The question that Tom Jones did not want to ask Prince and the offer he rejected: “It is a great regret that I have” | Music

In 1989, shortly after recording ‘Kiss’, Tom Jones ran into Prince at a party. He greeted him and thanked him for the song. And the author of number 1 answered: “Thank you for recording it.” That was it. The Welshman fled. Amazingly, ten years later, Tom and Prince met again. This time in Germany. And they chatted all night! According to Sir Jones on the BBC, the genius invited him to his studiobut he “was very busy at that time.” He has always regretted.

‘Kiss’ is the song that relaunched Tom Jones’ career, a frequent figure in Las Vegas. The song, composed and produced by Prince & the Revolution for their eighth album ‘Parade’ (1986), It was a world number 1. Jones liked it so much that he incorporated it into his show in Sin City. He told it in the magazine ‘Observer Music Monthly’: “If I hear a song that I like, I sing it in the show, so when I heard ‘Kiss’ I sang it R&B style.”

But it did not stop there. In 1987 he was invited to the popular British talk show ‘The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross’ and asked to do something with rhythm: “My philosophy has always been: when in doubt, do.” ‘Great ball of fire’, but Jonathan asked me if I had anything new,” he explained in ‘Observer’. And the “new” thing he had then It was his version of Prince. For the first time, Tom Jones sang ‘Kiss’ live. Casually, the group Art of Noise was watching television at the time and he was impressed. So much so that he contacted the artist: “They asked me if I could do a version with them. When they sent me the finished version I thought, ‘If this is not a success, I can pack my bags and leave.’ It was an overwhelming hit.”

For Art of Noise, ‘Kiss’ was his biggest hit and it changed Tom’s life: “When I did Kiss with The Art of Noise (in 1988), it was so successful that I started doing duets with people like Robbie Williams… So the most logical thing was for me to make an album.” In 1999 came ‘Reload’: 4 million copies sold worldwide.

What did Prince of Minneapolis think of the ‘Welsh Tiger’ version? Tom had the opportunity to ask him. She met him in 1989in a London nightclub called Tramp, located on Jermyn Street: “The first time I saw him was in London, It was his birthday and I was invited”, he told the BBC. Coincidentally, Prince and Tom Jones have the same birthday, June 7th. In his autobiography, ‘Over the Top and Back’ (2015), Jones recalls that Prince “He was dressed like an 18th century fop – braided coat, dizzying heels, ruffled sleeves, waving a silk scarf. “I may have imagined the scarf.”

“I stopped to shake his hand and I told him, ‘Thanks for the song’. He replied, ‘Thank you for recording it,’” Tom continues to relate in his biography. “I was surprised by his voice which, in no way, was falsetto. It turned out that the guy has a deep voice. And then I apologized and I returned to the party as quickly as possible – “And I had nothing against hanging out with Prince.” But just the chance to listen to the pop star criticize your version It was enough of an incentive for ran away. It simply wasn’t worth the risk. “I would have left devastated “If he had told me he didn’t like my version of ‘Kiss’.”

“Because in my mind had a scene that has always haunted me from Bette Midler’s film, ‘The Rose,'” he said in an interview for Songfacts. “She goes to see Harry Dean Stanton, a country singer, because she had recorded one of his songs. She tells him that she’s a big fan of his and, just before she walks out the door, he comments, ‘Could I tell you something?’ Don’t ever record one of my songs again.’ That shocked me. And I thought, ‘shit’, I will never ask a composer what he thinks of my version. That it has stuck in my head”.

In 2021, Sir Tom Jones again recalled that first meeting with Prince on BBC Radio 2’s ‘The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show’. He again confirmed: “I didn’t ask him if he liked my version or not, but we had a little chat then.” The most extraordinary thing is that in 1999, a decade laterboth They met again in Germanywhen the ‘Delilah’ singer appeared on a television show: “I was there doing ‘Sex bomb’ and he was there, Prince, but he didn’t participate in the show. Afterwards, I returned to the hotel and I was in the entrance hall. So we went to this club and, bless him,We were talking all night! I told him ‘My God, I have never heard you talk so much…I tried to talk to you in London, but, you know.’ He said: ‘That was before, this is now. So, he offered it to me. Said, ‘You’re going to come to my recording studio and we’re going to spend some time there, we can do some things.’”

“But I was very busy at that time.”. Tom Jones regrets having missed the opportunity to work with the genius. And this is what he said on the BBC show: “That It’s one of my regrets. When people ask if I regret anything: Yes, I regret not going to Paisley Park and record with him because we could have done something together. I have the luck of that he used to see me in Las Vegas when he was young. He was a genius. I should have accepted and That’s a big regret I have.”.