Veteran singer Tom Jones has said he was warned early in his career that he would not succeed because he was "too macho" and had curly hair.
The 80-year-old Sex Bomb star, who has enjoyed decades in the limelight, admits he was "always getting knocked back" as a young man.
Speaking to The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on Radio 2, Jones said: "I've always been pushing, since I came from Wales to London.
"I was always getting knocked back. Somebody was saying something like 'Curly hair doesn’t work any more… and you’re a bit too macho.’
"I said ‘Sorry about that but that’s the way I am’."
He added: "They try to change you and mould you and get you to do what’s going on at that time.
"They said that the Elvis Presley style has gone. I said ‘Not in my mind, not in my heart!’
"I was up against it with the way I looked, I had a broken nose…"
"I was doing great in Wales so I can’t see a big difference between Wales and England. We all speak English, so what’s the big deal?"
The Voice coach said new single No Hole in My Head resonates with his experience.
"This song is telling you that – ‘Don’t try to put things in my head, there’s no hole in my head, don’t try to fill it up with stuff that you want me to do’."
