Legendary crooner Tom Jones and jazz composer John Dankworth are to receive knighthoods in the Queen's New Year Honours List.
Tom Jones's family have said they are delighted that the star is to get a "well deserved" knighthood.
Jones, 65, began singing professionally in 1963 and had his first hit, It's Not Unusual, a year later.
From humble beginnings with Tommy Scott and The Senators in his home town Pontypridd, south Wales, he went on to become one of the world's biggest-selling singers. He returned to the green grass of home in May this year to sing in front of 25,000 people at the town's Ynysangharad Park.
Speaking on Friday, his first cousin Dorothy Woodward, of Caerphilly, south Wales, said: "He will be absolutely over the moon."
Musician John Dankworth welcomed his knighthood in the New Year Honours List as a boost for jazz.
The 78-year-old, who has been a mainstay of the British jazz scene for more than 50 years, said: "I didn't really believe it. At first I thought it was just a dream. Now we're going to crack open a bottle of champagne."
The composer, conductor and performer joked: "Sometimes they've been said to get it wrong in the past, and maybe they've got it wrong with me. But it's so nice for jazz to get something like this. As far as I know I'm the first from the jazz world to get a knighthood."
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Tom Jones's family have said they are delighted that the star is to get a "well deserved" knighthood.
Jones, 65, began singing professionally in 1963 and had his first hit, It's Not Unusual, a year later.
From humble beginnings with Tommy Scott and The Senators in his home town Pontypridd, south Wales, he went on to become one of the world's biggest-selling singers. He returned to the green grass of home in May this year to sing in front of 25,000 people at the town's Ynysangharad Park.
Speaking on Friday, his first cousin Dorothy Woodward, of Caerphilly, south Wales, said: "He will be absolutely over the moon."
Musician John Dankworth welcomed his knighthood in the New Year Honours List as a boost for jazz.
The 78-year-old, who has been a mainstay of the British jazz scene for more than 50 years, said: "I didn't really believe it. At first I thought it was just a dream. Now we're going to crack open a bottle of champagne."
The composer, conductor and performer joked: "Sometimes they've been said to get it wrong in the past, and maybe they've got it wrong with me. But it's so nice for jazz to get something like this. As far as I know I'm the first from the jazz world to get a knighthood."
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