On This Day 24/07/1935 Les Reed

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On this day, 24 July 1935, English songwriter, arranger, musician and light-orchestra leader Les Reed was born in Woking, Surrey.

His worked featured heavily in the careers of many fine artists, most notable of which was Welsh singer Tom Jones.

During 1964, Reed penned "It's Not Unusual" with ex-Viscounts member and Tom Jones' manager Gordon Mills, which was Jones' debut recording and gave him a UK number 1. Reed also arranged the song and played the piano for the recording.

Around this time, Reed struck up a songwriting partnership with Barry Mason. They wrote a song for Kathy Kirby, "I'll Try Not To Cry", as Britain's entry in 1965 for the Eurovision Song Contest held in Naples.The song was beaten by "I Belong".

The songwriters had a 1967 hit in "Everybody Knows" by The Dave Clark Five—who also recorded a Reed–Mason follow-up—and another success in 1968 with "Delilah", again a Top 10 hit for Tom Jones. "Delilah" was originally written for P. J. Proby, and later covered by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band in 1975.

Reed and Mason also wrote "The Last Waltz", which became a million selling UK number one for Engelbert Humperdinck in September 1967.

Reed died 15 April 2019 (aged 83), at Petersfield, Hampshire.

On This Day 23/03/1968 Tom Jones v The Beatles. Amen Corner drop Rock ‘n’ Roll

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On this day, 23 March 1968, it was reported in the music press the battle for the number 1 spot between Tom Jones and The Beatles.

Tom’s “Delilah” was challenging Esther and Abi Ofarim for the top spot but The Beatles “Lady Madonna” released only last Friday leaped in at number three. The Beatles single has already passed the 250,000 mark in the UK and sold over a million in the USA.

Said Ringo this week : “It’s great news’” “Lady Madonna” is the song that Ringo admitted was “Almost a return to rock and roll”

He said: “It was loosely based on Humphrey Littleton’s jazz hit “Bad Penny Blues”.

Tom Jones, who opens today at the Flamingo in Las Vegas, has signed for a six and a half week season at Bournemouth’s Winter Garden. He will be backed by the Ted Heath Orchestra and the show will also star Roy Castle.

In October Tom undertakes a 17 day tour of South African cities and returns to start a major UK tour.

Also it was reported :

AMEN CORNER are to drop all rock-'n'-roll from their act so as not to be accused of jumping on the Rock Revival bandwagon.

Andy Fairweather-Low told the MM this week: “The group feels we wish to disassociate ourselves from the current trend.

“We were playing rock numbers in the act over 14 months ogo but we are now dropping them. We are going to take three days off to re-vamp the act and rehearse new numbers.”

Organist Blue Weaver and road manager Mike de Minter were taken to hospital when gale force winds turned the group's wagon over at Nay-hole,

Ayrshire, on Saturday afternoon, Blue hurt his hand and was unable to play. He hopes to return to the group today (Thursday).

On This Day 16/03/1968 Tom Jones

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On this day, 16 March 1968, it was reported in Britain’s premier music newspaper the Melody Maker, that Welsh singer Tom Jones’s career was set for the movies.

Under the headline Films Now Are The Only Thing Left For Tom Jones was the following report…..

Tom Jones, Britain’s roving ambassador of rhythm on song soars back over the Polar route to Los Angeles this week after spending a week at home.

He’s going back to the States to star in Las Vegas and appear in several major TV shows and discuss a role in a major Hollywood film.

Tom’s an international star now, but over a steak and chips meal at ATV Studios on Sunday, Tom said: “I could easily back in Wales singing in the pubs, if it hadn’t been for Gordon.” Gordon is Gordon Mills, his manager and friend. The man who “discovered” Tom in Pontypridd and devoted his energies into making him a star.

He’s succeeded in just three years. Tom had the talent but Gordon promoted it. “I couldn’t push myself” said Tom. “I was always waiting for someone to find me. If Gordon hadn’t I’d still be back there.”

Gordon devotes a tremendous amount of time. He sees him everyday when Tom’s in Britain, often accompanies him abroad and even does his worrying for him, leaving Tom free to devote everything to his performance.

“I’m not a worrier anyway” said Tom, “even back in Wales I never use to worry. If I missed the bus to work I just wouldn’t go. My wife would say, ‘we’ll be short this week.’ If we were we were, I couldn’t worry about it. I was alway late - I was always late for school, late for work, now I’m late for TV shows, that’s just me, that’s how I am.”

Tom’s carefree attitude is reaping rewards. He’s made it from rocker to international star in three years. And now his eyes are sighted immovably on films.

“I’ve done everything in Britain - hit records, cabaret, tours. Films are the only thing left for me.” Said Tom slicing into his canteen steak. We were talking during a break in rehearsals for the Eamonn Andrews Show.

Tom has, in fact, been offered countless film parts, but has rejected them for one reason or another. Ironically, one part that did attract him, he may not be able to do due to his April commitment at the London Palladium.

It’s a co-starring role in a new film starring Sean Connery, Richard Harris and Samantha Eggar titled the Molly Maguires, the story of friction between the Irish, Welsh and the the English in mining towns of Pennsylvania in the last century. The part offered to Tom was one of a rebellious… Irishman !.

“It’s a good meaty part, one I would have liked to do, but it looks doubtful because filming starts whilst I’m at the Palladium. If they could hold he film I would do it like shot .”

“There’s no music in it as far as I know, unless I do a song over the credits,” said Tom. He flies back to Los Angeles today (Thursday) and will have talks about the film. He’ll know then whether the timing can be rearranged - or whether he’ll have to drop out of the part.

Then - he opens at the Flamingo, in Las Vegas. He will do the same act that he did at New York’s Copacabana. “It’s 45 minutes of beat numbers and ballads, including his hit “Delilah” which as already hit the American charts in the eighties and seems poised for a top ten placing.

It’s a big event for Tom, who also has the added thrill of meeting Frank Sinatra while he’s in the States. And it’s also rumoured that Gordon and Tom may meet up with Elvis Presley and his manager Colonel Tom Parker.

The meeting with Sinatra was lined up whilst Tom was at the Copacabana. He spoke to Sinatra by phone and they meet up while Tom is in California. Is it business or just a social call ? “Well I think he’s interested in me as a singer. But he also has some business propositions to put to me, but I can’t say anything about that at the moment.”

On This Day 24/02/1968 Tom Jones/Frank Sinatra

On This day, 24 February 1968, it was reported that one of America’s biggest stars was showing interest in Welsh singing sensation Tom Jones.

In America last week it was reported that Tom had spent 30 minutes on the phone to Sinatra followed by a 10 minute conversation between Sinatra and Jones’s manager Gordon Mills.

Mills said on his return to the UK ; “Sinatra’s taking an interest in Tom’s career. He may even adopt the boy like he does with some artists.”

Mills denied however, that there would be any business tie-up between Sinatra and Jones. Sinatra has invited Millsa and Tom Jones to visit him in Los Angeles.

Jones said “ Sinatra sounded like a guy and a half and certainly didn’t sound like a man just out of serious injury. He asked me about my opening at the Copa and how people had received me.”

Jones’s new single ‘Delilah’ was being released this week.

On This Day 06/01/1968 Tom Jones/ South Africa

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On this day, 6 January 1968, the music press announced that Welsh singer Tom Jones was to perform in South Africa in front of segregated audiences.

Jones manager Gordon Mills said he had received a “tremendous offer” for Tom to tour South Africa for three weeks in early summer and had flown to Johannesburg on Boxing Day to discuss the offer.

If the tour scheduled to last 21 days is agreed, Tom Jones would have to play to segregated audiences as South Africa’s apartheid policy prevents white and coloured people from attending concerts in the same auditorium.

Asked whether he would sing under these conditions, Tom commented : “I’ll sing to white people, and I’ll sing to coloured people. The fact that they cannot be in the building at the same time is not my fault and no amount of preaching from me will change that, as some other singers have already proved.

“Everyone knows that I hate colour prejudice but would rather sing to them this way than not at all.”

Gordon Mills said : “Until I get to South Africa I don’t know fully what the situation is, but my first reaction is that Tom will obey the laws of the country in the exact same way as we would expect any foreigner coming here to obey our laws.”

If Tom, currently no 3 in the singles chart with “I’m Coming Home” makes the trip, it would be his first visit to South Africa.

The tour didn’t take place, largely due to Tom’s loathing of apartheid and the harm it would have done to his image at the time, though he did controversially perform in South Africa later, in 1976.

Jones was quick to point out that he would not have toured if his audiences weren’t mixed and that back home he avoided a British Musicians Union ban by showing press- clippings illustrating that his audiences were apparently multi-racial.

On This Day 16/12/1967 Tom Jones

ImaIges ma

On this day 16 December 1967, the Melody Maker reported on the dilemma faced by Welsh singing legend Tom Jones,

Tom Jones is a man with a problem. And the problem is, where do I go from here?

The singer with a million dollar plus payout next year - from big cabaret dates in New York and Las Vegas - has to go forward in his career or stagnate.

His "I'm Coming Home" is bouncing massive sales on the cash registers of Britain, but Tom said last weekend "I have to move on from being just a singer to something else. I don't want to have to concentrate on making hit singles in the future."

Tom's success on the treadmill of pop single success has been large and impressive, but it's not enough which is why 1968 will see Tom Jones launched on his first movie project- - as reported in last week's MM.

"In this business you;re either a singer making hits or in films. I have to move into films If I am going to expand as an artist. "I don't cater for screamers anymore. That's why I toured recently with a big band rather than a group.

"It was a polished show and the audience had to sit and listen. And they really enjoyed it.

"Before I did the tour. I was worried about whether working with the Ted Heath band was a wise move. It was.

"It was good music and I felt happy and relaxed and able to give a good show."

Tom rates being on the road with a fine big band as one of his b ig highlights of 1967, perhaps his most successful year ever.

The other highlight? "Doing the Royal Command Performance, which was great."

Tom's first film will be set in the Bahamas and feature him as a West Indies playboy who races hydroplanes. It's essentially an action role, which is how Tom sees his future in films.

"Anything I do will have to have a lot of action and let me move around a bit, and musn't rely too much on speech.

"Originally, we planned that I would sing just a title song over the credits but I think we will have to fit a song into the script somewhere. People will expect me to sing a song, so I suppose I'll have to do do one."

Branching into films means a lot to Tom Jones. Was he prepared for failure on the wide screen? "No, one of the things I musn't do is make a bad film. That's why I waited so long. I could have made a film at the time "It's Not Unusual" was a hit, but it would not have been right for me. This one cannot be bad. We've spent a long time preparing for it and making sure it'll be good,"

Tom has seen a lot of singers go into film - and live to regret the celluloid rubbish they have been saddled with. He is determined not to tread the path of Elvis Presley and turn out 90 minute musically nothings that will do him more harm than good.

It's another Christmas at home for Tom and family this year, but this time, his parents will be with him and not home in Wales.

The have recently moved into Tom's old house at Shepperton - a stone's throw from Tom.

"They'll be with me on Christmas Day," said Tom. "We'll be spending the day pretty quietly, I expect - just the feet up with a good dinner and lots of drinks and lots of records playing."

That just about sums up Tom's idea of relaxation: bed till noon or later, then hours of spinning records, both for entertainment and in the search for new material.

He is hoping that over the Christmas period he can come up with a song for his next single. "I still want to do an up-tempo number, but I can't seem to find a good one.

"If the tempo's right, the melody is usually weak. That's why I seem to record a good ballad than a bad up-tempo song just for the sake of it.

"I recorded a few things at the same time as I made "I'm Coming Home" but none of them were are suitable for a single. They are ballads with a Country and Western feel and I think I should avoid them for the time being."

The Jones boy - the singer with muscles in his voice - can look forward to 1968 with more glee than most of us. After all, with all his work abroad, devaluation is working for him and not against him. Oh, for problems like his.

On This Day 28/07/2001 Tom Jones

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On this day. 28 July 2001, Welsh Singing legend Tom Jones played Cardiff Castle to a sell-out crowd.

Jones had been enjoying somewhat of a resurgance with the release of his Reload album in September 1999, some of which featured in his Cardiff Castle set.

Reload became the highest seller of Jones' career, reaching number one on the British charts in 1999 and again in 2000. Its biggest single was the collaboration with Mousse T, "Sex Bomb", which reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, and was later used in a 2003 episode of The Simpsons (a show Jones had guest starred on in 1992). The album has sold more than four million copies worldwide.

In 2000, Jones garnered a number of honours for his work, including a BRIT Award for Best British Male.

Setlist

Ain't That a Lot of Love

(Homer Banks cover)

Hard to Handle

(Otis Redding cover)

Help Yourself

Never Tear Us Apart

(INXS cover)

I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone

.M<(Elvis Presley cover)

Burning Down the House

(Talking Heads cover)

Delilah

(Les Reed cover)

She's a Lady

(Paul Anka cover)

Without Love (There Is Nothing)

(Clyde McPhatter cover)

Sometimes We Cry

(Van Morrison cover)

Crapped Out Again

(Keb’ Mo’ cover)

Venus

(Shocking Blue cover)

If I Only Knew

You Need Love Like I Do

Mama Told Me Not to Come

(Randy Newman cover)

Give Me One Reason

(Tracy Chapman cover)

Am I Wrong

(Keb’ Mo’ cover)

A Boy From Nowhere

(Mike Leander cover)

I'll Never Fall in Love Again

(Lonnie Donegan cover)

Green, Green Grass of Home

(Johnny Darrell cover)

What's New Pussycat?

(Burt Bacharach cover)

You Can Leave Your Hat On

(Randy Newman cover)

Sex Bomb

It's Not Unusual

(Les Reed cover)

It's Your Thing

(The Isley Brothers cover)

Are You Gonna Go My Way

(Lenny Kravitz cover)

Kiss

(Prince cover)

On this day 28th July 2001 Tom Jones

Images may be subject to copyright

On this day. 28 July 2001, Welsh Singing legend Tom Jones played Cardiff Castle to a sell-out crowd.

Jones had been enjoying somewhat of a resurgance with the release of his Reload album in September 1999, some of which featured in his Cardiff Castle set.

Reload became the highest seller of Jones' career, reaching number one on the British charts in 1999 and again in 2000. Its biggest single was the collaboration with Mousse T, "Sex Bomb", which reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, and was later used in a 2003 episode of The Simpsons (a show Jones had guest starred on in 1992). The album has sold more than four million copies worldwide.

In 2000, Jones garnered a number of honours for his work, including a BRIT Award for Best British Male.

Setlist

Ain't That a Lot of Love

(Homer Banks cover)

Hard to Handle

(Otis Redding cover)

Help Yourself

Never Tear Us Apart

(INXS cover)

I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone

.M<(Elvis Presley cover)

Burning Down the House

(Talking Heads cover)

Delilah

(Les Reed cover)

She's a Lady

(Paul Anka cover)

Without Love (There Is Nothing)

(Clyde McPhatter cover)

Sometimes We Cry

(Van Morrison cover)

Crapped Out Again

(Keb’ Mo’ cover)

Venus

(Shocking Blue cover)

If I Only Knew

You Need Love Like I Do

Mama Told Me Not to Come

(Randy Newman cover)

Give Me One Reason

(Tracy Chapman cover)

Am I Wrong

(Keb’ Mo’ cover)

A Boy From Nowhere

(Mike Leander cover)

I'll Never Fall in Love Again

(Lonnie Donegan cover)

Green, Green Grass of Home

(Johnny Darrell cover)

What's New Pussycat?

(Burt Bacharach cover)

You Can Leave Your Hat On

(Randy Newman cover)

Sex Bomb

It's Not Unusual

(Les Reed cover)

It's Your Thing

(The Isley Brothers cover)

Are You Gonna Go My Way

(Lenny Kravitz cover)

Kiss

(Prince cover)