As things stand, Tom Jones has reached number one with both his first and last Top 40 singles. As this spans a period of 44 years, it would suggest that he has been very popular for a very long time. The fact he's part of the number 40s club though would suggest otherwise.
The number one debut came in 1965 with "It's Not Unusual". It wasn't quite hit after hit from then on though. His following 5 Top 40 hits all failed to reach the Top 10 which included "What's New Pussycat" and "Thunderball".
After he made Christmas number one in 1966 with his 7th Top 40 hit, "Green Green Grass Of Home", he only failed to reach the Top 10 once with his following 10 Top 40 hits which took him up till 1970.
By the 70s though, his singles career was in decline. By the time this record came out it was his first Top 40 hit in 3 years.
One of the songwriters on this record was Barry Mason, who was also co-writer of "Delilah". The other songwriter was Roger Greenaway, one of the most prolific songwriters of the 70s.
In 1977 we were in the era of punk. Here we have an artist and songwriters who were around in the 60s, no doubt their popularity had declined.
For Barry Mason, it would be his last Top 40 hit for 25 years. For Roger Greenaway, it would be his last new composition in the Top 40.
What about Tom Jones then? Well it would be another 10 years until we would see him in the Top 40 again when he reached number 2 with "A Boy From Nowhere". He never stopped releasing the singles, they just didn't chart.
He's very much remained in the limelight since, but most of his Top 40 hits following this were collaborations with other artists including the number one "(Barry) Islands In The Stream" with Vanesa Jenkins, Bryn West & Robin Gibb which was his last Top 40 hit to date.
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