Tom Jones turns 80: Icon vows to keep singing ‘as long as there’s breath in my body’ as he celebrates his milestone birthday… with Jennifer Hudson and Olly Murs leading the celeb tributes
Sir Tom Jones, who boasts a successful music career spanning nearly 60 years, has turned 80.
Celebrating his milestone birthday on Sunday, the award-winning artist was met with gushing tributes from his The Voice UK co-judges Jennifer Hudson and Olly Murs.
The music icon recently touched on growing older as he vowed to keep singing ‘as long as there’s breath in my body’.
Happy birthday! Sir Tom Jones, who boasts a successful music career spanning nearly 60 years, has turned 80 (pictured in March)
In an interview with Cerys Matthews on BBC Radio 2, the She’s A Lady hitmaker declared: ‘The memories are tremendous and I don’t want to stop.
‘To reach 80 and to have such wonderful memories and to be still doing it and still making a point, or trying to – thank you to everybody that has been with me, the audience.
Expressing his gratitude for being able to maintain his stellar vocals, the media personality explained: ‘You can’t express yourself properly unless there’s people there to listen to you.
‘God has been good to me and my voice is still there. So as long as it’s there I wanna get up… singing live to people is the thing.’
There’s no stopping him! The music icon recently touched on growing older as he vowed to keep singing ‘as long as there’s breath in my body’ (pictured in 1967)
For nearly 60 years, Tom has been delighting audiences with stunning stage performances and hits such as It’s Not Unusual and Delilah.
The Welsh baritone, who once drew comparisons to Elvis, has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, reinventing himself for new audiences over the years.
The flowing shirts and tight leather pants of his early career gave way in the 1980s to black jeans and turtlenecks. The music icon has dabbled with other musical styles as well, including blues and gospel.
Tom was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2006 and for several seasons has been a mentor on the U.K. version of the singing show The Voice.