When Jack Jones steps on to the Fairfield Halls stage on Friday he will no doubt see some familiar faces in the audience, not least one couple who have see him almost 200 times.
The 71-year-old singer of hits like The Race is On, The Impossible Dream and Wives and Lovers tours England every 18 months and has become accustomed to seeing the same faces in the front of the crowd, something he admits is a pretty good feeling.
“It’s always rewarding with so many old friends at every show,” he says.
“One couple has been to see me 195 times before the start of this tour, they are always sitting down front and that’s really really wonderful.”
“The last time they flew over to New York to see me and a couple of years ago they came to a show I did near where I live and brought a whole group over with them, so I took them out for dinner.”
“We are a part of each other’s lives now and its a wonderful feeling to know they have supported me all this time.”
“When neither of us are able to get in a car anymore and drive we will miss each other.”
Jones has just released a new album over here, I Never Had it So Good, full of songs he recorded years ago but never released.
“It is an album I have had on vinyl and because I got so many emails asking me when I was going to put it on CD I decided to but it together,” he says.
“The songs kind of got lost in the shuffle all these years but they stand up today and were ahead of their time.”
“They are all the original mixes just remastered into digital quality.”
“I haven’t released this one in America but I have just put together my first new vocal album in 10 years over there.”
“It’s a wonderful album and I just wanted to do it.”
“I did this project in New York, a tribute to Alan and Marilyn Bergman, I did these songs and put them in an order they told a story.”
“It was so well received on the night and in all of the papers I ran into the studio and recorded it.”
