Chart entered : 11 February 1965
Chart peak : 1
Number of hits : 43
Next up we have the indestructible Welsh icon and another chart-topper. Tom's famously had a bit of work to maintain his appearance and that goes for someone else who'll be popping up in 1965 too.
The facts about Tom's early career are pretty well known. His real name's Thomas Woodward, his father was a miner from Pontypridd and he got married at 16 when his girlfriend became pregnant. While holding down manual jobs he worked the clubs as lead singer of a beat group Tommy Scott and the Senators. They did some demos for fellow Taff Joe Meek in 1964 but no labels bit ( it's not known whether Joe got his hands on the Jones trouser snake; I guess Tom's never going to say ). Soon afterwards he was spotted by another Welshman Gordon Mills who took him to London, changed his name and got him a contract at Decca.
Tom's first single , performed energetically on The Beat Room was "Chills And Fever "in August 1964, a cover of Ronnie Dove's R & B song which had already been tackled by Jet Harris in the UK. Meek had actually sold a group version to an American label but it wasn't a hit. Tom attacks the song with predictable gusto - you know who it is from the first few seconds - and there's a suitably wild guitar solo but there's something missing, a decent tune perhaps or lack of the real menace in the vocal that a Burdon or Morrison would have brought to the song. Despite his genuine affection for this music I don't think Tom really feels it in the same way as those guys; he's a great pop singer not a soul man.
The Popular account is here : Tom Jones
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