NEWS

‘I sang it live on TV and it sold 80,000 copies the next day – keeping the Beatles’ Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever off the No 1 slot’

by Dave Simpson Mon 18 Oct 2021 10.25 EDT The Guardian

Engelbert Humperdinck, singer

I started off working in clubs under my real name, Gerry Dorsey. Then I got tuberculosis and nobody in showbusiness wanted to handle me, because it was a serious disease back then. When I was in hospital I told my mother that a priest had come to visit me and been really kind. She said: “Son, he was giving you the last rites.”

Things started to turn round for me when Tom Jones’s manager, Gordon Mills – who I’d met when he was in the Viscounts and we toured together – started managing me as well. He suggested I change my name to something more unusual or unforgettable than Gerry Dorsey. Engelbert Humperdinckwas a 19th-century German composer who is best known for his opera Hansel and Gretel. At first I said: “What kind of a name is that?” But if anything is unforgettable, that name is.

At the end of 1966 when I was looking for a hit song, I found an instrumental called Release Me by the jazz saxophonist Frank Weir. The melody was so beautiful. I said to Gordon: “This is a hit tune.” It was written [by Eddie “Piano” Miller and Robert Yount] in 1949 and had been done by a few people, but we found a lyric version by Esther Phillips, which was R&B. I wanted to do it more like the Frank Weir version, but with lyrics. Gordon also suggested it to Tom Jones, but Tom didn’t like it, so Gordon said to me: “You can have it.” I changed the key in the middle so I would hit this big “Pleeeeeease” and gave it to an arranger, Charles Blackwell, who did an amazing job.

The record sat on the shelf for three months, then [singer] Dickie Valentine got ill before the Sunday Night at the London Palladium show, and I got the opportunity to take his place on live television. The record sold 80,000 copies the next day and just kept selling. It stopped the Beatles from having their 12th No 1 [with Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever] and became the biggest-selling record of 1967. It still holds the record for the longest consecutive stay on the charts: 56 weeks.

It’s actually quite a dark song about wanting to get out of a relationship, but people love it and go crazy for it on the karaoke. When the Queen made me an MBE, I was relieved as that meant people would start to know who I was and stop thinking I was the one who did Hansel and Gretel.

Charles Blackwell, arranger

Joe Meek gave me my first chance as an arranger. The legendary producer heard me playing piano in Denmark Street, London, when I was 18. Before that, you needed to be 40 to do that job. When we worked at his flat in Holloway Road he’d have the rhythm section in one room, a string section in the dining room and French horns in the bathroom. The big one I did with Joe was Johnny Remember Me by John Leyton, which was a No 1. I left before things got pretty dark and Joe shot his landlady and himself, but I ended up working with Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Burt Bacharach … loads of people.

A week before I did Release Me with Engelbert, I recorded it with Tom Jones, but it never came out and Gordon said: “We now want to make it with Engelbert.” At the session everyone still called him Gerry. When we all found out about the new name everyone thought Gordon had gone crazy, but he was a very clever manager.

Tom Jones’s version was more gospel, so for Engelbert I changed the arrangement into what you might call orchestral country music. In those days you’d have a singer, rhythm section, choir and orchestra all in one big room. The two top guitarists I used were Big Jim Sullivan and a very young Jimmy Page, just before he formed Led Zeppelin. I don’t think they found the Release Me session all that interesting – they played pocket chess between the takes.

Then I remember the choir got the giggles. Every time we started the song they started laughing. After it happened for a fourth time, Engelbert whispered to me: “Are you sure this is a good song? Everyone’s laughing at it!” I don’t know if it was the song they were giggling at, but he had the last laugh. A couple of months later it was a worldwide No 1.

• Engelbert Humperdinck tours UK, 31 October to 21 November. Details at engelbert.com

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/oct/18/how-we-made-release-me-engelbert-humperdinck-beatles-strawberry-fields-forever

Tune in to watch Engelbert being interviewed for the Ross Owen show on Friday, October 15th. The show will air 7:30PM GMT/2:30PM EST/11:30AM PST.

Here are the links:

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/TheRossOwenShow

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/rossowenshow/live

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RossOwenShow

LuAnn Thibodeau Special to the Medford Transcript WickedLocal.Com Oct. 13, 2021

To quote a line of lyrics from his song "We’ll Meet Again," “tell everyone in town that Humperdinck is back.”

And what a return it was! The sky was overcast, but Engelbert Humperdinck illuminated the Chevalier Theatre as he triumphantly returned on Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021.

Starting promptly at 7 p.m., the band began playing the overture as the curtain opened.  The cheers began and the anticipation of the crowd was palpable. 

From off stage, Engelbert’s voice was heard, singing one of his many hits "l Mondo" and the crowd got even louder. Then, when he walked out onto the stage, there was no holding back — the audience was on its feet and the applause and cheering reached a crescendo!

The man, the legend, the king of romance was indeed back and looking better than ever. As he entered stage right, the slim and trim Engelbert, clad in a grey tux and pants, paired so exquisitely with a black and red shirt, displayed his famous, brilliant smile, much to the delight of his fans. 

They now believed that he was indeed back, after a harrowing 18-month break from live concerts that affected the entire music industry and the world in general. The pandemic may have stopped live shows, but it couldn’t stop Humperdinck’s fans from keeping their love from and allegiance to him. 

In fact, through the innovative ways that he used social media, online concerts, weekly Tuesday Museday and Flashback Friday episodes, and more, Engelbert fostered even greater love to his fan base around the world.

His first song, "Ain’t It Funny How Time Slips Away," brought another standing ovation.  This is a new song to Humperdinck’s show, but you would never have known — he preformed the song as if he had been doing it for years!

After that song, he launched into fan favorites "Am I That Easy To Forget" and "Love Me With All Of Your Heart" before singing "What Am I Living For," a beautiful new song that he released on Nov. 20, 2020.

Engelbert had complete command of the stage, and never missed a beat, even though the were some glitches with his earpiece and microphone. Ever the epitome of a true entertainer, at one point, he sat down and said that perhaps he was going to have to turn the concert into a talk show, because of those issues. He also told several jokes and stories along the way, much to the delight of the audience.

Always wanting the audience to be involved in the show, Englebert encouraged the fans to sing along to "Lonely Is A Man Without Love." He ad-libbed the lyrics a bit when he sang “I cannot face this world that’s falling down on me.

Then instead of the next line — "So if you see my girl, please send her home to me" — he changed it to "I’ve gotta bend my back, it’s giving me agony,” as he mimicked bending over in pain. The audience roared with laughter, and it was obvious that the thespian of the music world was truly back.

Other songs included "Oh Girl Of Mine," which Engelbert told folks to get up and dance to if they wanted to do so. He himself danced around the stage to this song and others.

Two new songs were added to his show this year. The first was a major hit for Elton John. And Humperdinck’s rendition of "Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me" certainly didn’t fail the test of an artist being able to successfully cover a song.

The second song is one that Engelbert himself wrote several years ago. He told the audience that he doesn’t usually sing anything that he has written, but this one was dedicated to a special lady for whom he wrote the song (that special lady is Humperdinck’s darling wife of 56 years, Patricia, who passed away in February of this year after contracting COVID). "Everywhere I Go" brought many to tears as Engelbert poured his heart out, especially at the end of the song, when he looked up to Heaven, then closed his eyes and bowed his head.

Another song that Engelbert covered was "Don’t Let The Old Man In, written by Toby Keith. He explained that the words of this song are ones that he lives by, and anyone who doesn’t know that he is 85 years young would certainly agree with him — his energy level throughout the whole show was astounding.

Next came a song that Engelbert wrote with his daughter, Louise — "Totally Amazing" — and his performance was that and more. Returning to his earlier songs, he sang the title cut from the 1978 album "Last Of The Romantics," which was followed by "After The Lovin,'" the smash hit from 1977, as well as a medley of some of his many other hits.

But of course, no concert would be complete without the blockbuster hit that launched his career into the stratosphere. And when the audience heard the familiar introduction, they were on there feet and applauding loudly as Engelbert started to sing "Release Me."

The song is celebrating its 54th birthday this year, and it is still as popular as ever. The crowd continued its standing ovation as Engelbert finished the song and left the stage.

But it wasn’t the end of the show.

He returned for an encore and finished with a very emotional rendition of "For The Good Times." He then donned his red boxing robe which, on the back side has Engel written above a pair of gold wings and Bert below, and went along the front of the stage to greet fans who had gathered there.

He didn’t give his customary wonderfully warm handshakes due to the still present COVID precautions, but he did toss out few of his signature red hankies, a prized souvenir for those lucky enough to catch one.

He then enthusiastically conducted the band before clasping his hands while bowing to thank the audience, and exited stage right.

And fans left the theater, buoyed by the fantastic performance that they had just been a part of, knowing that, in the words of another line of the lyrics of "We'll Meet Again" — we’ll meet again some sunny day.

https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/medford-transcript/2021/10/13/engelbert-humperdinck-makes-triumphant-return-medfords-chevalier-theatre/8435428002/

October 6, 2021  John Soltes Hollywood SoapBox

Engelbert Humperdinck is a legend in the truest form of the word. He has been singing on stages, near and far, for more than 50 years, and he shows no signs of stopping. He is currently on tour in the United States and will stop at the State Theatre in Easton, Pennsylvania, Thursday, Oct. 7. At the concert, audience members can expect to hear some of the tunes that have made the British singer a global megastar — hits like “Release Me,” which charted for more than a year and beat out some of the Beatles tunes for the top spot.

Humperdinck, who has been honored as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE), has had a difficult two years. He has been away from his fans and hasn’t stepped foot on a stage in 19 months, and he also lost his beloved wife recently. That means his current tour will be a time for reflection and nostalgia, and the lyrics to his well-known tunes, often centered on love and forgiveness, will have an extra meaning and sentiment this time around.

Recently Hollywood Soapbox spoke with the legendary singer about his life, his career and what the future holds. It’s hard to see how he can out do himself. He’s a man who has sold north of 140 million records, with 64 gold albums and 35 platinum albums to his name (taken together that’s one shy of 100). He is on the walks of fame in Hollywood, Las Vegas and his hometown of Leicester, England. He has entranced audiences around the world, and the Queen of England has been in that audience four times.

Here’s what he had to say …

On how’s he feeling returning to the stage after 19 months …

It’s 19 months since I’ve been on stage performing, and it’ll be nice to get back on the road again and do these things, to see fans and friends. It’s going to be good. I’m looking forward to it very much. … I think after 19 months of absence from the stage, there’s definitely a little bit of nervousness involved. I’ve never been off this long in my life. I’ve done world tours every year, and I’ve always performed every month of the year everywhere all the time. Since the pandemic, there’s been nothing, and it’s quite nerve-racking actually to know that I’m going to go back. It’s like starting all over again, but it’s exciting.

On how his voice stays strong …

I thank God for that. Everything seems to have come back now. I did have the virus, and it did affect my voice a little bit in the early months of the year. But it’s back, and it’s as strong as it was before now.

On his love for playing the hits songs, including “Release Me” …

The kind of songs that I sing are trialed and tested around the world, and I’ve found out the kind of songs that they want to hear or the type of songs they want to hear that I’ve recorded over the years. And these are the ones that I place in the show, plus the new material that I can introduce to them. It’s a tough job picking the songs out, but it works out in the long run.

On how “Release Me” took over the world …

I’ll be honest with you, when I first heard the melody, I felt as though it was a hit song. I said to my manager at the time, ‘This is definitely a hit song,’ but it sat on the shelf for three months without moving until I did a show called the Sunday Night at the London Palladium. And I gave it an airing to the millions of people in the United Kingdom. The very next day it sold like 80,000-90,000 a day, so it just goes to show that when you have something to sell, you really have to market it in the proper way. Being on a major show like that made it happen.

On his competition with the Beatles …

I did compete with them. When ‘Release Me’ came out, I was competing with the Beatles at the time. They just released ‘Penny Lane’ and ‘Strawberry Fields,’ and I had to compete with them. And they never got to #1 because I kept that position. [laughs] … It was on the charts for 56 weeks, but it was #1 for a number of weeks.

On his dreams coming true …

You’re just glad that they came true. Your wishes have come alive, and it took one song, which was finding that needle in the haystack. But I happened to be lucky enough to find it. It gave me a global career immediately, so that’s one of the reasons why I was able to come to America so quickly because it went to #1 over here. And then, of course, all my work was released around the world, and now I can travel anywhere in the world and everybody knows my song and also thanks to karaoke. [laughs]

On his love for Leicester ….

As a matter of fact, I’m going to go back and do a tour. My tour starts in America on Oct. 3, and I’m doing nine dates in America. And then I go to the UK, and I do 14 cities beginning on Oct. 31. I’ve never done a tour as big as that in a long, long time. It’s going to be exciting, and I’m playing my hometown. … I still got my house there. Yeah, I still have my house in Leicester, and I frequent it whenever I can. It’s a beautiful house that I will never get rid of. I love it very much because I spend my Christmas and New Year’s there. It’ll stay there until I give it to the children, my kids.

On his thoughts of the past and the future …

I have to think about the future. I am going to reflect on the past on this tour because it’s a nostalgic tour. It’s going to be hard because I did lose my wife recently. The lyrics of my songs are very sensitive, and it’s going to make a difference the way I read lyrics in the future. … I hope [the audience] takes away the fact that I have pleased them in every respect and that they will come back and see me again in the not-too-distant future.

https://www.hollywoodsoapbox.com/interview-engelbert-humperdinck-on-his-continuing-journey/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2busEf_d8o

Join EH on Wednesday, September 29th at 4pm EST for a special 'Live at Home' concert on his YouTube channel - before he hits the road for his upcoming US & UK tour dates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2busEf_d8o

Warren Kurtz September 13, 2021 Goldmine Magazine

​​Engelbert Humperdinck’s 2006 twenty-one song live CD Totally Amazing has just been re-issued on gold metallic vinyl as a double album, from a 2005 concert at the Casino Rama Resort in Orillia, Ontario, sixty miles north of Toronto. The collection is released on Goldenlane Records, part of Los Angeles’ Cleopatra Records.

GOLDMINE: Congratulations on the Totally Amazing double vinyl release and welcome to our 5th annual Goldmine Fabulous Flip Sides interview. Before we get to Totally Amazing, let’s go back to 1980 to your Love’s Only Love album, one of your records which Joel Diamond produced. It included the single “Any Kind of Love at All,” written by Ray Dahrouge, with a touch of a Bee Gees sound, which I love. A live version of the flip side is also on Totally Amazing, “A Chance to Be a Hero,” about seeking to make it, written by Paul Brower, and sounding like something Lionel Richie might have written. I love this one, too.

ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK: It is such a great story because it typifies my life. I started my singing career at the age of seventeen, as the lyric says, “When I was only seventeen, I knew just what I wanted to be. On the stage, on the front page, with the spotlight shining, the spotlight shining on me.” For this person to write the lyric in such a way that it tells my story all these years later is amazing. 

GM: It is amazing. The next song on the live album is “There’s No Good in Goodbye,” originally on your Let There Be Love album. It has a tender opening, which builds to a powerful chorus and an equally powerful ending.

EH: That title rings hard to me now due to the recent passing of Patricia. 

GM: Engelbert, like I wrote earlier this year, I am terribly sorry. I know that you and Patricia married in 1964, so for those of us who began buying your records in the 1960s, it was always you and Patricia, to us. Again, I am so sorry. I know how close you were.

EH: Thank you. Oh yeah. It has changed my life. It makes the reading of lyrics a lot different from how I read them prior to this happening. Now the words become more vivid and real, and my expressions are more visible. In depicting these songs, it is like an actor changing to become Marlon Brando, delivering deep impact. I don’t know how it is going to show on stage, because I haven’t done a show yet this year, but I know that I read the lyrics differently now. I’ve always said that I am thespian of song and let’s hope that people like what they are going to see and hear when I return to the road next month.

GM: Let’s talk about another family member, your daughter Louise, who you co-wrote the title song “Totally Amazing” with.

EH: My daughter has been very instrumental in my life. She brings out the young version of what I should be doing, and of course she has a daughter now, Olivia, who is an outstanding singer, at just thirteen, an unbelievable vocal talent. I was delving into songwriting a bit and I was always using the phrase “totally amazing,” so I thought that I should write a song with that phrase. I wrote the line, “Totally amazing, that’s what you are,” and I played it to Louise and her partner Tony Toliver and between them and myself we wrote the song “Totally Amazing.” I believe at some point there will be another version of this song which will be a hit for sure, ha ha.

GM: You feature a lot of your hit songs in the concert. When I put on the second record, it opened with you saying, “This is not my song, but I like it.” It is Keith Urban’s “Somebody Like You,” with a wonderful tempo.

EH: My conductor at the time was Jeff Sturges. We no longer have him, but he was very instrumental in my life. We worked together so much, and he knew me like the back of his hand. With arrangements, he could read my mind. Jeff brought me this song and said, “You’ll love this song,” and I did, and of course, I recorded it. Jeff would bring his old tape recorder when we worked together, which was a $30 machine he bought from Radio Shack and I liked it so much that he bought me one, and I still have it to this day, still use it, and it is always a memory of Jeff when I take it out. 

GM: What is interesting to me when I listen to that song now, which was recorded in 2005, I am reminded of something you recorded more recently, which is Bruno Mars’ “Just the Way You Are,” from your 2017 The Man I Want to Be album, which we have discussed before.

EH: I think Steve Anderson did an incredible arrangement of that Bruno Mars song, totally different from Bruno’s chart, and I use it on stage so much. It is very effective. 

GM: Another song from the album, which I learned first from someone else, is “Too Young.” I know it is older than Donny Osmond, but I was introduced to it through his 1970s Top 40 record. Your version is wonderful.

EH: I learned it from Nat King Cole’s record, seventy years ago, “They try to tell us we’re too young.” I love that particular song. When it was brought up for me to record it on my Love Unchained album with the great arranger Bebu Silvetti, who is probably the greatest string arranger God has ever created, who I did five albums with, it was a joy working with a musician of that quality. I miss him so much, because in today’s world you are always looking for a great arranger, and I miss the ones who I have used in the past. 

GM: Going back to the Nat King Cole era, filled with standards, “I Wish You Love,” is also on the album, which sounds like a romantic movie song for a Valentine’s Day.

EH: Oh yeah. I was in Paris with a friend of mine, Frank Namani, who owns a clothing business, and we were sitting, having dinner at this restaurant and three violinists came along and start playing “I Wish You Love.” Frank said to me, “Why don’t you sing it for the people?” I said, “I can’t sing in a restaurant.” He said, “The people will love it.” So, I started singing “I Wish You Love” with the three romantic violins playing and who should be sitting at the next table but Charles Trenet, who wrote the song. It was so wonderful to know that a legendary writer like that was sitting at the next table while I am busking in a restaurant. I enjoyed it so much and it prompted me to continue to sing that wonderful song in my show.

GM: The album ends in a patriotic way with “Columns of Gray,” including bagpipes, which must have been something to see in the show. Wow! What a finale.

EH: This was written by one of my guitar players who I have used in the past, Mike Egan, and he was originally from Scotland, and he is a wonderful man, a great talent, a great guitarist, and has a flair for writing great songs. He lived in Belgium and saw all the graves in Germany and decided to write this song. I told him I loved it so much, that I wanted to sing it, and did a video of it as well. It is a reminder of what went on in the past. I used it in my show for quite some time and now it has come out on this vinyl release, and probably my first vinyl album in thirty years. If you go to a shop now, turntables are in the front and CD players are in the back. Everyone is buying record players again. 

GM: Going back to the original vinyl era, there is a string of songs at the beginning of the concert album where I just love the order, “Am I That Easy to Forget,” “The Last of the Romantics,” “A Man Without Love,” which comes through with a fun bounce, and then “After the Lovin’,” which I certainly remember from late night radio in the mid-1970s. It is a wonderful sequence.

EH: I am pleased with the variety. “You Make My Pants Want to Get Up and Dance” is a fun song. That was done many years ago by a rock group. Do you remember them?

GM: Yes, it was Dr. Hook, from their album Pleasure & Pain. We would play that album and your Last of the Romantics at the record store where I worked in 1978.

EH: Yes. You are right. You’ve got a great memory, my gosh.

GM: You were given a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire award on Queen Elizabeth’s birthday this year. Congratulations.

EH: Thank you. I am so grateful. They are behind at The Royal Palace in physically giving out the honors due to the pandemic. Thank you again for this annual visit and all your support of my music.

https://www.goldminemag.com/columns/fabulous-flip-sides-of-engelbert-humperdinck

https://www.goldminemag.com/columns/fabulous-flip-sides-of-engelbert-humperdinck

LuAnn M. Thibodeau WickedLocal.com Sept. 23, 2021

"Tell everyone in town that Engelbert is back."

Those song lyrics say it all — Engelbert Humperdinck returns to The Chevalier Theatre on Oct. 3 for his only performance in Massachusetts on this East Coast tour.

So what has he been up to since the pandemic halted live concerts in March of 2020? Well, never having been one to rest on his laurels and prior success, Engelbert, at the young age of 85, is as popular as ever, with fans of all ages.

Through innovative ways, such as his weekly Tuesday Museday and Flashback Friday episodes that he shares on YouTube as well as his social media pages, and his website that keeps fans informed of news and tour information while also providing multimedia files of concerts and a discography section of his music through the years, he keeps in touch with fans around the world.

Engelbert also had a live online YouTube concert in the summer of 2020, as well as his first ever Christmas concert last December-broadcast online from his beautiful home in California, after which fans had the opportunity for live one on one video chats with him. He also is on Cameo.com, a site from which fans have a way to receive a personalized video from him.

And on Monday, Sept. 13, he was live on YouTube, updating fans about his tour schedule, announcing the 2nd annual Christmas special which will be happening this December, and also receiving an award from YouTube for reaching 100,000 subscribers. In addition, the song that he recorded with Janet Devlin (a young singer/songwriter from Ireland)during the pandemic(he was in California and she was in Ireland when they recorded it) — “Can’t Help Falling In Love “ — has been viewed over 2 million times!

The Legend, The King of Romance, will perform two shows before he returns to The Chevalier Theatre, then four more East Coast stops before he heads back to California for a show there.

After that, he jets off to perform several concerts in the United Kingdom in late October and November, and then back to California, performing in early December. How does he do it? Well, he follows the advice of one of his song titles — "Don't Let The Old Man In"... and he certainly doesn't.

His show at The Chevalier Theatre in May of 2019 was “Totally Amazing”(another of his song titles), and the Oct. 3 show promises to be that and more, as Engelbert plans to include a song that he wrote for his wife many years ago — "Everywhere I Go" — which will undoubtedly be tough for him, as Patricia, his wife of over 50 years, passed away in February of this year, from COVID.

It definitely is a show not to be missed.

For more tickets and information, log on to the Chevalier Theatre's website.

https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/medford-transcript/2021/09/23/engelbert-humperdinck-returns-chevalier-theatre-medford-oct-3/8379501002/

Here are 49 amazing archive pictures of Arnold George Dorsey, the Leicester legend better kbnown as Engelbert Humperdinck.

Engelbert was born in Madras as one of ten siblings, and moved to Leicester at the age of 10 with parents Mervyn and Olive. He took up playing the saxophone and worked in clubs in the early 1950s before taking up singing in his late teens where his impression of Jerry Lewis led friends to call him Gerry Dorsey.

He would go on to use this as his stage name for almost a decade.

After being conscripted to the army he signed a deal with Decca records in 1958 with his first single I'll Never Fall in Love Again.

His big break came in 1965 when he teamed up with music manager Gordon Mills who also looked after Tom Jones. It was him that suggested the name change to Engelbert Humperdinck - borrowed from a 19th century German composer.

Things started to move on a pace and by 1967 he was keeping the Beatles off the top chart position with his version of Release Me that stayed in the Top 50 for 56 weeks, selling 85,000 copies a day at its height.

This set of pictures charts some of those early days events of Leicester's much loved son.

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/history/gallery/way-used-be-49-archive-5924736

In celebration of hitting 100,000 subscribers, Engelbert will be doing a special YouTube Live session on  Monday, September 13th 12:15 PM PT, along with a few other announcements and surprises.

If you haven't subscribed to his YouTube channel, you may do so here:

https://www.youtube.com/EngelbertHumperdinckTV