"This song is trying to tell you that people that you love, sometimes they need to be backed up."
Editor's note: This article was originally published on September 7, 2022. It has since been updated.
The Voice UK made its comeback for a new season on Saturday. The crowd and the judges, however, were moved to tears when Sir Tom Jones used the chance to dedicate a song to his late wife Melinda Trenchard, who passed away after a long battle with cancer in 2016.
During a break between auditioning acts, the audience urged the legendary Welsh singer to give an impromptu performance after the coaches talked about the song they would perform if they were auditioning for the show. The song I Won't Crumble With You If You Fall from his 2021 number-one album Surrounded by Time was chosen after he said he would choose a power ballad to perform. He held the quiet studio audience, fellow judges Olly Murs and will.i.am, and an obviously moved Anne-Marie in the palm of his hand for the spine-tingling performance while remaining seated in his red spinning chair.
What an amazing television moment when Tom Jones @RealSirTomJones sang, I Won’t Crumble If You Fall, on the music program The Voice tonight, making @iamwill shed tears and another panelist cry.
— Hopewell Chin’ono (@daddyhope) September 3, 2022
A stunningly beautiful song he wrote for his late wife, Melinda who died from cancer. pic.twitter.com/RtGaE4IZLP
"Now this song is very important to me," he said before singing. "I try to pick songs that mean a lot to me. And this song is trying to tell you that people that you love, sometimes they need to be backed up. You need to give them strength and encouragement. My wife, you know, she was dying of lung cancer, so I said, you know, I was always able to fix stuff, to do things if she needed me I was always there. She said, 'Don't crumble with me, don't fall now, you've done everything you can, you must carry on and do what you do'. So I put the song, when I heard it, it was like it was written for this situation. It's a lovely song."
Melinda Trenchard, also known as Linda and Lady Woodward, passed away on April 10, 2016, at the age of 75, in Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. She was Tom Jones' wife for 59 years and passed away "after a short but fierce battle with cancer," according to a statement on the singer's official website.
Tom Jones tribute to his wife last night on the voice has sent me over the edge🥺
— chlo🤍 (@chlobaileyy) September 4, 2022
Linda had lung cancer and over the years Jones has shared extremely heart-wrenching stories of her long battle with the disease. During an appearance on The One Show last year he said, per Express, “I was there in the hospital room with her for the last 10 days and I said, 'My god Linda, I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself because I won’t be able to sing, I won’t be able to get the words out’. She said, 'You must!' She said, 'Don’t fall with me! You know, I gotta go. But you don’t have to. And you’ve got to go and do what we planned to do', which was to move back to London.”
His performance on the show rendered his fellow judges speechless. When it was all said and done, Anne-Marie said, "I think that was one of the best moments of my life," while Murs said that it "was so special". Anne-Marie later shared with The Daily Star that she had to 'walk off' after the emotional rendition. "Not because it was bad because it was so emotional, this is a testament to him and why he's been able to stay around so long because he feels it. Every word he says and every song he releases is because he means it and he was singing that song and he said this is to my wife and it f*****d me up," she said.
References:
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/tv/voices-anne-marie-tears-over-27878867
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1664206/tom-jones-wife-lung-cancer-symptoms
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Gareth Cattermole
