ROCK TSAR; Tom the Voice is a hit with Russians

POP LEGEND Tom Jones is wowing a whole new audience... in Moscow.

Even Russian president's wife Lyudmila Putin is said to be a secret admirer of Tom, 61, whose two concerts in the Kremlin next weekend have already sold out.

A box office manager said: "We've never seen a star who's so popular with all age groups. We've had babushkas (grannies) queueing for tickets alongside schoolgirls.

"Seats are already changing hands on the black market for hundreds of dollars."

But student Olesya Sokolova, 19, who was buying tickets with five friends, said: "I never knew he was so big with my grandmother's generation.

"I can't believe they're into Sex Bomb, but that's the song that we all love."

Welsh Tom is remembered by Russians from the dark days of Communism when tapes of his songs had to be smuggled in from the West.

But it seems he also had fans in the KGB - the notorious secret police.

A source in the organisation, now renamed the FSB, said: "We've taken up an allocation of tickets. Your Jones the Voice is popular with all Russians, never mind where they come from."

First lady Mrs Putin refuses to give much away about her musical tastes...or anything else.

But one Russian music internet site revealed: "Tom Jones is a real favourite with her."

WHAT Tom might sing for Mrs Putin: It's Nyet Unusual What's New Putincat The Green Green Grass of Omsk Why Why Why, Dimitri Funny Familiar Forgotten Kremlins Something 'Bout You Babushka I Like

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