Welsh star Tom Jones was dubbed workshy by job centre officers before he rose to international super stardom, documents revealed Tuesday.
Sir Tom Jones, born Thomas Jones Woodward, was a factory worker while he was in a band desperately trying to hit his luck in the early 1960s.
However, labour exchange officials in his home town in south Wales believed his passion for music was the reason why he can not settle into a permanent job.
“It would seem that Mr. Woodward’s little hobby is highly lucrative and this would also account for his non-enthusiasm in securing employment,” the documents read.
A year later, Jones was speaking about signing a contract with the Decca Music Group. Yet officials wrote: “He is still signing the UR (unemployment register) and not autograph books”.
The 69-year-old singer, whose chart topping hits include ‘Green, Green Grass Of Home,’ ‘Delilah’, ‘Sex Bomb’ and his own rendition of Prince’s ‘Kiss’, has sold over 100 million records worldwide. Presently, he has a net worth income of approximately £130 million.
Richard Westwood-Brookes, head of Mullock’s auction house, said job centre officials obviously did not believe Jones had any bright future.
“What it really shows is the clash of cultures that existed in the 1960s between the older generation who felt young people should be getting their hair cut and getting a proper job, and the young generation that wanted to get involved in rock’n'roll”, Westwood-Brookes added.
The manuscripts are to be auctioned at Mullock’s in Shropshire, England, on 15 April and projected to fetch hundreds of thousands of pounds.
