#tomjones #biography #documentary
Born Thomas John Woodward, Jones entered the world on June 7, 1940, in the industrial town of Pontypridd, Wales, the son of Thomas Woodward, a miner, and Freda Jones, a homemaker. From an early age Jones loved to sing at gatherings and in the school choir.
As a child in school, he struggled with dyslexia but enjoyed listening to music, including BBC radio, which featured American blues, r&b and rock—genres which later influenced his musical style. He was also diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age of 12 and was kept quarantined at home for an extensive period of time.
As a teen, Jones was more interested in booze and girls rather than his education, and quit school at age 16. To earn money he worked as a builder's laborer and a door-to-door vacuum salesman.
In 1963, Jones started to sing with the band Tommy Scott with the Senators. The crowds loved the group, but growth was limited due to their non-urban location.

This changed the next year, when London-based Gordon Mills discovered Jones, bringing him to London and becoming his manager.
With a new solo career, the artist changed his name to Tom Jones at the direction of Mills, who was inspired by the 1963 Albert Finney film. Decca Records signed Jones, but his first single, "Chills and Fever," didn't catch on. However, his second single, the groovy, carefree "It's Not Unusual," peaked at No. 1 on the British charts in 1965 and was an American top 10 hit.
With success came a U.S. appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Throughout the latter half of the 1960s, Jones had an array of hit singles, including "Once Upon a Time," "With These Hands," "Green, Green Grass of Home" (a number 1 hit in the U.K.), "Detroit City," "I'll Never Fall in Love," "I'm Coming Home," "Delilah" and "Help Yourself."

Jones also became part of the cultural landscape via his soundtrack work. Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote the theme song for the 1965 comedy "What's New Pussycat?", a track which Jones performed amidst five out-of-sync pianos. That same year, Jones was also heard singing "Thunderball," the top 40 title track of the James Bond film of the same name. The crooner later sang the theme song to the 1966 Warren Beatty comedy "Promise Her Anything." That same year he won a Grammy for Best New Artist.

Jones spent much of the 1970s setting up shop in Las Vegas, hanging out with Elvis Presley, touring and launching a record label, MAM Records, with his manager. Later in the decade he had modest success in America with the top 20 single "Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow," but his presence on the stateside charts was coming to an end.
In 1986, Mills passed away, and Jones's son, Mark, replaced him as the singer's manager. The next year Jones released the song "A Boy From Nowhere," which put him back on the British charts and reached no. 2 pop. From 1988 to 1991, Jones worked on various collaborative projects. He performed with the group Art of Noise to create a bombastic remake of Prince's hit song "Kiss," which was a U.K. top 5 hit with a video that won the MTV Breakthrough Award. Jones also partnered with singer Van Morrison to release the 1991 album Carrying a Torch.

Jones married his childhood love Melinda "Linda" Trenchard in 1957 at age 16, and together they had a son, Mark, born the same year. They remained together for nearly 60 years until Trenchard died from cancer in 2016.
In 1974 Jones moved his family to the United States due to resentment of Britain's high taxes. He bought Dean Martin's house in California's posh Bel-Air area.
Though he remained married to Trenchard, Jones was well known for his infidelities. During his career heyday he admitted to sleeping with more than 250 groupies a year. In 1987, he fathered a son through a four-day fling with model Katherine Berkery. Though for over 20 years Jones denied paternity, a DNA test in 2008 proved he was the boy's father.
For his musical accomplishments, Queen Elizabeth the Second bestowed upon Jones the honor of Order of the British Empire in 1999 and knighted him in 2006.