When, in 1964, the BBC declared that he was ‘too hot to handle’ and banned him from the airwaves it appeared that the career of Tom Jones was over after just two single releases. Fortunately, the pirate Radio Caroline didn’t fear the moral consequences of playing It’s Not Unusual and the song became an international hit.

Such are the fine lines between success and failure. No artist has worked harder to maximise the former and minimise the latter. Jones has only written two songs during his entire career but has performed thousands.

Consequently, he has turned his hand to every musical style from calypso to swingbeat, working with an extraordinary variety of contemporary artists from Irish legend Van Morrison to obscure Yorkshire anarchists New Model Army.

Jones has relied heavily on the guidance of those behind the scenes. Songwriter Gordon Mills discovered him in 1963 when he was playing the clubs of the Rhondda as “Tommy Scott And The Senators”.

When Jones’ records were played on the radio early on in his career he was often mistaken for one of the black soul artists he idolised as a youth growing up in Pontypridd.

Mills oversaw Jones’ transformation from raunchy blues brother to Las Vegas crooner, which made him an international TV star in the process. The fees he commanded in Vegas set new records for any performer. He was a box office draw to rival even Elvis.

His playboy reputation has always stayed with him. He is still married to childhood sweetheart Linda and has remained remarkably free of public criticism for any alleged indiscretions.

When his son Mark Woodward took the managerial reigns after Mills’s death in 1986, his plan was to take him away from the comfort zone of the Vegas clubs and put him back in the spotlight.

Even when his contemporary work didn’t sell particularly well, the public would still be reminded to keep on buying his classic recordings of the 60’s.

Not even the most optimistic pundit, however, could have predicted the astonishing success of his 1999 album Reload.

It was his first Number One album since 1968 and has sold over four million copies worldwide. Not for the first time, Jones appears to be enjoying the best of both worlds.