Sir Tom Jones Dreads Life 'Without Singing'

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He's sold over 150 million records, hung out with Elvis Presley and gone through more hurled knickers than a busy launderette but Sir Tom Jones has confessed that he dreads the day that he can no longer sing.

The 70-year-old veteran -- whose latest album 'Praise and Blame' is a meditative collection of gospel and blues songs dealing with spirituality and mortality -- was speaking to CBS News when he revealed his fear.

"I dread the day. Time is my enemy. Time will catch up with me vocally. And I dread that,' he said. "I dread to think about life without singing because I can express myself, it's a great release, it's a wonderful feeling to get on stage and pour all this stuff out and for people to go, 'Yeah!'''

Sir Tom admitted that he had already started to face the reality of advancing years when he stopped dying his hair two years ago. "I cannot be at 70 years old -- it would be silly to try -- and be 35 or 40, maybe even 50. You can't," he said. "There is no way and if you do then you're going to look silly. And people are going to take you less seriously than when you're a young person."

He continued, "It's to do with age, there's no getting away from it. Maybe I'm trying to. I am older, that's one of those things, I stopped dying my hair two years ago and it's coming out white, so I let it carry on and I liked it."