Linda would’ve been ‘thrilled’ withVoice return –Tom
SIR Tom Jones’ late wife would have been thrilled with his return to The Voice UK as she was the most upset about his sudden departure from the show in 2015, the singer has said.
The music veteran had been a coach on the BBC programme since 2012 but was axed before the fifth series.
He is making a comeback in the new series when The Voice UK returns on ITV this weekend.
Sir Tom, 76, shared his sadness that his wife Lady Melinda Rose Woodward – who died suddenly of cancer in April last year – is missing his return.
He told the Radio Times: “When my wife heard I wasn’t doing it, she said, ‘So, you don’t want to do The Voice any more?’
“I said, ‘It’s not my decision’. She said, ‘You must be joking!’ God bless her, she passed away before I was asked to come back. She would like the fact that I’m doing the show now.”
The Welsh singer and his wife, known as Linda, were married for 59 years and had a son together, Mark.
The It’s Not Unusual hit-maker said he had an idea of how difficult Linda’s death would be, due to her suffering a “scare” six years previously, but that the shock of it left him thinking he would never sing again.
Sir Tom said: “My son said to me ‘you love to sing, singing is your life.’ And my doctor in LA said ‘if you stop singing you may as well just go in the corner and die because that’s what you do, so try and get back to it as soon as you can’.
“So we did, slowly but surely. I got together with some of my musicians and I realised I could sing. And then another thing I realised, it was giving me strength.”
He added: “When I would sing I could see her. I had said to her, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do’, and she said, ‘You’ve got to sing’. And I realised music would save my life.”
Sir Tom will be joined on the coaching panel for the sixth series of The Voice UK by returning coach Will.i.am and newcomers Jennifer Hudson and Gavin Rossdale.
Rossdale, best known for being married to No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani and for his days in 1990s rock band Bush, said he sees the singing talent show as his “only” chance to improve his public profile.
The Voice UK returns on Saturday at 8pm on ITV.