Tom Jones doesn’t plan on stepping off the stage until he’s reached a century in age.
Jones has been a hit in the music industry since the 1960s and he is not planning on stopping anytime soon.
“At 75 (years old), I’m three-quarters of the way home, hopefully,” he told USA Today. “But I still want to record more stuff, to continue doing shows.”
In fact Tom is currently promoting the release of his 41st studio album Long Lost Suitcase, which reached listeners in October (15).
Tom dedicated a tune to his late friend Elvis Presley on the LP, noting: “I’ve always wanted to sing a song about Elvis.”
The track, which is entitled Elvis Presley Blues, encapsulates their friendship, as they were quite tight before The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll passed away in 1977.
“He would say to me, ‘Tom, you’re a lucky man, because you married your childhood sweetheart’,” Tom recalled, noting when they first met in 1965 Elvis recognised they had a lot in common. “Elvis said, ‘How do you sing like that?’ That’s what he said, to me. I said, ‘Well, you’re partly to blame.’ He said, ‘Yeah, but I grew up in the South, listening to black gospel. How did you learn it?’ I said, ‘By listening to you, and people like you. By listening to Mahalia Jackson.’ I was getting it on the radio, but we were both white boys listening to black singers.”
Tom felt chuffed when his 1965 single It’s Not Unusual “was being played on black radio in New York”, claiming a disc jockey he met refused to believe he was a white man from Wales.
“He said, ‘He may be passing for white, but he’s not’,” Tom recalled. “I took that as a huge compliment.”
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Never miss a story! Get your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to the Noise11 Music Newsletter here
Listen to the Noise11 Music News channel now at iHeartRadio
Follow Noise11.com on Facebook and Twitter
NOISE11 UPDATES are now in Apple News
more from music-news.com
