For decades, Tom Jones has been renowned as a hard-drinking, womanizing rascal. Now 72, the powerhouse lounge singer has certainly scaled back his vices somewhat, but he can still belt out a tune, as evidenced by his new album of covers, “Spirit in the Room.” To promote the collection, which ranges from classic folk singer Odetta to Tom Waits to indie rockers the Low Anthem, the Welshman is also embarking on a rare club tour of the US, which arrives at the Bowery Ballroom on Saturday. He tells The Post it’s all part of his eternal quest to shake things up and keep the wolf from his door.
Are the songs you cover on “Spirit in the Room” just ones you enjoy, or was there more of a specific reason you decided to sing them?
There is a certain meaningfulness to these songs that applies to where I am in life right now. Leonard Cohen’s “Tower of Song,” particularly. That line “my friends are gone and my hair is gray” — I could have written that myself. A lot of the people I started with in the business are dead. It’s a fact of life but there you go — as long as I’m the last man standing!
There have been stories of you suffering from ill health in recent years. Have you recovered?
My health is great, thank God. A couple of years ago in Monte Carlo, I was dehydrated so I stayed in a hospital for a night. But it came out in the British press that I had a heart problem and that I was denying it. So then Jools Holland [a former member of Squeeze] called me up to check on me. He said, “The papers are saying that you are denying a heart problem.” I said, “I don’t have a heart problem.” And he replied, “There, you’re denying it again!”
Do you feel there’s a newer generation discovering your music?
Because I’m a coach on “The Voice UK,” there are a lot of younger people who have become aware of me. The idea behind this US tour is to try and see if there are younger fans over here who know about my work. I stopped playing Vegas shows for that reason because when you play there, it has to be the hits every night. That’s all they want, and you’re never breaking new ground.
What’s your experience of being a coach with Will.i.am on “The Voice UK”?
Will is a very learned person. He knows my history and he always wants to know more. For instance, I first came to America in 1965 on a Dick Clark caravan tour. Some of the acts were black on that tour and, although it wasn’t legal, there was still segregation in the South. We’d stop to get a sandwich and the white people would have to get off in one place and the black people would have to go to a separate place to eat. So one time, Will asked me, “What did that feel like?” I told him, “It felt f – – king terrible!”
Do you have a favorite memory of New York in that era?
I was in a restaurant called Jimmy Weston’s in 1968 and Frank Sinatra was pitching me a hotel in Vegas where the two of us, Elvis Presley and the Rat Pack would sing. It never came to pass, but I remember thinking how surreal it was. Just a few months before, I was sitting in my local [pub] in Wales, having a pint.
Your wife Linda must be incredibly patient to endure the extra-marital adventures you’ve had. Is that something you still do?
No, not at all. When you’re young and virile, you look at life a different way. A great thing about growing old is that sense of perspective. Another great thing about being a little older is that I sense people are interested in you for musical reasons more than anything else. Linda and I haven’t had a fight for years — but we had a few punch ups when we were young, for sure.