‘Linda wanted me to carry on, she wanted me to keep singing’
SIR Tom Jones has revealed the strength of the love he shared with the “wonderful” woman he was married to for 59 years has enabled him to carry on singing after she died of cancer.
Sir Tom opened up to singer and broadcaster Michael Ball on Radio 2 on Sunday about his beloved wife Melinda, known as Linda, who died in April after a short battle with the disease.
He revealed that Linda was “always with him, in his heart” and that despite once saying he would never be able to sing again if he lost her, he was now starting to perform and that it was “a great feeling to have her with me and think about her when I sing”.
He also paid tribute to his strong, wonderful wife whom he first met when they were children.
“She was a strong woman. She was always there. It was a wonderful, wonderful feeling to have known someone like that all my life.
He was prompted to carry on singing because he said: “Well, it’s what I do. I’m a singer and I love to sing.
“But you have to be strong,” he added. “Linda wanted me to carry on, she wanted me to keep singing, not to stop. She said you should not stop.
The Delilah singer said after the death of Linda he had sang in rehears- ‘ to see if I was strong enough’ and realised that their love would see him through. “If I could use the love that Linda and I had together, if I could use that as a strength, her memory would give me strength, I hoped, and it does. I’ve tried it, I’ve tried singing and she’s there. “So it’s not a bad feeling – it’s a great feeling to have her with me and think about her when I sing.” The Welsh singing legend admitted that it took a special kind of woman to be so understanding about the world of music and showbusiness and put it down to the fact that Linda was with him and supported him every step of the way throughout his singing career and was as thrilled with his success as he was.
“Because we grew up together she saw me singing in pubs and working men’s clubs in South Wales so she knew what I wanted to do, I wanted to become a professional singer.
“So when we got ‘It’s Not Unusual’ she was as thrilled about it as I was. It was a great feeling, I wasn’t only doing it for myself I was doing it for my wife and my son – for my whole family actually – but especially for my wife and son. “It was a great feeling and and she shared that feeling with me. She was thrilled to bits – what it brought with it – she knew that I was thrilled because I was finally a professional singer fulfilling a dream, and she was part of it. And she lived it with me and we used to understand one another so well. “I mean she’s still with me every day in my brain and in my heart, she’ll always be with me. We shared our life together.”
The Treforest singer also revealed that a Welsh mining community was ‘a wonderful place to grow up’ and he had so many relatives, he never felt alone. It was a special place, it still is, of course.
“But growing up there I felt it was like we had our own thing going on there, it was a magical thing and because my mother was one of six children and my father was one of six children and they all had children.
“So all my cousins, we all lived in Treforest and Pontypridd. So it was unbelievable, there were so many relatives in one small place. So I felt that. I never felt alone. “Not only family but everybody that lived in a coal mining community like that was great characters and I talk about them in the book, but it was a wonderful place to grow up.” His Welsh friends never showed a hint of jealousy at his singing success, he said. “The kids I went to school with, when I would sing in school, my close friends would say, ‘ Tommy you’ve got to go to London’. “So when I made it, when I had my first hit record I felt I was bringing everybody with me. “All the people that wanted me to be successful, when you become successful you bring them with you. “I couldn’t wait to go back to Pontypridd. “Any chance I got, when I bought my first car, I used to drive back to Ponty as soon as possible. It was fantastic. My friends all loved the fact that I had made it.” Sir Tom will be making his first public appearance since the death of his wife when he talks to Dylan Jones about his life and career at the Hay Festival on June 5.
Over the Top and Back, The Autobiography is out in paperback on June 2
‘She’s still with me every day in my brain and in my heart, she’ll always be with me...’ Tom Jones on his wife Linda