Sir Tom Jones is reportedly releasing his 42nd studio album on Wednesday. The 80-year-old baritone, best known for hits such as “Sex Bomb,” “Delilah” and a noteworthy cover of the late Prince’s “Kiss,” has a plan. That is to perform long into his 90s. And nothing is stopping the legend who’s had both his COVID shots and described himself as “bulletproof,” while looking forward to performing live again.
With over 40 albums and 100 million record sales under his big-buckled belt, several music awards, and nine years as coach on The Voice UK, Sir Thomas John Woodward OBE, has had a storied career spanning 57 years.
A masterful “genre-bender” who has covered pop, rock, country, big band, dance and jazz, Jones is now offering Surrounded by Time, his first studio album since 2015. On a more somber note, it’s also his first work since the death of his wife and childhood sweetheart Linda, to whom he was married for 59 years. She succumbed to lung cancer in 2016, which he has repeatedly described as “the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to deal with in my life.”
In his latest collection of covers, he pays a moving tribute to Linda with his interpretation of “I Won’t Crumble,” first sung by Bernice Johnson Reagon, and which has been described as more emotional than the original, DW reported. Other covers of the 12 track album include Cat Stevens’ “Popstar” to Bob Dylan’s classic “One More Cup Of Coffee.”
Having described himself on The Graham Norton Show last year as “bulletproof” after receiving his two COVID vaccination shots, he’s now hoping to be back onstage by mid-July with a couple of open-air concerts in England — with an audience. “Thank God! Because what sense is there without people? The people want to hear me sing, and I want to sing for them,” he said.
