Tom Jones

This article is about the British pop singer Tom Jones . For people with the same name or with different meanings, see Tom Jones (disambiguation) .

Tom Jones in London (2018)

Sir Thomas John Woodward OBE (born June 7, 1940 in Treforest , Pontypridd , Wales ), better known as Tom Jones , is a Welsh pop singer and, among other things, Grammy Award winner.

life and career

Jones and Janis Joplin (1969)

Jones on the Walk of Fame Europe in Rotterdam

Tom Jones was originally a vacuum cleaner salesman, but tried a career as a singer with the beat band Tommy Scott and the Senators as early as 1963 . That year he recorded seven pieces in Joe Meek's studio, but they were not released until 1965 after his first great success. The band wasn't very successful, so Jones decided to embark on a solo career.

As a club singer, Jones started out in the evenings under the pseudonym “Tiger Tom” (the nickname “Tiger” has remained to this day) through the Welsh working-class pubs and from 1964 through the London bars. There he was noticed by the manager Gordon Mills , who produced records with him. The first single Chills and Fever flopped, but the follow-up track It's Not Unusual landed at number 1 in the British charts . Many hits followed. In 1965 he sang the theme songs for the films What's New, Pussy? ( What's New, Pussycat? ) And Fireball ( Thunderball ). He also achieved great success in Germany . He came in 1968 with Delilah and Help Yourself twice on number 1 of the German hit lists. He successfully played with his sex appeal , performing in skin-tight trousers and shirts wide open, showing off his lush chest hair. His live concerts were sold out and crowded with screaming girls and women.

In the early 1970s, Jones moved to Las Vegas , where he appeared on club shows. At that time he had specialized in country pop , which earned him a few hits. Then it became a little quieter around him. In 1987 he reappeared in the British charts with the song A Boy from Nowhere . In 1988 he covered the Prince composition Kiss together with the electronic avant-garde Art of Noise . In 1991 he sang Carrying a Torch in a duet with Van Morrison . In 1993 he was in the NBC - TV series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (Season 3, Episode 18) a guest appearance as Carlton's guardian angel.

In 1994 Jones hosted the first MTV Europe Music Awards in Berlin , and in 1996 he made a self-deprecating appearance in the film Mars Attacks! by Tim Burton . In 2000 he landed the hit Sex Bomb, written and produced by Mousse T. , and offered a mix of duets with the album Reload 1999/2000, with Nina Persson from the Cardigans , Robbie Williams , the Stereophonics and the Manic Street Preachers . The cover version of the Talking Heads title Burning Down the House together with Nina Persson was internationally successful and reached number 10 in the British charts.

Jones was promoted to Knight Bachelor in 2006 by Queen Elizabeth II ; as a result of this ennoblement , his address has since been Sir Thomas. In November 2008, Jones released his 25th studio album, 24 Hours . For this album he was the first to work as a songwriter. Kara DioGuardi contributed to Give a Little Love a piece in, and with The Hitter of Bruce Springsteen there is another cover song on the album. Jones has been a jury member and coach on the UK singing talent show The Voice UK , which airs on BBC One , since the first season of 2012 .

Jones was married to Melinda Rose Woodward since 1957, with whom he has a son. She died on April 10, 2016 of complications from cancer .

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1965	Along Came Jones It's Not Unusual (US only)	-	-	-	UK11 gold (5 weeks)UK	US54 (42 weeks) US	US version contains 11 of the 16 tracks on the UK album plus one additional track
	What's New, Pussycat?	-	-	-	-	US114 (5 weeks) US
1966	From the heart	-	-	-	UK23 (8 weeks) UK	-
1967	Green, Green Grass of Home	DE35 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	UK3 (49 weeks) UK	US65 gold (45 weeks)US
	13 smash hits	DE6 (8 weeks) DE	-	-	UK5 (49 weeks) UK	-
1968	Delilah	DE2 (7 weeks) DE	-	-	UK1 (29 weeks) UK	-
	The Tom Jones Fever Zone	-	-	-	-	US14th gold (82 weeks)US
	Help yourself	DE7 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	UK4 (9 weeks) UK	US5 gold (54 weeks)US
1969	This is Tom Jones	DE9 (4 weeks) DE	-	-	UK2 (20 weeks) UK	US4th gold (43 weeks)US
1970	Tom	-	-	-	UK4 (18 weeks) UK	US6th gold (26 weeks)US
	I Who Have Nothing	-	-	-	UK10 (10 weeks) UK	US23 gold (40 weeks)US
1971	She's a lady	DE34 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	UK9 (7 weeks) UK	US17th gold (20 weeks)US
1972	Close up	-	-	-	UK17 (4 weeks) UK	US64 (20 weeks) US
1973	The Body and Soul of Tom Jones	-	-	-	UK31 (1 week) UK	US93 (10 weeks) US
1977	Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow	-	-	-	-	US76 (16 weeks) US
1978	I'm coming home	-	-	-	UK12 gold (9 weeks)UK	-
1981	Darlin '	-	-	-	-	US179 (3 weeks) US
1989	At this moment	-	-	-	UK34 (3 weeks) UK	-
	After Dark	-	-	-	UK46 (4 weeks) UK	-
1991	Carrying a torch	-	-	-	UK44 (4 weeks) UK	-
1994	The Lead and How to Swing It	DE81 (5 weeks) DE	AT35 (3 weeks) AT	-	UK55 (2 weeks) UK	-
1999	Reload	DE3 platinum (47 weeks)DE	AT3 platinum (38 weeks)AT	CH5 platinum (39 weeks)CH	UK1 × 4 Quadruple platinum (69 weeks)UK	-
2002	Mr. Jones	DE78 (1 week) DE	AT58 (3 weeks) AT	CH62 (6 weeks) CH	UK36 (3 weeks) UK	-
2004	Tom Jones & Jools Holland	-	-	-	UK5 gold (15 weeks)UK	-	with Jools Holland
2008	24 hours	DE70 (3 weeks) DE	AT61 (2 weeks) AT	CH94 (1 week) CH	UK32 gold (7 weeks)UK	US105 (3 weeks) US
2010	Praise & Blame	DE37 (7 weeks) DE	AT9 (8 weeks) AT	CH51 (4 weeks) CH	UK2 gold (15 weeks)UK	US79 (3 weeks) US
2012	Spirit in the room	DE95 (1 week) DE	AT60 (3 weeks) AT	-	UK8 (5 weeks) UK	-
2015	Long Lost Suitcase	-	-	-	UK17 (4 weeks) UK	-

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Live albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1967	Live at the Talk of the Town US: Tom Jones Live!	-	-	-	UK6 (91 weeks) UK	US13 gold (58 weeks)US	in US only in the charts in 1969
1969	Tom Jones Live in Las Vegas	DE23 (3 weeks) DE	-	-	UK2 (45 weeks) UK	US3 gold (51 weeks)US	recorded at The Flamingo
1971	Live at Caesars Palace	-	-	-	UK27 (5 weeks) UK	US43 gold (14 weeks)US	recorded at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1974	Tom Jones' Greatest Hits	-	-	-	UK15 (13 weeks) UK	US185 (4 weeks) US
1975	20 greatest hits	-	-	-	UK1 gold (21 weeks)UK	-
1977	Tom Jones Greatest Hits [ London ]	-	-	-	-	US191 (3 weeks) US
1978	His 20 greatest hits!	DE12 (7 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-
1987	The Greatest Hits	-	-	-	UK16 silver (12 weeks)UK	-
1992	The Complete Tom Jones	-	-	-	UK8th gold (7 weeks)UK	-
1998	The Ultimate Hits Collection	-	-	-	UK26th gold (11 weeks)UK	-
2000	Best of the Tiger	DE53 (5 weeks) DE	AT50 (1 week) AT	CH49 (5 weeks) CH	UK- silver UK	-
2003	Greatest hits	-	-	CH96 (3 weeks) CH	UK2 platinum (20 weeks)UK	-
2004	Reloaded: Greatest Hits	-	-	-	-	US127 (10 weeks) US
2010	Greatest Hits - Rediscovered	-	-	-	UK49 gold (2 weeks)UK	-

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Delilah , 1968

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks	[↑]: treated together with the previous entry; [←]: placed in both charts
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1964	Chills and Fever single track	-	-	-	-	-
1965	It's Not Unusual Along Came Jones	-	-	-	UK1 silver (14 weeks)UK	US10 (12 weeks) US
	Once Upon a Time Along Came Jones	-	-	-	UK32 (4 weeks) UK	-
	Little Lonely One single track	-	-	-	-	US42 (9 weeks) US
	What's New, Pussycat? What's New, Pussycat?	-	-	-	UK11 (10 weeks) UK	US3 (12 weeks) US
	With These Hands single track	-	-	-	UK13 (11 weeks) UK	US27 (8 weeks) US
	Thunderball single track	-	AT10 (4 weeks) AT	-	UK35 (4 weeks) UK	US25 (9 weeks) US
1966	Promise Her Anything single track	-	-	-	-	US74 (4 weeks) US
	Once There Was a Time single track	-	-	-	UK18 (9 weeks) UK	-
	Not responsible single track	-	-	-[UK: ↑]		US58 (6 weeks) US
	This and That single track	-	-	-	UK44 (3 weeks) UK	-
	Green, Green Grass of Home Green, Green Grass of Home	DE6 (10 weeks) DE	AT2 (16 weeks) AT	-	UK1 (22 weeks) UK	US11 (12 weeks) US
1967	Detroit City Green, Green Grass of Home	DE35 (2 weeks) DE	AT14 (8 weeks) AT	-	UK8 (10 weeks) UK	US27 (8 weeks) US
	Funny Familiar Forgotten Feelings Green, Green Grass of Home	DE38 (1 week) DE	-	-	UK7 (15 weeks) UK	US49 (6 weeks) US
	I'll Never Fall in Love Again single track	DE31 (2 weeks) DE	AT19 (4 weeks) AT	-	UK2 (25 weeks) UK	US6th gold (23 weeks)US
	Sixteen Tons Green, Green Grass of Home	-	-	-	-	US68 (4 weeks) US
	I'm Coming Home single track	DE39 (2 weeks) DE	AT16 (8 weeks) AT	-	UK2 (16 weeks) UK	US57 (5 weeks) US
1968	Delilah Delilah	DE1 gold (14 weeks)DE	AT3 (3 weeks) AT	CH1 (19 weeks) CH	UK2 silver (17 weeks)UK	US15 (15 weeks) US
	Help Yourself Help Yourself	DE1 gold (11 weeks)DE	AT3 (24 weeks) AT	CH3 (13 weeks) CH	UK5 (26 weeks) UK	US35 (8 weeks) US
	A Minute of Your Time single track	DE9 (5 weeks) DE	AT8 (8 weeks) AT	CH9 (1 week) CH	UK14 (15 weeks) UK	US48 (10 weeks) US
1969	Love Me Tonight single track	DE11 (5 weeks) DE	AT16 (4 weeks) AT	-	UK9 (12 weeks) UK	US13 (11 weeks) US
	Without Love (There Is Nothing) Tom	-	AT29 (4 weeks) AT	-	UK10 (12 weeks) UK	US5 gold (11 weeks)US
1970	Daughter of Darkness I Who Have Nothing	DE15 (5 weeks) DE	AT15 (8 weeks) AT	-	UK5 (15 weeks) UK	US13 (9 weeks) US
	I Who Have Nothing I Who Have Nothing	-	-	-	UK16 (11 weeks) UK	US14 (8 weeks) US
	Can't Stop Loving You Tom	-	-	-	-	US25 (8 weeks) US
	She's a Lady She’s a Lady	DE7 (17 weeks) DE	AT12 (4 weeks) AT	-	UK13 (10 weeks) UK	US2 gold (14 weeks)US
1971	Puppet Man She’s a Lady	DE36 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	UK49 (2 weeks) UK	US26 (10 weeks) US
	Resurrection Shuffle She’s a Lady	-	-	-[UK: ↑][US: ↑]
	Till single track	DE40 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	UK2 (15 weeks) UK	US41 (7 weeks) US
1972	The Young New Mexican Puppeteer Close Up	DE35 (3 weeks) DE	-	-	UK6 (12 weeks) UK	US80 (7 weeks) US
1973	Letter to Lucille The Body and Soul of Tom Jones	DE49 (1 week) DE	-	-	UK31 (8 weeks) UK	US60 (8 weeks) US
	Today I Started Loving You Again The Body and Soul of Tom Jones	-	-	-	-	-
1974	Something 'Bout You Baby I Like single track	-	-	-	UK36 (5 weeks) UK	-
1977	Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow	-	-	-	UK40 (3 weeks) UK	US15 (16 weeks) US
1987	A Boy from Nowhere single track	-	-	-	UK2 silver (14 weeks)UK	-
	It's Not Unusual 1987 single track	-	-	-	UK17 (8 weeks) UK	-
1988	I Was Born to Be Me single track	-	-	-	UK61 (5 weeks) UK	-
	Kiss at this moment	DE16 (18 weeks) DE	AT4 (14 weeks) AT	CH11 (10 weeks) CH	UK5 (7 weeks) UK	US31 (11 weeks) US	The Art of Noise feat. Tom Jones
1989	Move Closer At This Moment	-	-	-	UK49 (3 weeks) UK	-
1991	Couldn't Say Goodbye Carrying a Torch	-	-	-	UK51 (2 weeks) UK	-
	Carrying a Torch Carrying a Torch	-	-	-	UK57 (3 weeks) UK	-
1992	Delilah 1992 The Complete Tom Jones	-	-	-	UK68 (2 weeks) UK	-
1993	All You Need Is Love single track	-	-	-	UK19 (4 weeks) UK	-
1994	If I Only Knew The Lead and How to Swing It	DE82 (8 weeks) DE	AT30 (1 week) AT	-	UK11 (12 weeks) UK	-
1995	I Wanna Get Back with You The Lead and How to Swing It	-	-	-	UK94 (1 week) UK	-	feat. Tori Amos
1999	Burning Down the House Reload	DE27 (14 weeks) DE	AT21 (7 weeks) AT	CH31 (16 weeks) CH	UK7 (7 weeks) UK	-	with cardigans
	Baby, it's cold outside reload	-	-	-	UK17 (8 weeks) UK	-	with Cerys Matthews
	Sex bomb reload	DE3 gold (17 weeks)DE	AT3 gold (14 weeks)AT	CH1 gold (32 weeks)CH	UK3 silver (10 weeks)UK	-	with mousse T.
2000	Mama Told Me Not to Come Reload	DE73 (8 weeks) DE	-	CH51 (11 weeks) CH	UK4th silver (8 weeks)UK	-	with the stereophonics
	You Need Love Like I Do Reload	DE100 (1 week) DE	-	CH56 (8 weeks) CH	UK24 (3 weeks) UK	-	with Heather Small
2002	Tom Jones International Mr. Jones	-	AT47 (6 weeks) AT	CH30 (18 weeks) CH	UK31 (2 weeks) UK	-
2003	Black Betty / I Who Have Nothing Mr. Jones	DE49 (6 weeks) DE	-	CH14 (12 weeks) CH	UK50 (2 weeks) UK	-
2004	It'll Be Me Tom Jones & Jools Holland	-	-	-	UK84 (1 week) UK	-	with Jools Holland
	She's a Lady single track	-	-	CH96 (1 week) CH	-	-	vs. Funkstar De Luxe feat. DJ The Wave
2006	Stoned in Love single track	-	-	-	UK7 (17 weeks) UK	-	Chicane feat. Tom Jones
2008	If He Should Ever Leave You 24 Hours	-	-	-	-	-
2009	Give a Little Love single track	-	-	-	-	-
	(Barry) Islands in the Stream single track	-	-	-	UK1 (5 weeks) UK	-	with Vanessa Jenkins , Bryn West and Robin Gibb

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Awards for music sales

Silver record  United Kingdom 1995: for the album Collection Golden record  Australia 1999: for the single Burning Down the House  Belgium 2000: for the single Sex Bomb 2000: for the album Reload  Finland 1971: for the album Tom Jones Live in Las Vegas 1995: for the album The Lead and How to Swing It  France 2000: for the single Sex Bomb 2000: for the album Reload  Canada 1977: for the album Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow 1987: for the album The Golden Hits of Tom Jones 2000: for the album Reload 2002: for the album This Is Tom Jones  New Zealand 1985: for the album Tom Jones Sings the Favorites 2003: for the album Greatest Hits  Sweden 1999: for the single Burning Down the House 2000: for the single Sex Bomb

Platinum record  Europe 1999: for the album Reload  Canada 1976: for the album Tenth Anniversary Album  New Zealand 1999: for the album Reload  Netherlands 2000: for the album Reload  Sweden 2000: for the album Reload 2 × platinum record  Australia 2000: for the album Reload  Canada 1978: for the album Tom Jones Live in Las Vegas

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Australia (ARIA)	-	gold1	2 × platinum2	175,000	aria.com.au
Belgium (BEA)	-	2 × gold2	-	50,000	ultratop.be
Germany (BVMI)	-	3 × gold3	platinum1	1,750,000	musikindustrie.de , individual records
Europe (IFPI)	-	-	platinum1	(1,000,000)	ifpi.org ( Memento from October 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
Finland (IFPI)	-	2 × gold2	-	40,500	ifpi.fi
France (SNEP)	-	2 × gold2	-	350,000	infodisc.fr snepmusique.com
Canada (MC)	-	4 × gold4th	3 × platinum3	500,000	musiccanada.com
New Zealand (RMNZ)	-	2 × gold2	platinum1	30,000	nztop40.co.nz
Netherlands (NVPI)	-	-	platinum1	80,000	nvpi.nl
Austria (IFPI)	-	gold1	platinum1	75,000	ifpi.at
Sweden (IFPI)	-	2 × gold2	platinum1	110,000	sverigetopplistan.se
Switzerland (IFPI)	-	gold1	platinum1	75,000	hitparade.ch
United States (RIAA)	-	13 × gold13	-	8,000,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	8 × silver8th	9 × gold9	5 × platinum5	3,630,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	8 × silver8th	42 × gold42	17 × platinum17th

Filmography (selection)

• 1972: A Bridge Across the Pond ( The Special London Bridge Special , Movie made for TV)
• 1979: Pleasure Cove (TV movie)
• 1984: Fantasy Island (TV series, episode 07x19)
• 1992: The Prince of Bel-Air (season 3, episode 18)
• 1996: Mars Attacks!
• 1999: Women among themselves (Agnes Browne)
• 2000: A Kingdom for a Lama ( The Emperor's New Groove , voice)

literature

• Tom Jones: Over the Top and Back: The Autobiography. Heyne Verlag, 2016, ISBN 978-3-453-20112-5 .
• Lucy Ellis, Bryony Sutherland: Tom Jones, the tiger from Wales (English Tom Jones close up ). Hannibal Verlag, 2000, ISBN 3-85445-183-0 .

swell

1. ↑ Tom Jones' wife Lady Melinda Rose Woodward dies , The Guardian, April 11, 2016
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
3. ↑ ^{a b c} The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
4. ^ ^{A b} Günter Ehnert: Hit balance sheet - German chart singles 1956-1980 . 1st edition. Verlag popular music-literature, Norderstedt 2000, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 , p. 444 .
5. ↑ Jenkins / West / Jones / Gibb: "Islands in the Stream" in the Official UK Charts (English)

Web links

Commons : Tom Jones  - Collection of Images

• Official Tom Jones website
• Tom Jones at the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Literature by and about Tom Jones in the catalog of the German National Library
• Tom Jones at laut.de
• Extensive BBC interview with Tom Jones in writing and sound