Tom Jones got his big break into the business when he went to the Copacabana club in New York, and sang My Yiddishe Momme. After the song a waiter brought him a note, inviting him to a hotel to hear a new song that would suit Tom’s voice perfectly. It was signed by Burt Bacharach.
It turned out Burt had a horrible singing voice, and after hearing him sing What’s New Pussycat? on a cassette, Tom hated the song, as Burt sang it so horribly, but he sang it with panache, and when he hit that big ‘woah-woah’ line, a star was born.
"That’s it,’ Burt shouted. ‘That’s the way I always imagined the song would sound.’
Four weeks later he recorded it with the cream of session men: Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones — who would soon form Led Zeppelin — and a youngster called Elton John, who was very nervous. After all, he was playing piano for Bacharach, who at that time was the world’s most successful pianist and composer.
https://iconicimages.net/news/iconic-spotlight-tom-jones-terry-oneill/
Mrs B and I went to see him about a year ago. What a sensational show. I was particularly impressed with his humility and honesty. Just a stand up guy. If you get the chance to see him, go.
ReplyDeleteGreat singer. He's at the end of a string of artists singing Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day':
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfddYDRIFGY
That story is unbelievable if it were anyone else, but for sir tom its just another average day in an extraordinary life lol
ReplyDeleteand I love that no one even blinks that I post stuff like that, which has nothing to do about cars, but I can pull off because I found a photo with Tom Jones on a go cart... giving me an excuse to post that true, but wow, story
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