These songs were recorded by Tom Jones around late 1962, more than two years before his commercial breakthrough with the single, It's Not Unusual. They are the earliest known recordings by Jones to have survived. At that time, Jones (who was born Thomas Woodward in 1940) was performing under the name 'Tommy Scott', leading a rock'n'roll group called The Senators. After a gig in Bedwas, near Caerphilly, Jones and The Senators were approached by two local songwriters, Raymond Godfrey and John Glastonbury (who had adopted the name of Myron & Byron).
As Jones' biographers Lucy Ellis and Bryony Sutherland explained: Myron & Byron had been advised to present their portfolio in the form of a demonstration disc, recorded with the aid of a group.... Although the relationship between the two factions clearly wasn't proving ideal, eventually the time came for The Senators to record the demo disc for Myron & Byron. In keeping with the strange portfolio, the songs were recorded on a portable eight-track studio in the unlikely setting of the changing room toilets at the YMCA in Pontypridd. Myron & Byron took the tape to London to try their luck once again with the major publishing companies.
Among the people to whom Myron & Byron played the tapes of The Senators was maverick producer Joe Meek. He recorded several sessions with Jones and The Senators in early 1963. Two years later, in the wake of Jones' commercial success with It's Not Unusual, Meek released a re-recorded version of That's What Love Will Do as a single. But the remaining three songs offered in this lot are not known to exist in any other form, and these recordings have genuine historical significance as they mark the birth of the Tom Jones phenomenon.
The vendor of this lot worked in the sound department for TWW Ltd. a television company in Cardiff, when Jones approached him to record this early demo tape.
Photograph courtesy of Redferns.