Читать книгу Tom Jones - An Extraordinary Life - Gwen Russell - Страница 4

The date was 9 February 1998, and the crowd was going wild. Robbie Williams, the man the Sun called the biggest pop phenomenon in Britain since The Beatles, had taken to the stage at the annual Brit awards, where he had the audience in the palm of his hand. The crowd, especially the girls, adored him, and as he launched into a rendition of ‘You Can Keep Your Hat On’, the screaming reached a crescendo. Suddenly the audience’s attention turned elsewhere. Another voice had started to sing, one of the most powerful voices to be heard in pop music over the last 40 years. It was that of Tom Jones.

Tom had, quite simply, done it again. Thirty-five years older than Robbie, he had quite effortlessly upstaged him by the sheer impact of his singing. Not that Robbie was going down without a fight, of course: he pushed his own singing to the limits, bound himself into contortions, and engaged with the audience as never before. It was a bravura performance – and one that was tempted out of him by Tom. And it is a testament to Tom’s charm and charisma that, after the Brits, the two men, far from acting as rivals, became firm friends.