Sir Tom Jones advised Elvis Presley to stay away from drugs.
The 71-year-old crooner and the Love Me Tender hitmaker – who died in 1977 aged just 42 – became friends whilst performing at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas during the ‘60s and ‘70s, and would often chat about the pitfalls of being in the public eye.
But while Elvis was known for his drug use, Tom insists he declined to have anything to do with that side of fame and urged his friend to do the same.
The Delilah singer said, “He picked my brains a bit. I never realised he was doing it, but he would say, ‘How do you deal with it, fame?’ And I’d say, ‘Well, I enjoy it.’ Then he’d say, ‘What drugs do you take in order to enjoy it?’ And I’d say, ‘Well, I don’t’ – and I think that’s maybe helped me.”
Despite being surrounded by cocaine and marijuana at celebrity-packed parties, The Voice mentor insists he was never tempted to dabble.
He told the Daily Telegraph, “It has never interested me. Cocaine, for instance – going to a party and seeing there’s a bloody big mound on the table. Christ, I don’t get anything from it.
“I like restaurants, I like pubs. I like to be in the pub standing with the fellas by the bar, a social thing that you don’t get from drugs. I still like a good pint of British ale.”
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