Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
From the sleepy Welsh town of Pontypridd to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, from selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door to sell-out Las Vegas shows, Tom Jones is Britain's best-loved singer-songwriter. Bestselling celebrity biographer Gwen Russell traces Tom's phenomenal journey from his earliest years and breakthrough hit "It's Not Unusual" to owning the nation's television screens in BBC hit show The Voice. Not only is his professional life fascinating reading--with collaborations including Cash, The Bee Gees, and Pavarotti, which read like a who's who of music history--but his personal life is an unbelievably juicy source of gossip, with Tom's multiple high-profile infidelities being detailed here. At his peak, this most colorful of stars claimed to be sleeping with over 250 women a year.
Synopsis
The owner of one of the most recognizable faces - not to mention voices - in the entertainment business, Sir Tom Jones is the definition of a national treasure. It has been over fifty years since Jones's breakthrough single 'It's Not Unusual' reached Number One in the UK, and it seems as if he has been a permanent fixture on our airwaves ever since. Songs like 'Delilah' and 'She's a Lady' are by now a part of the nation's cultural fabric - but this astounding success wasn't always assured for the legendary Welsh entertainer. Having already overcome a devastating bout of childhood tuberculosis, Tom Jones married his teenage girlfriend at the youthful age of sixteen. With a young family to support, it seemed far more likely that a career as a vacuum salesman was beckoning. However, Jones's voice was destined for greater things than sales patter, and with thirty-six Top Forty singles to his name, his enduring popularity is a testament to just how talented that voice is. His career hasn't always been plain-sailing though. Lengthy quiet periods without much professional success, combined with well-documented infidelities in his private life, has meant that Jones has known his fair share of tough times. In An Extraordinary Life, bestselling biographer Gwen Russell charts Jones's journey from young, unsigned local singer to one of Britain's best-loved entertainers. With his seventy-fifth birthday behind him, and forging a successful TV career thanks to his work heading The Voice, Jones's status as a living legend is guaranteed.