Tom Jones live at London's Hammersmith Odeon, 1989



Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE, known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.
Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B,
show tunes, country, dance, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records.

"It's Not Unusual" is a song written by Les Reed and Gordon Mills, first recorded by a
then-unknown Tom Jones, after having first been offered to Sandie Shaw. Jones
recorded what was intended to be a demo for Shaw, but when she heard it, she was
so impressed with Jones' delivery that she declined the song and recommended
that Jones release it himself. The record was the second Decca single Jones released,
reaching number one in the UK Singles Chart in 1965. It was also the first hit for Jones
in the US, peaking at No. 10 in May of that year. The single was released in the US on
the Parrot label and also reached #3 on Billboard's easy listening chart. The BBC initially
refused to play the song because of Jones’ sexy image, but it was played by UK pirate radio.
Jones would perform the song several times on The Ed Sullivan Show in the US,
first on 2 May 1965, then again on 13 June 1965. He would sing the song again on the show
when he returned on 21 April 1968.

Jones later used this song as the theme for his late 1960s-early 1970s television
musical variety series This Is Tom Jones. It has since become Jones' signature song.