Tom Jones: Close Up - Hardcover

'Even his biggest fans may be surprised by revelations...a candid biography...does not draw a veil over Jones' unreconstructed chauvinism...knicker-throwers everywhere will be delighted.' Daily Express

Why is our book better than any other Tom Jones biography?
What you probably want to know, having unearthed a whole series of Tom Jones books, is why our biography, Tom Jones - Close Up is better than the rest! Well, we cannot claim to be more experienced journalists than our competition, nor can we say that we were personally ‘allowed’ to speak to The Voice himself. However, we are previously published and fully qualified music writers and let’s face it, at the end of the day the man is a musician, possessing one of the most astounding voices the last century (and this!) has ever heard. We are also the first women to write a book on Tom Jones and are therefore able to offer a unique and relatively youthful female perspective on a man whose values are strictly planted within the macho roots of his upbringing.

Firstly we decided to concentrate on his fantastic contribution to pop music over the last 35 years, and in doing so we spoke to multiple musicians including members of his former backing band, The Squires, musicians who have toured and recorded with him for several decades, right up to his recent, spectacularly successful collaboration album, Reload, for which we interviewed Robbie Williams and Tommy Scott from Space. We also spoke to respected record producers such as Trevor Horn, Anne Dudley and Peter Sullivan, notable disc jockey Jimmy Savile, It’s Not Unusual and Delilah composer Les Reed.

But Tom is not just a singer, he is an actor / TV presenter in his own right, with three hit TV series behind him and films boasting varying degrees of success. For Tom Jones - Close Up we spoke to Tom’s various co-stars, including actresses such as Jennifer O’Neill, directors, producers, screenwriters and pretty much the entire crew of This Is Tom Jones (Tom’s groundbreaking TV series 1969 - 1971).

Tom is also the world’s most famous ‘ladies man’, and yes, we do address his intriguing 40 year marriage to the reclusive Linda alongside his many reputed scandalous affairs. In some cases we have been able to actually disprove rumoured dalliances with various celebrities, but we have also included those ladies with whom Tom openly admits to having romantic liaisons, and unearthed a few surprises here and there...

In all we have interviewed around 75 people, including friends ranging from his childhood to the present day, numerous colleagues in all fields of his career, and family members. Many revealing and often hilarious anecdotes come from our exclusive interviews with Chris Hutchins, Tom’s former PR man who hadn’t spoken about his mind-blowing experiences with Tom for over 20 years. We followed in Tom’s footsteps, travelling from the tiny Welsh mining village of Pontypridd, through to his initial taste of fame in trendy Sixties London, England, and then on to his adopted home of star-struck Los Angeles and the glitzy gambling Mecca of Las Vegas. Tom Jones - Close Up is released in the UK on 1st May, 2000 in time to celebrate Tom’s 60th birthday in June...We hope you like the book!