A lot of times on reality singing competition shows, we don’t necessarily expect to find out a lot about the professionals on the show. For example, on American Idol where there are judges deciding who gets to go to Hollywood or on The Voice where there are coaches helping the contestants, we expect to learn a lot more about the contestants on the show than about the judges or coaches.
On an episode of The Voice UK, coach Sir Tom Jones took a moment to share something personal with the audience. While seated in his red coach’s chair, he sang a touching tribute to his late wife, Melinda Trenchard, who died in 2016 following a battle with lung cancer.
Jones explained that his late wife “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.”
In response to Jones, Trenchard told him, “Don’t crumble with me, don’t fall now, you’ve done everything you can, you must carry on and do what you do.”
With that in mind, Jones chose to pay tribute to her with a very meaningful song. He chose a song called “I Won’t Crumble With You If You Fall” that was written by Bernice Johnson Reagon and appeared on her 1975 album titled “Give Your Hands To Struggle: The Evolution Of A Freedom Fighter.”
Jones explained that he chose to sing this particular song on the show because “this song is very important to me” and he tries “to pick songs that mean a lot to me.” He added that the meaning of the song is that “people that you love, sometimes they need to be backed up” and “you need to give them strength and encouragement.”
Listen to Jones sing “I Won’t Crumble With You If You Fall” in the video below.