Tom Jones’ wife Linda was the love of his life and the pair were childhood sweethearts – she had one final request for the singer before she died after 59 years of marriage
Jane Lavender and Julia Banim Audience Writer
15:19, 28 Oct 2025
Sir Tom Jones and his late wife Linda(Image: Getty)
Tom Jones has been associated with numerous women throughout his life, but none held a more special place in his heart than his late wife, Melinda. Sir Tom and Melinda Rose Woodward, affectionately known as Linda, first crossed paths when they were merely eight-years-old.
In his 2015 autobiography, Over the Top and Back, Sir Tom fondly remembers how she used to play marbles on the pavement. During a subsequent two-year struggle with tuberculosis, a bedridden Tom fell deeply in love with his future wife, who would smile at him as she walked to school in their hometown of Treforest, south Glamorgan.
The then 12-year-old was completely besotted. At the tender age of 15 Tom mustered up the courage to ask Linda out. Two years later, they tied the knot, and soon after welcomed their first child, Mark.
Tom often spoke with deep respect about his wife, whom he always maintained was the “love of his life”. However he also confessed to having hundreds of affairs – including one with Miss World contestant Marjorie Wallace.
Sir Tom and Melinda pictured in 1967(Image: Popperfoto via Getty Images)
When Linda lost her “short but fierce battle” with cancer in 2016, the It’s Not Unusual singer was profoundly affected by the loss, and pledged to fulfil her final heartbreaking wish.
In a 2020 interview with BBC Radio 2, Sir Tom chatted with host Jo Whiley about his new album which begins with the track, I Won’t Crumble When You Fall, inspired by one of his last conversations with his lifelong sweetheart.
Tom remembered how Linda remained “the calmest person in the room” throughout her final days, whilst he and his son acted like “gibbering idiots”. She had one final piece of wisdom to impart before her passing.
Sir Tom Jones pictured with Linda in 1965(Image: Topix – Thomson Newspaper Group)
Describing the poignant meaning behind his opening number, Tom revealed: “Myself and my son [Mark], we spent the last 10 days with her in the hospital in Los Angeles. I said, ‘Look Lin,’ and she said, ‘What do you think you’ll do with yourself now?’
“I said, ‘I don’t know whether I’ll be able to bloody sing, the words are going to get stuck in my throat’.
“She said, ‘You’ve got to. You can’t fall with me. I’ve got to leave but you don’t have to. Don’t crumble’.
“So when I heard the song I thought, ‘My God that’s it. I’ll do anything for you.'”
He continued: “I’ll do anything for you. In the morning, when you call, in the morning I’ll wake when you call. I’ll do anything for you. But I won’t crumble with you when you fall’. She said, ‘You can’t crumble’, so that’s really for her.”
The pair had been wed for 59 years and initially Tom questioned whether he could continue performing whilst wrestling with his overwhelming sorrow. He persevered nonetheless, later confessing in a Facebook post that singing “really is my best therapy”.
The legendary performer sought grief counselling and returned to the stage just months afterwards, exactly as Linda had wished.
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