GOLDEN OLDIES
Marion Mcmullen looks at the chart-toppers for whom age is just a number
1 Sir Tom Jones, left, has become the oldest man to top the UK album chart with an album of new material at the age of 80 years and 10 months. New release, Surrounded By Time, is The Voice UK mentor’s 41st studio album and his fourth number one. The Welshborn singing star said: “I am thrilled beyond words.”
2 Sir Tom beats the record formerly held by singer songwriter Bob Dylan, inset, who topped the chart at the age of 79 last year with his album Rough And Rowdy Ways. It was the Nobel prize-winner’s 39th album and his ninth number one UK chart album. It was also his first collection of original material since 2012’s Tempest.
3 The late Dame Vera Lynn has the overall record for being the oldest album charttopper with greatest hits collection We’ll Meet Again – The Very Best Of Vera Lynn. The Forces’ Sweetheart who entertained troops with morale-boosting visits to the front line during the Second World War, was 92 when the album reached number one in 2009. The singer passed away last June, aged 103.
4 Fundraiser Captain Sir Tom Moore turned 100 just days after becoming the oldest artist to have a UK singles number one – making him the first centenarian to have a UK chart-topping single. His rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone was recorded with Michael Ball and the NHS Voices Of Care Choir.
5 Chelsea pensioner Colin Thackery was 90 when he won Britain’s Got Talent in 2019. His album, Love Changes Everything, peaked at number 17 in the UK album charts. He gave his winnings to the Royal Hospital Chelsea to pay for a new activities centre.
6 Sir Rod Stewart was 74 years and 11 months old when You’re In My Heart – an orchestral re-imagining of his greatest hits with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra scored his 10th number one album in 2019 – beating Robbie Williams and The Who to the top slot. Rod said: “Thank you once again to my legions of fans who I will never take for granted.”
7 Paul Simon was 74 years and eight months when he hit number one in the UK album charts with Stranger To Stranger in 2016. Two years later he retired from touring and his last European show for the Homeward Bound – Farewell Tour was held at the British Summer Time festival in London’s Hyde Park in 2018.
8 AMERICAN singing legend Tony Bennett was 88 when he recorded the album Cheek To Cheek with Lady Gaga in 2014. He has also won 19 Grammys, the most recent of which came in 2018 when he was 91 years of age. His first was in 1962 for record of the year and best solo vocal performance for I Left My Heart In San Francisco.
9 Harmonica player Larry Adler, below, was 80 when he recorded a duet of The Man I Love with Kate Bush in 1994 for The Glory Of Gershwin album. Beatles producer George Martin produced the album and the track was released as a single. On The B-side was a version of Rhapsody In Blue by Adler and Martin.
10 The Rolling Stones, with a combined age of 306, reached number one in the UK album charts last September with a reissue of their album Goat’s Head Soup – five decades after the album originally topped the UK charts in 1973. It also made them the first band to score a number one album across six different decades.