70s Artist Watch:Tom Jones

The legend that is Tom Jones, the Welsh global superstar, started life as just plain old Thomas Woodward in 1940, his prime time for hits was the swinging 60s with hits like “What’s New Pussycat”,”Delilah” and “Its Not Unusual”, which you hear still in almost every karaoke bar in the world.

He met Elvis, he met Sinatra, he is a regular at Las Vegas, and even in the 80s he was having big hits, and even in 2010 he still makes albums and TV appearances..

But what about the 1970s?





Surprisingly it was a lean time, but still some great songs, including his first chart hit in 1970 with “Daughter Of Darkness” and “I (Who Have Nothing)”, originally a hit in 1963 by Ben E King, him of “Stand By Me” fame.

Here is “ I (Who Have Nothing)”.

He finished 1970 with “Cant Stop Loving You”

In 1971 the album “She’s A Lady” was released which provided more hits for Tom, including his cover of “Resurrection Shuffle” and “Puppet Man”, but the hit we most remember is the title track itself “She’s A Lady”. Written by Paul Anka the man behind the song “My Way”

The bigger hit from the album was “Till”, sorry to say its not one I am familiar with, but for your listening pleasure, here is Tom Jones and “Till”

Tom Jones and "Till" the Lyrics.

At the start of the article we said it was a lean time, however the hits were coming every year through the 1970s, but in 1972 he only had one chart hit with “The Young New Mexican Puppeteer” the song about a political puppeteer even has the Disney tune Pinocchio in it, big hit in UK and a very minor hit in the US.

1973 saw Tom release five singles, all were very poor hits, or not hits at all. “Letter to Lucille” was the biggest hit with being 31 in UK and 60 in US, so 1974 showed more promise, well not really, only one chart hit that year with “Something bout you baby I like”, and 1975 to 1979,despite many several single releases, apart from a few places like Canada nothing charted.

Tom Jones had many UK and US TV shows shown through the 1970s, including “This is Tom Jones” for ATV in UK that ran from 1969 to 1971. He had more TV fame with another series in 1980 for the BBC, and launched several comeback singles in the 1980s and 90s.

Tom Jones official website

You cannot keep a good record down like Toms 60s classic “Delilah”, here is a 1970s hit from The Sensational Alex Harvey Band with their version. Enjoy.

Hear Tom Jones in interview