LOCAL celebrity TJ Slater is top of the pops when it comes to rubbing shoulders with the stars after jetting off to London to meet singing legend Tom Jones.

Citizen readers will recall that Tom lookalike TJ featured in our Readers' Recollections column earlier this month to recount his memories of meeting the Welsh singer.

Now the talented Stars in Your Eyes winner has done it again after being invited to London's Virgin Megastore, where Tom was promoting his new album Reload.

He said: "It was brilliant to meet Tom for the second time. He's not changed a bit.

"When I arrived I was mobbed by adoring Tom Jones fans and I had to be ushered into a side entrance by security. "The guard thought I was Tom and led me to the sound checking room. When he spotted the real Tom Jones he said 'if that is Tom who have I just brought downstairs!'

"Later Tom kindly agreed to pose for photographs with me and my wife Janice and thanked me for the demos I've recorded with the band Space, who perform Sunny Afternoon on the new album."

While Tom has been touring the country plugging his new record, Preston-born TJ has been busy singing the songs of his pop idol to packed audiences in aid of the Baby Beat Appeal, for children in intensive care at Sharoe Green Hospital.

But if you missed his performances you can catch him on television this Saturday, October 16, when he stars in the Channel 5 show, Nightfever, hosted by former Madness singer Suggs.

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