Tom Jones Was A Panty (And Room Key) Magnet
Tom Jones, he of the big voice behind “It’s Not Unusual” and “What’s New Pussycat?,” has seen a lot of ladies’ underwear in his day — often hurtling right at him. The phenomenon first occurred when Jones was singing at the Copacabana in New York in 1968. “I was perspiring a lot,” he explained to NPR’s Terry Gross, “so these ladies were handing me table napkins. And then this one woman stood up and took her underwear off and, you know, handed them to me. And it was written up in the newspaper the following day.” Throwing panties on stage soon became the customary way of showing appreciation at a Tom Jones concert. When he took his act to Vegas later that year, it wasn’t just lingerie landing on the stage — many smitten fans also tossed their hotel room keys at the singer.