Sir Tom Jones has told a Los Angeles crowd he briefly thought his career — and his life — were over after a recent health scare left him fighting for breath.
Appearing Wednesday night at the Greek Theatre, the 86-year-old legend opened up about the illness that forced him to cancel a run of dates, according to The Sun. Jones said he first mistook the problem for flu, then deteriorated until breathing became so difficult that paramedics were called. Reflecting on the moment, he recalled thinking, “I thought this was it, you had a wonderful life Tommy but it’s over now,” a line also reported via The New York Post.
He told fans he could not breathe when medics arrived, then credited UCLA with pulling him through after two full days of hospital treatment. “UCLA did a wonderful job, so I’m here,” he said — a quiet punchline that landed as proof he had made it back to the stage.
The scare arrives on the heels of another major upheaval. The Sun previously reported that ITV had dropped Jones from The Voice UK after 13 years as a coach, and that he later declined a proposed “super guest judge” role for the next series. Returning to a sold-out Greek Theatre date after the breathing emergency underscored both his resilience and how closely fans have been watching his health and TV exit.
Jones did not detail a long-term prognosis from the stage beyond thanking the hospital team and getting on with the show. For an artist still touring North America on his Come Gather Round run, the message was simple: the scare was real, the recovery got him upright, and the microphone is back in his hands.
Source: The Sun
