Do we like Tom Jones?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Decent record and no campaigning against anyone, but one clumsy 2015 comment on gay people and little verified charity work to set against it.
Tom Jones was born in Pontypridd in 1940, the son of a coal miner. As a kid he spent two years housebound with tuberculosis, and music got him through it. By the early 1960s he was fronting a local band, and the manager Gordon Mills turned him into the pop star we know.
The hits came fast: It's Not Unusual went to number one in 13 countries, then Green, Green Grass of Home and a Bond theme. A TV variety show followed, then a 1990s revival through collaborations with acts like The Cardigans and Tori Amos. He got an OBE in 1999, a BRIT in 2000 and a knighthood for services to music, announced at the end of 2005.
On the harm test, the big blemish is a 2015 Big Issue interview. He said meeting the gay producer Joe Meek had thrown him off, and Stonewall Cymru's director Andrew White pushed back. Tom said he got over the shock after working with gay music bosses and that most people were normal. It was clumsy and dated, but it reads as an old bloke working it out aloud, not a campaign.
Past that, we found no sign of him pushing anti-LGBTQ+ campaigns, anti-vax claims or culture-war grift, and nothing from him on the climate either way. Some junk sites claim a Pride boycott or a refused gala outfit, but no established outlet carries it, so that's tabloid territory at best. That's honestly the whole list, which is thin rather than damning.
When critics objected to the dark storyline of Delilah, he said taking it literally takes the fun out of it, and that hearing Welsh crowds sing it made him proud. Where you land depends on whether you see a pub singalong or a song that makes light of violence. It shows a man who sees himself as a performer playing a character, not someone picking a fight.
The recent drama is The Voice UK. On 8 September 2026 he posted that he did not want to leave and that ITV cited an insurance difficulty. ITV said he will no longer be a full-time coach on series 15 but that talks about the next series continue. He called the smaller role on offer something he was not thrilled about, which is fair enough from a bloke with nine series under his belt.