Sir Tom Jones became hugely famous in his 20s, despite having a wife and seven-year-old son. He skyrocketed to fame with the help of his manager, Gordon Mills, also a Welsh native. But why did his son, Mark, end up becoming his manager?
In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, Tom Jones biographer Colin Macfarlane, who released his second book about the singer, Sir Tom Jones: 80, explained how young Mark was able to become the new manager to Sir Tom, which took place after the death of Gordon Mills, Sir Tom’s original manager.
In fact, according to Mr Macfarlane, the only reason Mark could make it as Sir Tom’s manager was because he ‘learned from the master,’ who was Gordon.
Mr Macfarlane said: “Because Gordon Mills was the genius… so Mark watched Gordon Mills in action over the years and when Mills went, Mark. obviously took over because he had learnt from the master. He was the apprentice.”
Gordon Mills was known for his transformational skills, turning Welsh labourer, husband and father Thomas Woodward into Tom Jones, the hip swivelling ‘single’ man who had spent his life down the mines.
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Mark has, in his time as Tom’s manager, had quite an effect on his father, as he told the Daily Express in 2010.
After a phase of ‘drinking too much’ when he first went on the road, Mark is now ‘squeaky clean’ and credited for ‘looking after his dad’ and reining in his tendency to go out boozing.
Mark said: “I’m always on about his drinking. He knows I mean well and I know what it means to him.
“So he can do it but I say, ‘Don’t kill yourself doing it.’ I’m very persistent.
“That’s the one way in which we are very similar. It’s very Welsh. We’re like nanny goats.”
Clearly he is very good at his job, as Sir Tom has also admitted.
Speaking of his son, Sir Tom said: “We have a very special relationship, me and Mark.
“I’m grateful he’s done so much for my career, of course, but I’m also gratified as a parent that he is doing something that clearly makes him so happy.
“He’s not just good at his job, you know. He loves it.”