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.
Although Tom has moved on from the knicker-throwing days it would surely be unfair of him to abandon the loyalists after all they've given him, so what will they make of the new sound? 'They'll like it because it's a proper song. Everybody I've played it to loves it, so I don't think there's a problem there at all.'
With numerous collaborating partners under his belt - Cerys Matthews from Catatonia (for 'Baby It's Cold Outside') and Stereophonics (for 'Mama Told Me Not To Come') to name a couple of recent picks - are there any more Welsh partnerships on the cards, say Charlotte Church for example? (well, we had to ask!) 'I couldn't tell you what my next project will be,' he says. 'But I'm so pleased that she did the cross-over, I'm very, very happy for her. She's a cracker.'
One thing he promises is that there will be no style makeover - he's still working the leather slacks with the tan that never fades. 'It just works,' he modestly asserts. And with a knighthood under his belt (meeting the queen for him was like catching up with an old friend 'I met her in the '60s. I think [meeting her again] might have made her realise how long she'd been around'), Tom remains solidly British. After more than 30 years in LA he's sounding as Welsh as ever - and it looks like we're set for a few more years of the roaring rogue we know and love. There is one area, he coyly suggests, that might get a bit of shake-up: his hair. 'I might put a bit of a rinse in, you never know.' Watch this space.
Stoned in love is out on 24 April.