This Is Tom Jones would be broadcast in the UK and the US.

Thank you and good evening from Hollywood, California, America.

# Na, na, na, na, na... #

It was worth a staggering 9 million over three years,

but perhaps more importantly, it would put Tom in homes all over America.

# Na, na, na, na... #

When I first saw Tom Jones, it would have been on the television

when I was a young lad sitting in a small terraced house in South-East London and we'd see him.

# Do I have to keep on talking till I can't go on...? #

So you're talking about a huge star in America.

# At the risk of knowing that our love may soon be gone

# We can work it out

# We can work it out... #

The producers set out to make a mainstream variety show

and Tom was more than happy to play along.

# ..time for fussing and fighting, my friend... #

But he was also adamant that the show should reflect his passion for rock and roll.

I said I wanted rock and roll singers.

You know, if you want me to sing with the people that you want,

I need to sing with the people that I REALLY want.

The thing that I really loved was doing duets with people that I really, really liked.

# It's not unusual to be mad with anyone

# It's not unusual to have fun with anyone

# But when I see you hanging about with anyone

# Oh, it's not unusual

# It's not unusual to see me cry

(BOTH) # I wanna die... #

# ..16 times

# You get another day older and deeper in debt

# St Peter, don't you call me cos I can't go

(BOTH) # I owe my soul to the company store... #

Far from just being a middle of the road entertainment show,

This Is Tom Jones captured many of the rock and roll greats in their prime.

# Oh, I got me a date and now I won't be late

# I picked her up in my 88

# Shag on down by the Union Hall

# When the gang starts jumping I'll have a ball

# Gonna rock it up... #

It's a unique slice of music and television history.

# I laughed at love and thought it was funny

# Then you came along and you moved me, honey

# I've changed my mind Love is fine

# Goodness, gracious Great balls of fire... #

I mean, to have Jerry Lee on my show was great

because I was a fan from when he first started.

I used to sing those songs and there I was, looking across the piano.

# One more time

# Sing it

# Shake, shake it, baby

# Shake it, baby, shake it... #

His transatlantic TV extravaganza made Tom Jones

one of the biggest stars in the world.

America couldn't get enough of him

and Tom moved with his wife Linda and son Mark to LA,

buying Dean Martin's old house in the Hollywood Hills.

It was funny, cos when I moved to America somebody asked me,

"What do you think they're going to think of you in the valleys, you know, moving to America?"

I said, "They still haven't got over the fact that I moved to England."

America is nothing!

# Glory, glory, hallelujah... #

He was living the Hollywood life to the full.

He had plenty of money, coast-to-coast fame.

He was courted by Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr, and granted a rare privilege -

The King's seal of approval.

We became friends. I think there was a lot of similarities between us.

You know, very passionate about his music, like I am.

But I think he genuinely loved the way I sing.

So he felt the kinship.

-Did you ever sing with Elvis?

-Elvis and I sang in his suite.

You know, we would do... Cos Elvis loved gospel music

and we would sing gospel music most of the night.

And I liked to stay up late, but he would stay up as late as possible.

So I said, "Elvis, I got to go now. I got two shows to do tonight, so let me go to sleep."

"OK, Tom."

I'm sort of halfway out the door and he goes, "Tom." "Yeah?"

# Why me, Lord? #

So I got to go back in and sing with Elvis.

# I'm going down

# To the crossroads

# With no devil will I make a deal. #

It's quicker than that.

What do you call somebody that hangs out with musicians? The singer.

LAUGHTER

-What are those, Tom?

-Keep a clear voice.

Cos there's menthol and liquorice in there. It was invented by a Welshman.

It works, does it?

Yeah, I got one this side and one this side. I never go on stage without them.

If I don't have them, I'm... Oh, Jesus.

# But she's all you'd ever want

# She's the kind I'd like to flaunt... #

By the beginning of the 1970s,

Tom Jones was embarking on record-breaking tours right across America.

# She's a winner... #

His live gigs were famed for bouts of what they called "Tom Jones fever" -

a sexually-charged, mass female frenzy.

There's something about those concerts at the peak of that part of your career,

when the hysteria was sort of palpable. How was it to be at the centre of that?

A little scary.

Played Madison Square Garden

and I played it in the round, so they could get more people in.

And they used to shut the lights off right at the end

and I would jump off the stage and...gone.

Just before the lights went out, I saw the exit - where I was going to run.

I saw the gap starting to close in.

And then the lights came back on. All these women were grabbing for me.

So I was up in the air and they ripped the pants, the shirt.

So this fella that used to work for me, he had hold of me, up, with his foot against the stage

and was pulling me off and I was suspended

and he's pulling and they're pulling and I'm going, "My legs!", you know.

That was frightening.

By the end of the '70s, the rock'n'roller was a distant memory.

Tom Jones was now a mere entertainer, a lounge lizard, a cabaret act,

the ultimate ladies' man.

But was he aware that all the kissing, flirting and unbuttoning

was damaging his reputation?

# Hollywood, stardom, fame

# Yes, that's you, girl... #

Did you worry that, successful as you were,

your image on stage was actually more prominent than your singing ability, your real talent?

Yea, yeah. Yeah, it got...frustrating.

That... Reviews that I would be getting

would be more of the reaction of the audience and what I was wearing

rather than what I was singing.

# Girl, you're a hot-blooded woman-child... #

Your style of performance, how you looked on stage, was that all something you had to think about?

Well, it was suggested that I wore a tuxedo...

which I did.

Because prior to that I was playing in ballrooms and theatres

and I used to wear open-neck shirts with the tight pants and the big shirt.

And so...

Your preferred outfit?

Well, it was easier to work in.

You know, you're not restricted to a jacket.

-Oh, come on!

-Honestly! On my life! Hand to God!

And that was it.

I've always perspired a lot so...

And the buttons would be undone.

Well, yeah. I mean, you know, that was it. So...

Once you start to undo buttons and...you know...

and girls scream, then you... You sort of tend to open another one!

But it became, then, you know, a part of a thing.

But looking back on it, you know, I've only got myself to blame,

because the pants WERE tight.

You know, I didn't know it was going to catch up with me.

I thought my voice was going to shine through.

# We sailed on the sloop John B

# My granddaddy and me... #

'My image took over more than my voice.'

The voice was rapidly eclipsed, as the focus moved to the medallion,

the body and the screaming girls that followed him everywhere.

Bye-bye, girls!

He had rugged good looks. All the girls loved him.

I mean, they all just went potty about him.

Come on, what's Tom Jones doing out here in Barbados?

Well...just chatting up Miss World.

I shot the first male pin-up. I remember, in Bel Air,

he had this fantastic house and this fantastic bed

and I shot him in bed. Instead of shooting the girls in bed,

I shot the guys.

And those pictures had a tremendous impact on his career.

I mean, women loved them, cos it's the first time they sort of had a male pin-up.

I mean, he always used to wear tight pants and things there and medallions and all that

but that was him!

Tom Jones had become a victim of his own success.

Notoriously, women began to throw their underwear onto the stage.

It was a potent but comedic image

that became an easy way to mock Tom for the rest of his career.

The thing about the whole knicker thing.

Wasn't it that he wanted to mop his brow and he couldn't,

so some woman said "OK, take..." and she took her knickers off -

it's a reasonable reaction - and handed him the knickers.

And I think that that then was taken by his press people, cos it's great,

and turned into a headline - it's a great bit of press.

but then I think it's become a... Well, I KNOW it's become a bit of a millstone.

I think the knickers thing was almost like a PR gimmick

that got out of hand

and confirmed the idea that he was pure sex and pure lust

and he had a kind of erotic power that the knickers became a logo for.

The caricature of Tom Jones was so easy to find -

it was the knickers and mopping his brow.

I think, in the end, he drowned, to some extent, in the knickers.

This was also a period in your career when the hit records weren't coming.

The name Tom Jones wasn't as in the foreground, certainly in the UK and elsewhere as it had been.

How did you deal with that period? How did you feel about it?

People weren't taking me seriously because of the way I was presenting myself.

But I couldn't see it at the time.

# You will find me here Where the heart is... #

By the 1980s, the hits really HAD dried up,

and Tom Jones seemed destined to play out his days as a hen-night cabaret act.

He'd lost his friend, Elvis, in 1977...

..and then, in 1986, his manager and close friend, Gordon Mills, passed away.

Tom was at his lowest ebb in years.

Well it was losing a friend...

and a very close friend.

that's what hit me more than... I didn't even think about, you know, I've lost a manager.

It didn't enter my mind.

It was just that I had lost a friend.

# What good am I

# If I'm like all the rest

# If I just turn away

# When I see how you're dressed

# If I shut myself off

# So I can't hear you cry

# What good am I?

# What good am I

# If I know and don't do

# If I see and don't say

# If I look straight through you

# If I turn a deaf ear

# To the thundering sky

# What good am I?

# What good am I

# While you softly weep

# And I hear in my head

# What you say in your sleep

# And I freeze at the moment

# Like the rest who don't try

# What good am I?

# What good am I? #

MUSIC CONTINUES: "What Good Am I?"

'I thought I was a young, virile, you know,

'no-bullshit artist. I mean, that's why... '

That's what I felt.

But maybe it was coming across as...

that I was exploiting the sexual part of it.

Too much.

# What good am I

# If I say foolish things

# And I laugh in the face

# Of what sorrow brings

# And I just turn my back

# While you silently die

# What good am I?

# What good am I?

# What good am I? #

OK.

Tom Jones's career was saved by his son, Mark.

Mark had grown up watching his father's meteoric rise to the top.

My son was always close to me. I was 16 when he was born.

I mean, there's some brothers that are, age-wise, that far apart.

In 1986, 29-year-old Mark became Tom's manager.

Times had changed, and Mark had to take his father aside

and tell him a few home truths.

I always had a strong opinion

that some things were just wrong. Certain choices of material.

And not challenging.

In an ideal world, the focus of his image

will shift about three feet upwards.

And last always with his voice, and nothing else.

When I started to do this,

Mark said, "You've got to be tough with him."

He said, "There's nothing that my dad likes better than to...

"You know, he'd like to jump out of a box and wiggle his bottom,

"that's what he'd really like to do at heart."

How much do you need to be told what's good for you?

Well, yeah, I need to, because... I'm still 25 in my head.

You know. So I've got to be... You've got to be saying,

"I don't think you... Are you sure you really want to do that?"

Boys! I don't suppose...

-I don't suppose you know Kiss, by Prince, do you?

-Yeah.

'Mark made me aware of things that maybe I wasn't aware of before.'

About, what are you? You know, what is really you?

You're not smoking back there, are you?

Mark encouraged Tom to take risks.

No, but they'll be cooking in a minute, ba-boom.

Tom, you wouldn't do it for us tonight, would you?

-Let's encourage Tom!

-APPLAUSE AND CHEERS

So as a last resort, he put him on a risque late-night Channel 4 show

and made him tackle more edgy material.

# You don't have to be beautiful

# To turn me on

# I just need your body, baby

# From dusk till dawn... #

He came out and he was cool as you like, in black leather,

and he seemed to have a fantastic sort of confidence about him.

But he didn't take himself so seriously.

Tom Jones had really fallen off my radar.

I knew that he was a big star in Las Vegas,

and I knew he did cabaret,

but I really thought that the days when he would make great records were probably in the past.

Mark put Tom together with the avant-garde Art Of Noise,

and Kiss became his comeback hit.

# You don't have to be rich to be my girl

# You don't have to be cool to rule my world

# Ain't no particular sign I'm more compatible with

# I just want your extra time and your

# Kiss. #

Out went the medallions, the country music and the kissing girls.

In came sharp suits, slick videos, and shades.

# ..If you wanna impress me... #

To be able to make that unbelievable transformation,

making you realise that what he had was the great gift of the voice,

to be able to deliver a great song, and that was never going to let him down.

# I just want your extra time and your

# Kiss Think I better dance, now... #

And it was just a wonderful way of reinventing yourself

without it looking corny or strained.

Tom had found a second wind.

Throughout the '90s, he cleverly cultivated

a cool, ironic, sexy image.

MUSIC: "Sex Bomb" by Tom Jones

The old sexual power had been harnessed for a new era.

Oh, baby! # Sex bomb, sex bomb

# You're my sex bomb

# You can give it to me when I need to come along

# Sex bomb, sex bomb You're my sex bomb

# And baby you can turn me on. #

Some of the coverage, obviously, was still slightly ironic.

You were still "the ex sex god", and stuff like that. Does that just make you smile?

I mean, young people have told me, you know, they think that I'm honest.

# Sex bomb... #

As long as you don't try to be what you're not,

or be what you were,

as long as you accept certain things and be honest with it...

Throughout his life, Tom's sexual antics

were not just confined to the stage.

Being married to a sex symbol is never easy,

and Tom admits there were difficult times for his wife

and for those close to him.

Given the strength of your marriage and your family life,

did all that publicity about your dalliances and affairs,

did it trouble you?

No, it didn't trouble me because my marriage was solid.

And that was a thing that...

Still, you know, I mean, it's...

My wife sort of read things in the paper from time to time

and we had a few blow-ups, you know, and she would explode -

rightfully so, I mean, she was...

But it didn't... It was all sort of

part and parcel of the thing, you know, I felt.

That... But I was never tested, you see.

My wife never tested me.

You know, she never came to the point of saying,

"If I read any more of this, then that's me and you finished."

It didn't get to that point.

We love one another.

We fell in love young and it's been with us,

all the time. No matter where I've been or what I've done,

the road always leads back to Linda.

With his son Mark in charge of his career,

Tom was a born-again artist.

MUSIC: "Baby, It's Cold Outside" by Tom Jones & Cerys Matthews

# I really can't stay

# But, baby, it's cold outside

# I've got to go away

# Oh, baby, it's cold outside

# This evening has been

# And hoping that you'd drop in

# So very nice... #

'He absolutely loves music, he's so passionate about it.'

I asked Tom, "Tell me what your perfect day would be,

"and it can't involve music." And he just went,

"Well, then it wouldn't be a perfect day, would it?"

# Mama told me not to come

# Mama told me not to come

# She said that ain't no way to have fun, son... #

His musical credibility restored,

in 1998, he recorded Reload,

his most successful album ever.

We had an amazing connection. I think he's probably

the best story-teller I've ever sat down with.

I mean, he could be a stand-up comic, really.

He told us when Elvis first met him, he said to him,

"You sound like a black man. Is there many black people where you come from?"

He said, "Only the ones coming out of the mine."

He became Sir Tom in 2006.

In 2009, 44 years after his first Number 1,

he was back at the top of the charts,

this time with a charity single for Red Nose Day.

'One of the things that's served him well is his enthusiasm.'

You know, let's not forget, having hit songs in your 60s

is incredible, really.

And now, Tom's gone platinum, too. He's ditched the hair dye

and seems to revel in the role of godfather of British pop.

# I crossed the street to her house and she opened the door

# She stood there laughing

# Ha ha ha! #

Young and old sang along when he stormed Glastonbury in 2009.

And yes, they still bring along the knickers!

But now, Tom is in on the joke.

# Why, why, why, Delilah? #

'I'll go onstage as long as I possibly can.

'It's a high that you don't really get from anything else.

'Not quite. That's when you're on there, and the band and the people,'

and it's like, phew! You've gone into another place.

And I think any true performer would say, "I don't want that to stop."

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Hey!

# Huh!

# I'm going down

# To the crossroads

# With no devil

# Will I make a deal

# I'm going down

# To the crossroads

# With no devil

# Would I make a deal

# Maybe there ain't no heaven

# Maybe there ain't no hell

# No heaven

# No burning hell

# No! #

So, Tom, you're 70. How long can you keep this up?

'I will sing as long as I possibly can.'

# Hey, hey! #

'You know, it's a part of my life that I don't want to give up.'

# Huh! #

The thing is, I just don't want it to end.

-You know, that's the thing that...

-I believe you, Tom!

-..that bothers me, honestly.

'My enemy is time. It's going to catch up with me, but...'

as long as it's not tomorrow, then I...

HE LAUGHS

# When I die

# Where will I go?

# When I die

# Where will I go?

# Somebody tell me

# Somebody please tell me

# Where will I go?

# Maybe there ain't no heaven

# No burning hell

# Maybe there ain't no heaven

# No burning hell

# Maybe there ain't no heaven

# Maybe there ain't no hell

# Maybe there ain't no heaven

# No burning hell, no

# Hey, hey, hey!

# Yeah!

# Hey, hey, hey, hey, yeah!

# Oww! #