One of the musical greats that is still alive is Tom Jones. The singer has been entertaining crowds with hits like “It’s Not Unusual,” “She’s a Lady,” and “What’s New Pussycat?” for decades.
But after dedicating the song to his late wife of 59 years, Jones’ most recent performance has left audiences in tears.
The popular singing competition show The Voice in the UK has Tom Jones, who is now 83, as a mentor. However, Jones himself stole the show with a song on Saturday’s edition, not the competitors.
“This song is very important to me,” Jones introduced. “I try to pick songs that mean a lot to me. And this song is trying to tell you that people that you love, sometimes they need to be backed up. You need to give them strength and encouragement.”
He then gave a lovely performance of his song “I Won’t Crumble With You If You Fall” while sitting in his chair.
The song was written as a tribute to Jones’ wife, Melinda Trenchard, who passed away from cancer in 2016. The performance was so moving that it caused his colleagues judges to cry, but it was made much more melancholy when Jones revealed its inspiration.
“My wife, you know, she was dying of lung cancer, so I said, you know, I was always able to fix stuff, to do things if she needed me I was always there,” Jones explained.
‘”She said, ‘Don’t crumble with me, don’t fall now, you’ve done everything you can, you must carry on and do what you do.’ So I put the song, when I heard it, it was like it was written for this situation. It’s a lovely song.”
The other judges, Olly Murs, will.i.am, and Anne-Marie, are all clearly overcome with emotion. Even though Anne-Marie was in tears, she had to leave the set.
“I had to walk off, not because it was bad, [but] because it was so emotional,” she mentioned, “I think this is like a testament to him and why he has been able to stay around [for] so long because he feels every word he says and every song he releases he means it.”
Tom Jones and Melinda Trenchard met while they were young.
“I remember her playing marbles and I thought, ‘’My God, what great legs she’s got,’” Jones recalled meeting Melinda in a Radio 2 documentary.
“We started dancing together when we were 15. She would look great. She was the best-looking girl around there and we got together. It was magic.”
The high school sweethearts were only 16 when they got married and gave birth to a son. The following 59 years were spent as a married couple.
Even though it is an exceptionally lengthy time for a celebrity marriage, the relationship was anything but idyllic. Jones, a global sex icon at the height of his fame, was notorious for engaging in numerous extramarital romances and claimed to have once slept with 250 different women year.
The couple nevertheless had a contract, and Melinda remained loyal to him for a long time despite his infidelity.
“[The affairs were] never discussed, I was never put on the spot,” Jones said in an interview on The Jonathan Ross Show. “Linda is a wonderful person, and she would never put me on the spot. She loves being married to me, and I love being married to her.”
“I feel alive when [Tom] comes through the door, whatever the time of day or night is,” Melinda reportedly said of her husband in a rare interview.
There is no doubting that after nearly 60 years of marriage, they were a very significant part of one other’s life, despite the fact that their marriage evidently had its ups and downs.Melinda lost her battle with lung cancer in 2016 after a “short but fierce” fight. Jones, who is a widower today, was devastated and unsure about his ability to continue singing.
“When my wife passed away, I didn’t think I could sing,” Sir Tom explained. “When you’re emotional, you can’t sing, your voice closes up.
“There are certain songs I wouldn’t do. But you have to try and get things in the right perspective. Feeling emotional; use it to your advantage and put it into the song,” he added. “It took me a while. Took me a few months to try and see if I could sing. I got some of my musicians around and tried a few songs. But it was very emotional.”
Tom Jones is still going strong six years after the death of his wife, and it’s obvious that he channeled his heartache and grief into his music. However, he has experienced several health issues throughout the years.Due to a bacterial infection, the iconic singer had to postpone two concerts in 2018. While Jones was “extremely and sorry” that he couldn’t perform for a while, he was admitted to the hospital.
Jones is currently having difficulty walking and is awaiting surgery. According to the Express, he currently uses a walking stick due to a poor hip. He was obliged to make certain changes to his stage appearance during his most recent tour of the UK.
“I can do about four songs… and I can walk on [stage],” Sir Tom said and added:
“I have an inversion table in my dressing room, so you go upside down for a couple of minutes.
“You go on that, and you think, ‘This is great’ because you walk, and it hasn’t settled down yet.
“So, I can do like four songs like that, and then it starts to hurt.”
It is obvious from his performance on The Voice that he is talented and that he loved his late wife very much.
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