Sir Tom Jones sent DVDs of ‘The Voice UK’ to his now-late wife Melinda Trenchard in Los Angeles.
The 76-year-old music legend has revealed his partner – who sadly died in April last year – was a huge fan of the popular contest and he had to record the series and send them to her in America, where the pair lived together, so she could watch the programme because it wasn’t aired over there.
Speaking on ‘This Morning’ on Tuesday (28.02.17), the ‘Sex Bomb’ hitmaker said: "I had to take the DVDs back and play them for her, and we lived there and she wasn’t seeing it on the television but she loved it, and my sister, they used to watch the shows."
Tom has returned to the programme this year alongside will.i.am, Gavin Rossdale and Jennifer Hudson on the critiquing panel after his contract failed to be renewed in 2015, which saw him replaced by Boy George on last year’s season.
Although Melinda wasn’t alive to hear the news of Tom’s return, the Welsh star believes his partner would have been "really happy" because she was gutted when she found out her was dropped.
He explained: "Oh yeah, she would have been really happy because she enjoyed it.
"As you know, the contract was like once a year and then we go the phone call ‘We are not renewing your contract’ a couple of days before and I was like ‘Why didn’t you give me more notice, what was that about?’ My wife, god bless her, she said; ‘You don’t want to do ‘The Voice’ then do you?’ and I said ‘Well, it’s not my choice.’ ‘Really?’ [she said] So she couldn’t understand and then she passed away before I came back."
However, Tom has no bad blood and is still "glad" to be a part of the singing competition.
He said: "I still do. I’m glad to be a part of ‘The Voice’ because I can help other sings with the experience that I’ve had, which is different than what I’ve ever done."
The vocalist – who won the first season of the show – believes the key to picking a champion is to suss out those who are "truthful" and not seeking fame.
He explained: "It needs to be truthful. I need to feel what the singer is putting out, that it’s real, that it’s not fake and it’s not something they’ve learnt to do because they want to be famous. It’s got to be a natural musical talent that I hear. But that can be all kinds of things. The team I have now I have duos in my team, so I like variety as well, I like to get a team together that is not all one type of singer."
Sir Tom Jones sent The Voice UK DVDs to late wife Melinda Trenchard
