Throughout his decades-long career, Sir Tom Jones has worked and performed with stars including Van Morrison, Robbie Williams and Joss Stone.
The Voice UK coach, now 84, also counted Elvis Presley as one of his close friends.
However, over the years Sir Tom has also had public feuds with other musicians, most notably Engelbert Humperdinck.
The pair have shared their distaste of each other several times, with Sir Tom recently labelling the 88-year-old a ‘p***k’.
‘There is nothing friendly about me and Engelbert because he is a p***k and you can quote me on that. We fell out years ago,’ told The Sun on Sunday last week.
Although it’s unclear what sparked their fall-out, which has seen them not speak for 40 years, Sir Tom has also not held back when sharing the details of tense moments and incidents with other stars.
Dame Shirley Bassey
Although Sir Tom hasn’t fallen out with Dame Shirley Bassey, a few years ago he did reveal she rejected the chance to perform a duet with him at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee concert.
To mark the milestone for the monarch in 2022, Sir Tom was asked to perform at the event, and Dame Shirley was set to take the stage with him as a ‘surprise guest’.
However, Sir Tom later revealed Dame Shirley, now 85, only wanted to accept the offer if she also got a chance to sing solo in her own set.
However, it turned out that neither Shirley ended up performing at arguably the biggest concert the country has ever seen – with the likes of Queen and Adam Lambert, Diana Ross, and George Ezra on the bill.
A few months later, Sir Tom said: ‘They just wanted me to do one of my songs, like Delilah or something, and I was going to do a duet with Shirley Bassey.
‘She was going to be a surprise guest on my spot, but then Shirley said, “If I don’t get my own spot, I’m not going to do it”.’
He added: ‘So, that’s fair enough, isn’t it? I thought it was going to be a good thing.
‘But she felt that she deserved her own spot, then I’d do mine, then we would do a duet.’
The pairing would have seen the artists collaborate for a second time after she performed on his This Is Tom Jones variety TV show on New Year’s Day 1971.
Engelbert Humperdinck
After being signed to the same label in the 1960s, a rivalry emerged between Sir Tom and Engelbert (born Arnold Dorsey, who borrowed the name of a 19th-century German composer after struggling for several years to make his mark in the music industry).
Although it’s not clear what caused their intense clashes, the pair are said to have first fallen out nearly 50 years ago.
However, in 2020 Engelbert addressed the feud and said he was keen to move forward and bury the hatchet.
‘One good thing to come out of this pandemic is that it’s brought the world together,’ he said.
‘There’s more kindness everywhere. In that context, a silly grudge seems so petty somehow. And I want to say that I’m sure Tom feels that, too. I’d love it if we could finally mend that broken bridge. I certainly respect his talent.”
‘I think he’s one of the greatest singers the world has known. I do admire him very much. It seems such a shame. It doesn’t have to be like this,’ he added.
However, Sir Tom made it clear he had no desire to build bridges, calling his rival a ‘c**t’.
‘No. It’s as I say — once a c**t, always a c**t,’ he told Metro when asked if a reconciliation was on the cards.
John Lennon
John Lennon might have encouraged others to pursue peace, however, Sir Tom once admitted he wanted to ‘punch’ the former Beatles star.
The pair first met on the British television show, Thank Your Lucky Stars, which ran between 1961 and 1966.
During a 1965 episode of the show the pair nearly came to blows after Lennon directed a homophobic slur at Sir Tom.
Recounting the tale to Channel Bee, Sir Tom said it wasn’t long after his hit single It’s Not Unusual had been released when he was invited on the show, where he also decided to watch The Beatles rehearse before the cameras started rolling.
‘John Lennon was the first one out on the floor, and he looks up at me, he’s got his guitar. He says, “It’s not a unicorn, it’s an elephant” and then said, “How you doing you Welsh p**f?”,’ he recalled.
Irate, Sir Tom then responded: ‘Come up here, you Scouse pr***, and I’ll show you.’
However, he said the comments were simply Lennon’s ‘sense of humour’ and that they later became friends.
Sir Rod Stewart
There might be a long-standing rivalry competing on the charts between Sir Tom and Sir Rod Stewart, but the pair haven’t spoken poorly of each other throughout their careers.
However, in 2015 Sir Tom did call out Sir Rod after he made comments about ‘coming from nothing’.
According to Sir Tom, Sir Rod had performed a gig in LA, during which time he spoke to the crowd and told them he ‘came from nothing.’
This apparently irked Sir Tom, who told The Big Issue: ‘I’ve never said I came from nothing.
‘To be honest with you, I saw a special Rod Stewart gig in LA, and he said: ‘I came from nothing.’
‘And I thought, ‘You didn’t come from nothing. I saw your mother and father in the documentary, and they were hardworking people.’
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The Voice UK returns tonight at 8pm to ITV1.
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