The female singer who was offered 'It's Not Unusual' before Tom Jones – and why she turned it down

9 January 2026, 12:37 | Updated: 9 January 2026, 13:18

Tom Jones's breakthrough hit was nearly sung by Sandie Shaw.

Tom Jones's debut single isn't the song that many think it is

In 1964, Tom got started with the standalone 'Chills and Fever'. That song didn't chart at all, and it was only the following year that he became an (almost) instant megastar with 'It's Not Unusual'.

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The song, written by Les Reed and Gordon Mills, changed everything for the man who would become Sir Tom.

It went all the way to number one in the UK and, perhaps even more impressively, charted at number 10 in the US, too.

'It's Not Unusual' was included on Tom's debut album Along Came Jones, which went to number 11 in the UK and would go Gold, too.

In the US, the title was changed to It's Not Unusual and the running order snipped and shuffled to put the now-title track at the very beginning.

Tom Jones "It's Not Unusual" (April 21, 1968) on The Ed Sullivan Show

Given his powerhouse voice and raw charisma, we'd like to think that Sir Tom would have broken through even without that classic tune, but his history – and the history of music – would likely have been very different had he not released it.

And it turns out that 'It's Not Unusual' was very nearly given to another artist.

With a sum total of one single and zero charting tracks behind Tom Jones at the time, writers Reed and Mills had only given him the song to record a guide demo vocal to impress more viable chart talents.

And it was a very different singer who almost released the song: Sandie Shaw.

In 1965, Sandie was still a pretty new artist herself. But she was one who had already been troubling the charts for a few months.

She had a non-charting single of her own, 'As Long as You're Happy, Baby', but her September 1964 follow-up cover of '(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me' topped the UK chart and scraped into the US listings at 52.

Her next single 'Girl Don't Come' came out in December 1964 and would eventually rise to number 3, too.

But she gave 'It's Not Unusual' one listen and was so bowled over by the voice of the then-unknown Tom Jones that she knew she couldn't improve on it.

After getting in the studio, Jones had apparently immediately realised that he could well have a hit on his hand.

"We did ‘It’s Not Unusual,’ and when I heard it back, I said I gotta have this song," Sir Tom told the George Ezra and Friends podcast in 2019.

"Gordon [Mills] was going, well, he wasn’t fussed about it, but Les was going 'Well Sandie Shaw you know she’s had these number one records who the hell are you to get hold of this song'.

"I said, 'Well, I gotta have this song. If I don't get this song, I’m going back to Wales'."

Tom Jones - It’s Not Unusual (This Is Tom Jones, 15th May 1969)

He added: "That’s how strong I felt about this song. I meant it... I mean, what else could I threaten them with?

"What could I threaten Gordon with than saying I’m going back and do some shows in his working men clubs, which I was doing alright with?

"So they played it to Sandie Shaw, and she said, 'Whoever's singing this song that’s his song, I couldn't sing it like that'."

Sandie never did record the song, or duet with Sir Tom, though she did pop up a couple of times on his TV variety show This Is Tom Jones.