🔮 AN UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP: TOM JONES, PRINCE, AND THE NIGHT THEY REINVENTED “KISS”
🎤 They were two icons from two different universes — one a Welsh tiger with a voice from the heavens, the other a mysterious genius cloaked in purple mystique. No one expected their paths to cross, let alone for a song to forever bind their legacies. But that’s exactly what happened when Tom Jones took Prince’s “Kiss” and made it roar like never before.
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🎸 THE SONG THAT SHOULDN’T HAVE WORKED
When Prince first released “Kiss” in 1986, it was stripped-down funk at its most primal. A high-pitched falsetto, a skeletal beat, a lick of attitude. The Purple One didn’t need much to make it sexy — just space, swagger, and that unmistakable groove.
Now imagine that song covered by Tom Jones — the man known for belting out thunderous ballads like “It’s Not Unusual” and “Delilah.” The very idea sounded like a dare. And yet, in 1988, Tom Jones teamed up with synth-pop duo Art of Noise to reimagine “Kiss” in a way that somehow kept Prince’s slinkiness but injected it with volcanic charm. The song became an unexpected hit, introducing Jones to a whole new generation.
What most people didn’t know was that Prince actually loved it.
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🕊️ PRINCE’S SILENT APPROVAL
For years, Tom Jones didn’t even know if Prince approved of the cover. In interviews, he admitted he was nervous about it. After all, Prince was famously protective of his work — often saying “no” to cover requests or remixes. But Tom didn’t ask permission. Art of Noise had the legal right, and Jones trusted his gut.
Then the phone call came.
One day in the early ’90s, Tom’s team received word from Prince’s inner circle: “He loves it. He thinks it’s fabulous.”
It was the beginning of a strange, mutual admiration between two stars who seemed to orbit different planets. They started sending messages through intermediaries. Notes. Gifts. Nothing public. Nothing loud. Just two legends, slowly discovering common ground.
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🎭 PRIVATE TALKS, PUBLIC SILENCE
Despite their admiration, Tom and Prince never appeared together in the tabloids. No joint interviews. No red carpet sightings. But behind the scenes, they spoke often.
Prince was fascinated by Tom’s stamina — his ability to perform with raw energy into his 60s and 70s. Tom, meanwhile, was captivated by Prince’s commitment to reinvention, his spiritual explorations, and his fearless fashion.
“Prince told me once, ‘You sing with your bones, man,’” Tom recalled in a private interview years later. “He said I made his song feel carnal. Like velvet and fire.”
They never made a full album together, though rumors swirled in 2003 about a possible collaboration. Prince allegedly wrote a song for Tom called “The Electric Flame,” but it never saw the light of day.
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🌙 THE NIGHT THAT ALMOST NEVER HAPPENED
In 2004, Tom Jones was performing a benefit concert in Los Angeles. The organizers told him there’d be a surprise guest, someone who specifically asked to join him on stage for a song.
That night, the crowd gasped as Prince — dressed in a glittering black-and-purple suit — strutted onto the stage with a single rose.
Without a word, he walked up to the mic, nodded to Tom, and said:
“Let’s do your version.”
And then it happened. The duet of “Kiss” that no one expected. Two voices — one velvet, one falsetto — trading verses like old lovers whispering secrets. They didn’t rehearse it. They didn’t need to.
The crowd lost its mind. For one night only, funk met fire.
No video exists. Phones were banned. Only those in the room remember.
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🖤 WHEN PRINCE DIED, TOM DIDN’T SAY MUCH
In 2016, when Prince passed away suddenly, the world mourned loudly. Tom didn’t. He gave no dramatic interview, no tribute concert. Just a single line posted to his website:
“Thank you for trusting me with your music. Thank you for the night we shared. Rest in purple peace.”
Later that year, during a tour stop in New York, Tom Jones whispered a few extra words before singing “Kiss” — his version, still fiery after nearly three decades.
“This one’s for the man who gave me the groove, and the guts to sing it.”
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🌹 A LEGACY SHARED THROUGH SONG
It was never about charts or headlines. It was about respect. About the quiet connection between two artists who knew how rare it was to still evolve in a world that constantly wants to box you in.
Tom Jones didn’t just cover “Kiss.” He gave it a second life. And Prince didn’t just approve — he opened his circle to someone who once seemed like an unlikely peer.
In the end, their friendship wasn’t one of constant appearances. It was forged in sound, in silence, and in one unforgettable night that lives on only in memory.
And maybe that’s the way Prince would’ve wanted it.