{"id":1011860,"date":"2026-06-07T20:46:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T20:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1011860\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T20:46:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T20:46:20","slug":"born-in-wales-on-this-day-in-1940-the-genre-hopping-husky-voiced-hitmaker-who-turned-a-country-ballad-into-a-global-sensation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1011860\/","title":{"rendered":"Born in Wales on This Day in 1940, the Genre-Hopping, Husky-Voiced Hitmaker Who Turned a Country Ballad Into a Global Sensation"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1965, Tom Jones\u2019 massive number-one hit \u201cIt\u2019s Not Unusual\u201d<\/a> kick-started an immensely successful six-decade career. In fact, the Welsh legend is still going strong as he celebrates his 86th birthday today (June 7).<\/p>\n

How Tom Jones Got His Name<\/p>\n

Born Thomas John Woodward on June 7, 1940, in Treforest, Wales, he got his start performing at family gatherings, weddings, and in his school choir. Never much for sports or schoolwork, singing boosted his confidence.<\/p>\n

In 1963, he began performing as Tommy Scott with Welsh band the Senators. The \u201cbeat group\u201d gained a following around South Wales, but had little success with record labels.<\/p>\n

At some point, Woodward met music industry titan Gordon Mills, who became his manager and directed him to assume the stage name Tom Jones in order to bank off the popularity of the 1963 Academy Award-winning film of the same name.<\/p>\n

Mills helped Jones land a contract with Decca Records. While his first single did not chart, the follow-up, \u201cIt\u2019s Not Unusual\u201d, became an international success.<\/p>\n

A string of hits followed<\/a>, including \u201cOnce Upon a Time\u201d and \u201cWith These Hands,\u201d as well as the theme songs \u201cWhat\u2019s New Pussycat?\u201d for the\u00a0Woody Allen\u00a0movie (1965) of the same name and \u201cThunderball\u201d for the\u00a0James Bond\u00a0movie (1965) of the same name.\u00a0In 1966, Jones won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.<\/p>\n

By the mid-1960s, Jones\u2019 popularity was waning, prompting Mills to rebrand him<\/a> as a more stately, tuxedoed crooner. The career pivot brought a broader appeal with songs like \u201cGreen, Green Grass of Home\u201d, made popular by country icon Porter Wagoner.<\/p>\n

Mills\u2019 strategy worked, as Jones returned to the top of the charts in the United Kingdom and began cracking the U.S. Top 40. At the end of the decade, he moved to the U.S., hosting the popular TV variety show This Is Tom Jones. A few years later, his 1977 hit \u201cSay You\u2019ll Stay Until Tomorrow\u201d topped the country music charts and became a global sensation. <\/p>\n

Still Going Strong<\/p>\n

Tom Jones\u2019 popularity has risen and fallen across six decades, but he\u2019s still here. And he doesn\u2019t plan on going anywhere for another decade at least.<\/a><\/p>\n

[RELATED: What Was the Last U.S. Top-40 Hit by Tom Jones?]<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople used to ask me when I was young, how long would I like to sing to? And I said, \u2018Until I\u2019m 97\u2019,\u201d Jones said in a 2021 interview. \u201cI want to sing as long as I possibly can because I don\u2019t have that much fun doing anything else. When I\u2019m on stage and I\u2019ve had a wonderful night, I come off and I feel sorry for people who can\u2019t experience what I\u2019ve just experienced. You\u2019re on stage, putting your life on the line and then people say, \u2018Yes! We get it!\u2019, and you think, what can be better than this? And I still feel the same way now as I did then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Featured image by STARLITE\/Redferns<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1965, Tom Jones\u2019 massive number-one hit \u201cIt\u2019s Not Unusual\u201d kick-started an immensely successful six-decade career. In fact,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1011861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5010],"tags":[120975,748,41751,4884,38130,16,15,1764],"class_list":["post-1011860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wales","tag-1940s","tag-britain","tag-country-music","tag-great-britain","tag-tom-jones","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116710787515666221","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1011860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1011861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1011860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1011860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1011860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}