A boy from nowhere

Coal miner's son found fame thanks to big voice | Singer's torment over illness of his wife Linda | Leaving fans' undies on stage revived reputation

- BY NICOLA METHVEN

HE grew up in South Wales in the 40s and 50s and his dad worked down the pit, but Tom Jones was destined for the top of the charts not the bottom of the mine.

And as he reflects on his life for a new BBC documentary, the singer says he always knew he was lucky.

Sir Tom, 85, said: "I was born with a voice. I don't think you can create that.

"That's what gave me the confidence.

I was always confident as a child, because I could always sing" But even with that self-assurance, never in his wildest dreams did the working-class lad from Pontypridd think he would end up performing alongside the likes of Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Chuck Berry.

Interviewed for BBCI's In My Own Words, Sir Tom also talks about the death in 2016 of his wife of 59 years Linda, and how his son Mark, who became his manager in the 1980s, ordered him to stop picking up the underwear being thrown at him by fans.

Viewers will see footage of Sir Tom and Linda at their new home in Shepperton, Surrey, in the mid-60s where they had film stars for neighbours.

Sir Tom said: "My wife, myself and my son used to live with my mother-in-law in Wales, so this was very special, this place. I bought my first car as well, a red Jaguar 3.8." He adds that Linda was thrilled to have her own kitchen and a bathroom, rather than a tin bath nailed to the wall.

Sir Tom has told previously of sleeping with up to 250 groupies a year at the height LET TUCKER of his fame. One liaison ended with him fathering another child.