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Sex Bomb Tom
As Sir Tom Jones tries his luck in the dance music scene, we talk about his knighthood, his hair and his soft spot for Charlotte Church
From his humble beginnings in Pontypridd, South Wales, where he sang at local YMCAs, bunked off school and courted the local Catholic girls (one of whom was to become his wife) to internationally acclaimed and newly knighted superstardom - Sir Tom Jones has come a long way.
And now, after over four decades in the business he turns to unlikely collaborating partner, Nick Bracegirdle - mastermind of dance act Chicane to experiment with a new modern sound with their single 'Stoned in Love'.
'It's not a drug reference,' insists Nick, talking of the suggestive title. So it's a (rather strange) allusion to biblical punishment, is it? Unlikely, and the lyrics are no more enlightening.
The single's contemporary sound is similar to that of the recent number ones dominating the UK charts - upbeat tempos and familiar vocals, usually sampled from old TV theme tunes or aging rockers' hits from way back. But this song, Nick asserts, is an original piece of writing. 'There's a real trend at the moment to take a huge chunk of someone else's work, slap some beats on top and have a hit with it,' he says. 'You get a bit tired of it, to be honest.'
'Stoned in Love' was Nick's self-penned brainchild, and enlisting Tom for the vocals didn't occur to him till later on the process when he realised that it needed a 'serious pair of lungs.' And Tom, closet MTV addict, is very excited. 'I was looking for something new and thought, "Christ, this sounds like a hit to me!"'
With softer falsetto vocals and not a hint of the brassy-backing that set the Welsh wonder's hips gyrating back in the day, you'd be forgiven for not recognising this as the work of the original sex bomb.
For those of you who've never heard 'Delilah', missed his stint as premier Vegas headliner or failed to catch his cartoon appearance on the Simpsons, Tom's credentials are old-school and heavyweight, and although 'Stoned in Love' is certainly a new sound for him, it's far from the biggest musical adjustment he's undergone.
The real music revolution for Tom happened in the mid-50s when the big band crooners made way for the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley (who became a close friend) and Fats Domino. And after baffling his school choir teacher by singing the Lord's Prayer like a 'negro spiritual', he came into his own in the rock 'n' roll movement. 'I just sang along with it. I went to see if I was singing correctly and they just said "you're doing it right."'
'Only black people were doing it really,' Tom recalls 'until Elvis kicked in'. And he has a lot to thank his close friend for, with a consistent run of hits and probably enough pairs of women's knickers to insulate the roof of the giant LA mansion in which he currently resides.
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