Elvis privately told Tom Jones the identity of the real King of Rock and Roll

Back in the late 1960s, Elvis Presley and Tom Jones became friends and supporters of each other’s Las Vegas acts.

In fact, it was seeing the Welsh star’s residency that gave The King the confidence he need to know he could pull it off himself.

Over the years Sir Tom has shared precious anecdotes of times with Elvis, who died in 1977 aged 42.

And during his Greenwich Summer Sounds concert attended by Express.co.uk on Thursday evening, the 83-year-old had an amazing story about the late star to share.

Towards the end of the show, Sir Tom shared: “One night, Elvis said to me, ‘Chuck Berry’s playing tonight do you want to go see him?’ I said, ‘Sure.’

“So we go to see Chuck Berry where he was singing and playing and Elvis is looking at him on stage.

“And Elvis turned to me and said, ‘There’s the real King of Rock and Roll up there right now’ and that’s what Elvis Presley said about Chuck Berry.

So we would like to pay tribute to the King of Rock and Roll with this song right here…”

At that moment, Sir Tom’s guitarist started the opening riff for Berry’s famous Johnny B Goode, made famous for another generation by Back to the Future.

The Welsh singer ended up concluding his set with another classic, saying ‘Sometimes people ask me, what is your favourite rock and roll song? And it’s this one right here…’

At that moment the 83-year-old star began to sing Jerry Lee Lewis’ Great Balls of Fire.