Sir Tom ‘blamed’ Elvis for singing style

Sir Tom Jones told Elvis Presley he was “partly to blame” for his dramatic singing style when the pair first met in Hollywood more than 40 years ago.

Sir Tom, known for his trademark powerful vocals, said Presley greeted him by singing one of the Welsh star’s early hits during their first meeting on a California film set.

He told Chris Evans on his Radio 2 breakfast show this morning: “I was at Paramount Studios talking about a song for a film, and they said Elvis is here and would like to meet you – I said my God, I didn’t know that he knew that I even existed because it was my first year.

“I went on set and he was there filming and then he stops for a minute and is walking towards me, and I had a ballad out at the time called With These Hands and there comes Elvis Presley singing With These Hands walking towards me, it was like a dream – and I thought my God, this is unbelievable.

“When he got to me he said ‘how the hell do you sing like that?’ and I said ‘Well you’re partly to blame’.”

The pair became friends and Sir Tom said he stayed in touch with Presley until two years before his death in 1977.