Sir Tom Jones Honored

Sir Thomas John Woodward is better known by his stage name of Tom Jones. At the recently held 2010 Music Industry Awards held in London, Sir Tom Jones walked away with the Music Industry Trust Award for his contributions to the music industry. This talented artist has been entertaining audiences for almost forty-five years and is still looking into new directions for his music career. Receiving the Music Industry Trust Award is a great honor, and Sir Tom Jones is most certainly deserving of it.

Tom Jones was born in 1940. Due to his dyslexia, he focused mostly on his singing ability. He discovered his talent for singing early on, and would perform at weddings and sang in his school choir. Being struck down by tuberculosis kept Jones from working in the mines, which was the direction his brother went in, as their father was a miner. His career in music began in 1963, when Jones became the lead singer of a Welsh beat group named Tommy Scott and the Senators. But Jones still had dreams of making it on his own, so he recorded a few solo tracks with the assistance of Joe Meek in 1964. Meek not only helped Jones produce the tracks but tried his best to gain the interest of various record labels. In 1965 Tom Jones finally found success with the hit single It’s Not Unusual, and from there his success and fame grew. There were a number of quiet years for Jones, but he did manage to make a comeback with the album Reload which he released in 1999, consisting of duets done with artists such as Robbie Williams, Van Morrison, The Cardigans and others. The album sold more than four million copies.

In the audience of the 2010 Music Industry Awards, guests such as Rob Brydon and Sir George Martin were present to see Tim Burton hand over the Music Industry Trust Award to Sir Tom Jones. Chairman of the award comittee, David Munns, commented on Tom Jones and his selection for the award by saying: “Tom Jones is one of those rare beings, a timeless entertainer, a great guy who clearly loves what he does and whose talent appeals to successive generations.”