Global Success
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Umarried as soon as Linda was 16 (and eight months’ pregnant), welcoming son Mark soon after.
As a huge fan of Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, teenage Tomm started singing in pubs and clubs, and a performance of BlueSuedeShoes got him noticed by the press. He joinedd a band called The Senators andd changed his name to Tommy Scott. By now he was making his living as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman.
Discovered at the age of 24 by songwriter Gordon Mills, Tom packed a case, said goodbye to his wife and headed to London. And inspired by the film starring Albert Finney, his manager suggested a new name…
Tom Jones. nbelievably, It’s Not Unusual wasn’t written with Tom in mind. It was first offered to – and turned down by – Sandie Shaw. On its release in 1965 it went straight to number one in the UK charts. A string of other ’60s hits including What’sNewPussycat?,Green, GreenGrassOfHome and Delilah gave Tom early success but they wwere followed by hit-and-miss chart positions in the late 1970s and early ’80s. In 1969, when he performed at the Copacabana, in Times Square, a wwoman threw her underwear at him, starting a new tradiition! He says, “I think I was a sex symbol as soon ass I started singing.” When Gordon died in 1986, TTom’s 30-year-old son, Mark, became his manager. MMark is often credited with the resurgence in his ddad’s career and for transforming him into the eepitome of cool he is today.