“House” legend Hugh Laurie stunned Hollywood back in 2011 when he briefly sidestepped from his award-winning acting work to launch his debut music album, “Let Them Talk.”
Best known for his US TV roles, it’s not surprising that some fans were surprised to discover Hugh’s musical roots as a pianist, vocalist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, soon digging out some of Hugh’s early musical performances from his UK sketch show, “A Bit of Fry and Laurie.”
But even that couldn’t have prepared fans for the moment about to unravel in a small, old-school blues club, just months after Hugh’s debut album hit the stores. Hugh Laurie teamed up with music legends Sir Tom Jones and Irma Thomas to bring his penultimate album track, “Baby Please Make A Change,” to life in a performance that’s still blowing viewers’ minds nearly fifteen years on.
Amassing more than 1.3 million views to date, Music Man readers can watch Hugh, Tom, and Irma’s performance unfold in the viral video above.
For this intimate gig, Hugh swaps his usual piano work for a guitar, played with the backing of a vintage-inspired blues band. Tom Jones leads the song with his flashback vocals while Hugh sinks into the grooves, Irma Thomas standing alongside him, lining Tom’s chorus lines with her own soulful tones.
For Tom Jones, there was no second-guessing when it came to getting involved in Hugh’s live blues set. The hitmaker revealed to producers before hitting the stage, “I like all kinds of music, and I’m not frightened of anything. Some entertainers [think], ‘Maybe my public wouldn’t like it if I tried something like that.’ Sometimes they’re very protective of themselves; even though they like other things, they won’t venture into it. But I don’t feel like that. If I like something, I want to do it.”
While “House” viewers have been busy praising Hugh Laurie’s “underrated” talents, asking, “Is there anything Laurie can’t do?”, Tom Jones fans have been left just as stunned at his inclusion in this one-off supergroup with Irma.
Top commenters on this viral YouTube vid have been writing, “Wow! That Tom Jones has not lost any of his vocal prowess at all,” with one viewer going so far as to say: “He’s got soul and will always be a great singer. Singers these days all sound like wimpy ideas of someone else. No individuality. They should study Tom Jones, especially the earlier years. He still has it.”