He recalled that when he first came to America, people who heard his songs on the radio were surprised that he isn’t black.
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“A lot of people still think I’m black”.
Page Six reports that tests to determine DNA from specific racial groups can run up to $460.
Tom Jones has become tabloid fodder in the United Kingdom. Because of my hair, a lot of black people still tell me I’m just passing as white.
Jones, whose parents were Welsh and English, said his signature baritone voice and thick, curly hair has prompted questions about his race for years. Even at birth, his mother is said to have been asked if she had black ancestry, due to the thick curls and darker complexion her son possesses. They (the docs and midwives) requested if she had any black blood and she or he stated she did not know. “I’d prefer that it stopped, but I wouldn’t want to upset the fans”.
Jones was born in 1940 to an English father and a mother who was half-English and half-Welsh.
According to Mirror United Kingdom, the 75-year old also revealed that he is eager to find out more about his mother Freda’s lineage especially after she herself got confused about her ancestry.
The hip-swivelling singer has enjoyed a long career as a sex symbol but now bemoans feeling objectified, saying he can “never predict when the knickers are going to get thrown”.
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Tom Jones is set to release his autobiography, “Over the Top and Back”.
