Much-awaited concert

The forthcoming concert of Tom Jones on April 2 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum has stirred a lot of excitement and enthusiasm among music enthusiasts.

Tom’s musical career continues to flourish and remain relevant, his popularity consistently sustained by the strong appeal of his powerful, captivating voice to countless fans of diverse classes and ages, including today’s generation of millennials.

Few musical artists have enjoyed a more successful and enduring career spanning more than 50 years despite the emergence of new and younger singers with new sounds and styles.

At 75, Tom still oozes with amazing appeal and charm as he thrills and entertains with his songs in his strong and perfect-pitch voice that can effortlessly shift from baritone to tenor.

?After making an auspicious recording debut in 1964 with the single, It’s Not Unusual, which later became a huge international hit, Tom took the music world by storm with other best-selling songs like What’s New Pussycat, Help Yourself and I’ll Never Fall In Love Again — which made him one of the most popular recording artists of the time.

?He rose to greater heights after winning a succession of gold and platinum singles: Delilah, Help Yourself, Love Me Tonight and I’ll Never Fall In Love Again in 1968 and Funny Familiar Forgotten Feelings and the LPs Tom Jones Live, Tom Jones In Las Vegas and This is Tom Jones the following year. For most of the year, several of the LPs landed on the Top 10 charts in both Europe and United States.

His 1999 recording, Reload, was acclaimed as his most successful project since those of his early career and was certified by Music Week at the end of 2000 as No. 8 in Top Albums, while Sexbomb was ranked as No. 3 in Top Singles year-end sales charts for the whole of Europe.

In 2005, Tom celebrated his 65th birthday and 40th year in show business with a 25,000-strong crowd at an emotional homecoming concert at Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd, Wales.

? In 2006, he was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen and conferred the title Sir Thomas Woodward during a knighthood ceremony on March 29 at Buckingham Palace. Upon the invitation of Princes William and Harry, Sir Tom also performed at the 2007 Center for Diana at Wembley Stadium.

?Tom’s 2008 recording, 24 Hours — his first album in the US in 15 years that was written by himself — won critical and popular acceptance, for which he was presented with the Hitmaker Award by the (US) Songwriter Hall of Fame in New York.

? The next few years were marked by more accomplishments in Tom’s portfolio, the latest of which was the release in 2015 of a new album, Long Lost Suitcase, which followed his previous albums, Spirit in the Room (2012) and Praise and Blame (2010), the latter considered as the singer’s finest work to-date.

?The track titles of Long Lost Suitcase are meshed into the chapters of his autobiography, Over The Top And Back, which was released at the same time in 2015. 

?(Tom Jones Live In Manila is presented by Live Nation and Ovation Productions. It is supported by The Philippine STAR, Manila Bulletin and BusinessWorld. Tickets are priced at P8,185, P6,075, P5,020, P2,960, P1,750 and P930 and are available through Ticketnet.com.)