Tom Jones - the Life

by Sean Smith

  She began joining other underage girls to sneak into pubs where they could get served, providing they stayed at the back, away from the men-only bars. Perhaps because of that and her large bust, the boys would talk about her and she developed a bad reputation that was entirely unjustified.

  She knew nothing about Tom when they met. Treforest seemed a world away from Trallwn. She didn’t know he was a local singer and she had no idea he was married with a young son – information that he certainly didn’t volunteer. It would be a common theme, where Tom was concerned, that women he became involved with didn’t know his marital status. Gill told him she had just left school and was working as a shop assistant in the Star Supply Stores in Pontypridd, waiting for a better job to come up in the Aero Zip factory on the industrial estate.

  One thing struck Gill at that first encounter: Alan, who was a couple of years older than Tom, was much more handsome than his friend. Gill observes, ‘Alan was a very good-looking guy. He had black curly hair and was smartly turned out. He was looked-after smart, if you know what I mean. He was slighter than Tom, although Tom was slight, mind. Tom wasn’t particularly handsome, because he had this long jawline.’

  Alan may have been better looking, but it was Tom who had the charm. He had a bent, lopsided nose, crooked teeth and an elongated jaw, but he was easy to talk to. ‘He just had this lovely personality as far as I was concerned,’ recalls Gill, who readily agreed to meet up a day or two later by the railings on The Parade, the street below the curry house.

  ‘He told me when he wanted to meet me there, but he didn’t come. I just hung about for an hour and eventually he turned up. No matter when he made arrangements with me, it would be an hour or two later that he would turn up.’ Gill didn’t realise that he had responsibilities elsewhere.

  Nothing happened between them on The Parade other than a walk and a chat. They just seemed to like each other’s company. It was very relaxed and Tom suggested that she might like to hear him sing at a gig or perhaps take in a dance one evening soon; he would call her to let her know when.

  The next time she saw him, he was walking underneath the bridge by the railway station in Pontypridd, looking unrecognisable in a double-breasted navy blue pinstriped suit. Gill assumed he had paid a trip to the magistrates’ court nearby: ‘He might have been a naughty boy, but he was very smartly dressed.’ She didn’t quiz him about it. It wasn’t her business and she wasn’t a pushy sort of girl anyway. She admits, ‘I never had any confidence in myself.’

  Tom’s luck with the law had, in fact, run out when, desperately short of cash, he had broken into the old tobacconist’s shop in Treforest with a pal. They were hardly criminal masterminds. The stupid petty crime was unearthed when, by all accounts, they tried to sell their haul down the Wood Road. The police, hearing the rumours of some dodgy cigarettes for sale, put two and two together and found the goods hidden in Tom’s mother’s house.

  Even the dole office knew of his misdeed, noting in its records: ‘Applicant is on bail pending being heard for a charge of breaking and entering at the next quarter session.’ Tom has not denied this transgression and later admitted he had once been placed on probation.

  Tom started calling Gill to suggest when they might meet up. Neither of them had a phone. Tom would step out to his red phone box and she would be in hers outside the Central Hotel, just across from the top of East Street. Tom would dial the number – 2026 – and wait for someone to answer the ringing phone. It didn’t matter who it was, he would simply ask the person to pop over the road and tell Gill that he wanted to speak to her. She would dash for the phone, pleased to hear from him.

  Gill had the same routine if she was staying the night at a friend’s house. She would simply ring the phone box and ask whoever answered to go and tell her nan what she was doing, please, so she wouldn’t worry. She never knew the number of Tom’s phone box, presumably because he didn’t want to run the risk of his wife answering. Gill recalls, ‘I would have to wait for him to do things and I suppose I was patient enough to wait without even thinking about it.’

  She loved it when they went jiving at Judges in Porth or the Bucket of Blood in Rhydyfelin: ‘I was a good jiver and so was he.’ But, in the main, she would just be his girl when he went to a gig. Often she had no idea where they were, although Franchies in Taff Street was one she enjoyed. Neither of them had any money – Gill used to make a lot of her clothes – so it would be a trip on the bus to the gig, where she and sometimes other friends would cheer him on. Tom would usually be paid a couple of pounds and perhaps some beer. Afterwards, there was no hanging around. He needed to get home to his family, so they would catch the bus back to Pontypridd, get off in Merthyr Road and he would set off for Treforest, while she walked back to East Street. She recalls, ‘He would do the gig and then he would be gone. We never had any money. We never had anything at all.’

  Looking back with the privilege of hindsight, Gill believes Tom wanted company: ‘He needed someone when he went to these gigs – he needed someone in the audience there for him, someone whom he could focus on or relate to. He didn’t want to go on his own.’ He was clearly fond of her, however.

  On one evening she was due to accompany him to a gig in Caerphilly, eight miles away. Tom suggested she get the bus, which left from the Broadway, with him and his friend Gwyn Griffiths. The bus ran only once an hour, so Tom had to catch it or he would be late. Gill and Gwyn, whom she already knew, caught the bus as arranged, but, typically, there was no sign of Tom. As they travelled down the Broadway, they saw Tom running along, clutching his guitar and trying to catch them up. He banged on the side to attract the driver’s attention and Gill started shouting to him to stop the bus as well. Thankfully, he stopped and let Tom on board.

  She had dolled herself up for the occasion, wearing her long brown hair up and putting on a red dress that an aunt had brought over from Jamaica as a present. Gill will never forget that gig, because after his usual smattering of Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis, Tom turned towards her, midway through his next song, focused his gaze directly on her and sang, ‘See the girl with the red dress on …’ It was his power-packed version of ‘What’d I Say’, the song that took the legendary Ray Charles into the mainstream in 1959. Jerry Lee had made a rock ’n’ roll recording of the track at the famous Sun Studio in 1960. ‘I was elated,’ says Gill. ‘He was singing to me.’ It was lovely for Gill, but it also revealed that Tom hadn’t forgotten the advice of his Uncle George and was selling the song to his audience. It was a technique he continued to employ as a Las Vegas headliner.

  Gill thought there was more to the relationship than there was. Perhaps she was naive, but she acknowledges simply: ‘Yes, I thought he was my boyfriend.’ That changed when she saw him in Pontypridd with a young blond boy who was clearly his son and turned out to be Mark. ‘I didn’t have bad feelings towards him about it. I’m a “what will be, will be” sort of person. I think that a little bit of something is better than nothing. That’s the only way to explain why I went on seeing him.’

  Gill admits that she and Tom enjoyed plenty of ‘kisses and cuddles’, but she denies there was anything more. If they weren’t going to a gig or jiving, then they would simply stay and chat on a street corner or go for a walk in Trallwn or the nearby village of Ynysybwl. She strongly believes that the image of Tom as a rough and ready macho man is completely wrong. She explains: ‘I think people got the wrong impression of him. He wasn’t at all as he was portrayed. I never found him to be a forceful person. He never expected anything from me and he told me that, and it was very important to me. He said to me that whatever I wanted physically would be OK. He was never, ever nasty with me and treated me as an equal. He was a gentle person.’

  Everyone assumed that Gill was sleeping with Tom, because for nearly two years they were often seen together. They never went all the way, however. Eventually Gill found a proper boyfriend, whom she would marry. She still saw Tom occasionally. He would pop in to find out how
she was doing and make sure she was all right. They lost touch when Tom’s career began to move forward, although Alan Barratt would call round to catch up from time to time. When Gill had a son, Alan brought her a card from Tom on the boy’s first birthday that contained two crisp pound notes. By strange coincidence, in later life, she became the best friend of Marion Crewe, who was Dai Perry’s sister and was close to Tom, whom she adored. Gill remained on the fringes of Tom’s world and would say hello on the sad days he came home for funerals.

  Gill paints a contrasting picture of the young Tom Jones from those who have portrayed him as some sort of yob. The most likely explanation is that there were two sides to Tom, fashioned from his upbringing in this quiet part of South Wales. He would act the big man over a pint or two with his mates, swear like a navvy and was quite prepared to nut someone if they were threatening him. Facially, he looked much tougher than he actually was. He wasn’t a huge man by any means, being slim and fit and about 5ft 10in tall. But his badly misshapen nose and teeth meant he could look menacing without even trying. He liked dressing as a Teddy boy because he thought he looked ‘slick’, as he put it.

  The reality, at least as far as women were concerned, was entirely different. ‘I think he was quite shy underneath,’ says Gill. Her view of Tom is one endorsed by Linda: ‘He is the most mild-mannered man you could wish to meet – and so patient with everyone. He is kind and gentle.’

  The real man doesn’t sound like a love-them-and-leave-them stud. Inevitably, he changed when he became a superstar and had to live up to his image as a sex god. Women were willing and readily available to him then, but at this stage of his life that happened only occasionally. Looking back on her own experience with the man who would become Tom Jones, Gill reveals the moral dilemma of Tommy Woodward: how to reconcile becoming involved with other women while being happily married. She observes, ‘He loved his wife dearly.’

  6

  Senator Tom

  Vernon Hopkins hadn’t forgotten about Tommy Woodward; he just didn’t need him. He had seen Tom once or twice around the Pontypridd pubs, apparently flogging a dead horse, still in Teddy boy gear, the Hawk guitar around his neck, banging out the same Frankie Laine, Jerry Lee Lewis and Ray Charles numbers. Tom didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. Although he always believed it was his destiny to be a singer, he was stuck in a rut.

  Vernon, a young man filled with energy and a passion for music, changed that for him. He had a steady job as an apprentice compositor with the Pontypridd Observer, while playing with his group, The Senators, who were gradually building a local following. They had even appeared on television.

  The band had started out as a three piece – just Vernon and two Rhydyfelin teenagers, Keith Davies and Jeff Maher, who lived next door to one another. By coincidence, the trio had their first gig at the Wood Road in Treforest. Keith, who was a devoted fan of The Shadows, played their famous hit ‘Apache’ and other Hank Marvin classics, but it was clear they needed a singer if they were going to progress.

  One of the club members told them his son could sing and would come on stage with them. Keith already knew Tommy Pitman from Rhydyfelin, but didn’t know he could sing. The Senators were happy to give him a try the next time they played at the club. It went well. Tommy jumped up, sang ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, ‘Jailhouse Rock’ and some other Elvis songs, with a dash of Buddy Holly for variety.

  Tommy had recently been demobbed after finishing his national service with the RAF in Cyprus. While there, he had joined a group that wanted an Elvis-style singer. They performed regularly on the island, on television as well as in live shows, so he was an accomplished performer by the time he sang at the Wood Road.

  Everything seemed set fair for the group. They added a drummer, Brian Price, and decided to call themselves The Senators after the model of Vernon’s Höfner guitar. They soon became much in demand, with some regular gigs, including the YMCA near the Old Bridge in Taff Street, Pontypridd, on Friday nights. They were also booked to appear on a new pop show called Discs A GoGo. This was hosted by the former Radio Luxembourg DJ Kent Walton, who would become much more famous as the commentator on professional wrestling every week on ITV’s World of Sport. They had to audition at the studios in Pontcanna, Cardiff. Tommy sang a Cliff Richard song – only to learn that for the show, a Christmas special, the producers wanted the band to perform ‘Jingle Bells’. ‘Well, that’s me out for a start,’ said Tommy. ‘I’m not going to sing “Jingle Bells”. I’m a rock ’n’ roll singer.’ So the rest of The Senators went ahead without him and performed it as an instrumental.

  The Senators were going places. The one problem for the band that Vernon couldn’t have foreseen was that Tommy Pitman was losing his enthusiasm. He was older than the others and didn’t relish playing for what was, in effect, a teenage jive club. He recalls, ‘I wasn’t mad on singing, to be honest. I got a bit fed up with the YMCA on Friday nights. There were no drinks or anything like that – just dancing. I used to go down with my mates and have a couple of beers in a nearby pub and then we’d start playing a few cards until I’d go, “I’m not going up to the Y tonight.”’ Friday night, he decided, was drinks night with the boys.

  The rest of the band coped the first time, but something had to be done when it happened again. They laboured through the first set, but Keith Davies observed, ‘I can only play “Apache” so many times.’

  Vernon said, ‘I know a fella who goes round the clubs. He’s called Tommy Woodward and he’ll probably be in the White Hart.’ So he set off down the High Street to try to find their substitute.

  Sure enough, Tom was with his friends, propping up the bar, when Vernon dashed in. He said Pitman hadn’t turned up and asked if Tom would like to earn a few bob by singing the second set. Vernon remembers Tom giving a little cough into his hand. He has the same mannerism today; it’s a sign that he’s nervous about something. He downed the rest of his pint. ‘OK, Vern, I’ll do it for a couple of quid.’

  Just when Vernon thought it was all settled, Tom remembered that the YMCA was a booze-free zone. He stopped in his tracks: ‘I’m out for a good drink, Vern. Out with the boys, like.’ Vernon, thinking quickly, said he would buy a crate of beers and smuggle them in just for Tom. That sealed the deal.

  They ran back to the Y as fast as they could go without exhausting Tom, who wouldn’t be able to sing if he was gasping for breath. It’s not easy to get up and start singing with a band you’ve never really met before, let alone rehearsed with. The Senators had also just gone through some changes: Jeff and Colin had left to start their own group and had been replaced by rhythm guitarist Mike Roberts, who was in television, and Alva Turner on drums.

  The legend of that first gig has it that Tom bounced on stage and was off. That’s not strictly true, because he was fretting about not knowing what the first number was going to be. ‘Christ,’ he said to Vernon, ‘we’ve never even practised together.’

  The familiar swagger was back, however, when he walked on and turned to Keith, who had no idea who he was, and said confidently, ‘Do you know “Great Balls of Fire” in C?’

  ‘No,’ came the reply, ‘but you sing it and we’ll play it.’

  With a voice so strong it made the walls tremble, Tom burst into ‘You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain …’

  The rather square and sober 200-strong audience had never seen anything like the menacing figure now before them. He looked as if he would jump off the stage and nut you if you didn’t applaud in the right place. They were too shocked to clap after the first number. Tom marched off to take a lusty swig of light ale from behind a curtain, before continuing in the same vein, standing defiantly in centre stage, legs braced as if he were pulling a cart. Gradually, however, freed from the restrictions of playing his guitar, he began to move about and engage with the audience, who responded by starting to dance. Tom found his rhythm, and Vernon recalls, ‘He was like a man possessed.’ He was helped in that regard by polishing off four light ales
while he performed.

  Tommy Pitman was a good singer, particularly effective with ballads, but Vernon realised that night that the other Tommy, Tom Woodward, was the future for the band. Keith Davies agreed, ‘He had a much stronger voice than Tommy Pitman. He was just more aggressive all over. They were just two different types of singer.’ Tom wasn’t concerned about that – he just wanted to grab his couple of pounds and make it back to the White Hart before they called last orders.

  Tom went round to Vernon’s house a few days later for a run-through and sang an old-fashioned Edwardian ballad called ‘Thora’ in his best gospel style. ‘I’m not having no bugger in this band who sings hymns,’ said young Keith, who would ultimately be persuaded by the obvious quality of Tom’s voice.

  Tom began rehearsing regularly with the band on a Wednesday at Vernon’s house in Glyndwr Avenue, Rhydyfelin. Five young men were crammed into the front room, with amplifiers on every chair, and a piano and drum kit wedged in as well. Vernon recalls fondly, ‘You wouldn’t believe the size of it. We rehearsed many of the numbers that he later made famous in that room.’

  Five became six the day that Tommy Pitman came down to find out if he was still in the band. Vernon was nervous about so many blokes in a confined space, worried that the two Tommys would come to blows as they competed to be The Senators’ vocalist. He even persuaded his sisters to lay on tea and sandwiches in an attempt to keep everything civilised. In the end, the two Toms behaved impeccably.

  Vernon knew he wanted to keep his new singer, but they put it to the vote. Keith supported Vernon’s view that Tom Woodward should stay. Tommy Pitman pointed out that he owned part of the equipment. The next suggestion was that they should have two vocalists. Tom wasn’t having that and told them, ‘It’s either me or Tommy.’