In this post AmeriCymu member and guest reviewer Margaret Lloyd Beckham reviews Aubrey Malone's 'Still Rockin' Tom Jones - A Biography' and talks to the author. The book is available from premier Welsh publisher 'Y Lolfa' and other titles by Aubrey are listed at the bottom of this post.

As soon as I heard about this book, I wanted it, NOW! Unfortunately, that wasnt possible. I had to order it from Wales. So, it was hurry up and WAIT! I didnt have to wait long. It was in my mailbox within a few days. I read at record speed (for me); I couldnt put it down. Admittedly, I am a devoted Tom Jones fan, so the subject matter was of great interest to me!

The best part was how beautifully written it was. Aubrey Malone is an excellent writer! I learned so many things I didnt know about Mr. Jones (as I like to call him). I learned that while Tom Jones is a strong man, he is a vulnerable one as well. Both are good qualities in my opinion.

Tom endured violence during his youth, forcing him to defend himself on many occasions. This added a somber quality to his personality. He has a lovely family; hes been married to his childhood sweetheart, Linda, for more than 50 years. This relationship has been a fraught with difficulties, but he and Linda have refused to allow fame, anyone, or anything to split up their family! How many of us could do as well under these same conditions? Hes endured scandals, rumors, personal loss, and the same problems we all face. Hes done it well, in most cases. We all have things wed rather not discuss; Tom Jones is no different. He remains polite, sincere, gentlemanly, down to earth, and funny; with the most amazing and mighty voice I have ever heard!

There are some funny and crazy stories in Still Rockin. Get the book and read all about them! Thanks to Aubrey Malone for telling us about the man from Pontypridd!

Tom Jones is truly one of Wales finest gifts to the world. I can get hundreds of people (from AmeriCymru alone) that will second that! Youll love this book!

An Interview With Aubrey Malone

Margaret: Why did you choose to write about Tom Jones?

Aubrey: Next to Elvis, Tom Jones was the most powerful voice I experienced growing up, as the rock and roll boom took root in the fifties and sixties. Cerys Mathews compared it to a train leaving a tunnel. Songs like 'I'm Coming Home' and 'I'll Never Fall in love Again' blew me away. He strangled lyrics in such a muscular way and made songs, even ordinary songs, throb and pulsate. Then when you saw him moving it lent an extra surge of adrenalin. He was a powerful explosive force like a volcano and he had music gold in his throat. We all know the Welsh are great singers but Tom took it to another level. I mention in the book that Elvis (whom Tom became friends with in Las Vegas when Elvis' career was on the slide and he needed a new injection of vigour as the movie phase of his career was coming to an end) at first wanted to be a ballad singer but the pop boom killed that ambition off. Likewise,Tom could have been a classical singer if born in another age - and you could say the same about people like WhitneyHouston (who to me is really an opera singer) an d countless others, even U2's Bono. Very often the age dictates what direction a career goes in. For me Tom Jones was just as much "The Voice" as Frank Sinatra was. As he's at pains to point out himself, no matter how many headlines he grabs for the wrong reasons (even if he's responsible for a lot of that himself with the way he used to "milk" the underwear-throwing routines) you can't get away from the fact that he has an incredible range - which sustained his career even in those patches when the hits weren't coming.

Margaret: Did you have an interview with Mr. Jones?

Aubrey: I didn't interviewTom for obvious reasons. It would have been awkward for me to have put questions to him about his love life. First off, he wouldn't have answered them. He would have cancelled the interview. And it would have been hypocritical of me to talk to him about his music knowing I was going to be telling "tales out of school" about his escapades with women.Even though the book is broadly speaking an affectionate tribute to him, there are a lot of "kiss and tell" anecdotes in it as you know, and this is not something he likes to have high-profiled, especially since his marriage has survived all the lurid stories over the years and he has now returned to Linda with his tail, as it were, between his legs. I don't feel I was breaching any confidence in recycling these stories as "the man in the street" has heard most of them in some form, but it would have been insensitive of me to get "up close and personal" with the man behind them. I didn't want to tarnish Tom's reputation, and tried to focus on the humorous aspect of the stories rather than anything else.

Margaret: What other sources did you use that we might be interested in, or know about? (ex: friends of his, relatives, etc)

Aubrey: My book is what they call a "secondary" biography in the`sense that there are no "new" revaltions in it. In other words, I talked to nobody. There are so many accounts of Tom's life on the shelves already I didn't need to. But what I did do, I hope, was extract all the extraneous baggage from what had been written already and whip it down to the more readable format I was working in for my "capsule" style biography. I also tried to put in my own "ten cents" worth about what I believe made Tom such a great artist (if not husband).

Margaret: Which writers did you admire that convinced you to become one yourself?

Aubrey: I tend to have favourite books rather than authors, but the people who made me want to be a writer are many. I didn't read much as a child, except for "nickel and dime" books my father had around the house. At that time books to me were things I associated with school, which I hated. It was only when I went to university and was allowed some freedom in what I read that I discovered authors my contemporaries had been reading long before me, people like Hemingway and Mailer and Camus and Tennessee Williams, etc. Later on I discovered Charles Bukowski, who may not be the greatest writer who ever lived but in my view he's the most compulsive. I also like many Irish writers (I'm Irish myself) - Joyce, John McGahern, Neil Jordan, Des Hogan, William Trevor,Colum McCann, etc.

Margaret: Are there any particularly amusing incidents/stories that you encountered whilst writing the book? Would you please tell us one or two?

Aubrey: All of the stories about Tom's cavorting with women are funny, and some of them are hilarious in a kind of "French farce" way. you imagine him grabbing his trousers and shoes and escaping out the back windows of hotels or apartment complexes as angry husbands make their way up the stairs to whatever boudoir he happened to be in at the time. The story that most amused me about Tom was the one about the woman from Texas who claimed to be his wife, and who claimed he was really "Boris from Budapest". Some of the stories around him were wacky, like this one. From a more romantic point of view, I liked the story about him shipping over the phone box from Pontypridd which he used "like an office" in the years when he was romancing Linda.

Margaret: There are many stories in Still Rockin which are somewhat scandalous in nature. One story that we at AmeriCymru love is the turkey (chicken, as we know it) incident at a club in Caerphilly during Toms early years. Is this story for real? True or not, we love it! )

Aubrey: I wasn't in Caerphilly on the night in question but all of the stories in my book , including the chicken/turkey one, are "out there" in the public domain and in other biographies as well as my own, and testified to by either eyewitnesses and/or avid researchers so I believe the're true. Tom has been a very naughty boy but is now happily reformed - or so he says!

Margaret: Whats next for you, Mr. Malone?

Aubrey: I am working on a personal memoir of my early life, and also a "Hollywood Babylon" type book. There is also a possible biography of the actress Maureen O'Hara in the works.

Margaret: Do you have any new books coming along?

Aubrey: I have just had a book of humorous travel quotes published. It is called 'It's Great to Be Back on Terra Cotta" and is published by the History Press. Next up in "Scottish Wit" which will be published by Callio Press at the end of this month, and next month sees the publication of my book "Censoring Hollywood" by McFarland. This is an account of a century of film censorship.

Margaret: Do you have a closing message for your readers and members of AmeriCymru?

Aubrey: Please give my very best wishes to all your members and wish them a happy Easter for me. Happy reading!

'Y Lolfa' Titles By Aubrey Malone