Tom Jones

Originally paying his dues as the black leather-clad front man with Tommy Scott and the Senators playing in Welsh working men's clubs, Tom Jones rocketed to fame as the hip-thrusting raucous singer who topped the charts in 1965 with the impossibly catchy pop/rocker It's Not Unusual. Not only did his distinctive vocal style survive the Beatles-inspired era of teenage rebellion, he cemented his popularity with further smashes like the dramatic Delilah, the theme to movie What's New Pussycat? and the huge power ballad Green Green Grass Of Home. Spending most of the 1970s being swooned over by middle-aged women performing cabaret in Las Vegas, he unexpectedly re-engaged with contemporary audiences via an inspired modernistic cover of Prince's Kiss with The Art Of Noise. Managing to retain his reputation as a sex god in his advancing years, he continued to retain modern relevance through collaborations with younger artists as diverse as Cerys Matthews, Wyclef Jean, Stereophonics and Robbie Williams.