Tom Jones

Over a career spanning more than 50 years, pop crooner Tom Jones has always known one thing: how to excite an audience. Born Thomas John Woodward in Wales, in 1940, Jones launched his professional singing career in 1963 as the frontman for beat group Tommy Scott & The Senators. Within a couple of years, his stage name became Tom Jones and songs like the swinging “It’s Not Unusual” and “What’s New Pussycat?” established him as one of the era’s most thrilling voices. Along with his magnetic stage presence, it’s that dynamic baritone that became Jones’ moneymaker and cemented his legacy as a sex symbol. It’s served him well through countrypolitan (1966’s “Green Green Grass of Home”), orchestral rock (1971’s “She’s a Lady”), punchy dance pop (the 1988 collab with Art of Noise on a cover of Prince’s “Kiss”), and swaggering R&B (1999’s “Sexbomb”), and it has driven his infamous and heated live performances over many decades.