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Engelbert Humperdinck has been a much-loved international singing sensation for more than 50 years. He joins Craig Bennett in Los Angeles to discuss his lengthy career, and his plans for an upcoming world tour.

https://fb.watch/liOQcGkf89/

Engelbert Humperdinck’s ‘All My Love’ is filled with 1970s soul songs and his documentary ‘The Legend Continues’ takes us to three continents.

• Warren Kurtz Goldmine Magazine June 19, 2023

Engelbert Humperdinck returns to Goldmine with what has become almost an annual tradition since 2017, discussing his latest recordings and projects. For African American Music Appreciation Month (aka Black Music Month), Humperdinck discusses the half dozen 1970s soul songs from his new OK! Good Records release All My Love and more, plus he shares a glimpse into his new Cleopatra Entertainment documentary The Legend Continues.

GOLDMINE: Welcome to back again to Goldmine for our seventh time in seven years. You continue to release wonderful music and entertain us fans onstage.

ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK: Thank you. I am headed to Chile next, and I am in the process of brushing up on my Spanish because I will be singing about five songs in Spanish plus my standards. I took language lessons a long time ago, so now I am taking a refresher course.

GM: The new album ends with a pair of songs in Spanish. I enjoy the video of you and Lupita Infante smoothly performing “Bésame Mucho.” 

EH: Thank you very much. I do sing a little bit of Spanish in there. Not too bad, am I? Ha-ha.

GM: Then there is a bit of Spanish on a new version of a hit of yours that I grew up on, “A Man Without Love.”

EH: That is with Angélica María who is the sweetheart of Mexico and the numbers of viewers of that video is incredible, over two million. She beautifully handles the Spanish lines in the duet.

GM: Almost half of the 13 songs on the new album are soul songs from the 1970s. Let’s begin with Lou Rawls. “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine” was a big hit in 1976 when my wife Donna and I began dating and I was in my first semester in college where the single was on our jukebox. When I listened to the original flip side “Let’s Fall in Love All Over Again,” I heard such a similarity in Lou’s voice and yours on the opening line.

EH: That song has a jazz feeling to it, and you aren’t far wrong comparing Lou and me. When Lou Rawls’ “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine” played on the radio, many people thought it was me singing the song, so I put it in my show and when I would begin to sing it, wild applause exploded because many audience members thought it was my recording. It became a natural choice for the new album. Just like at your college, I had a jukebox in my home with all these songs on it at the time, and I still have that jukebox.

“When Lou Rawls’ ‘You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine’ played on the radio, many people thought it was me singing the song, so I put it in my show and when I would begin to sing it, wild applause exploded because many audience members thought it was my recording. It became a natural choice for the new album.” 

– Engelbert Humperdinck

GM: The album opens with Barry White’s “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything.” The approach you took is so fun and up-tempo.

EH: I thought I would keep it in its original mood but give it another style, making it right for line dancing and it turned out great. All the tracks I recorded for the album were done in Nashville, produced by Jurgen Korduletsch with a country feel, therefore it all fell into place. The video shows couples dancing to it in a honky tonk.

GM: Speaking of Nashville, Nashville’s female background singing team of L.C. Powell, Desiree Gillespie, Eyvonne Williams and Clydene Jackson are great and come through wonderfully on Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes’ “If You Don’t Know Me by Now” along with Charlie McCoy on harmonica.

EH: They did such a good job and as a matter of fact regarding that particular song, I have already introduced it into my show, and it gets a tremendous reaction with audience participation on the chorus. People love to sing. They love a familiar sound but want to know how I will interpret the numbers.

GM: Regarding interpretation, you deleted Gerald Alston’s verbal introduction on The Manhattans’ “Kiss and Say Goodbye,” which I think is a good idea since we already know the initial narration. Gerald told me when I interviewed him in 2019, “The song went platinum because of the story and the feelings projected when singing it.”

EH: You know, I love spoken introductions but there were only people like Barry White and Gerald who could do that sort of thing in the 1970s well (jokingly sharing a brief Barry White ‘oh baby’ imitation). They were good at it, and I am not. I’m a singer, ha-ha.

GM: I am pleased that the electric sitar sound of Mel and Tim’s “Starting All Over Again” was recaptured on your new recording.

EH: I listened to all the original versions of these songs, and it is hard to put your own stamp on music that is already well known but I certainly tried to offer that to the audience.

GM: The Three Degrees’ “When Will I See You Again” is not only fun but you also added a little bit of Maurice Williams’ “Stay” to it.

EH: Yes, I did. Over fifty years ago, I had a long stint in Las Vegas and the backing group were The Three Degrees. I am grateful that I helped give them exposure on stage in a professional place.

GM: I knew most of the songs on the album except two, “Walk Away” and “Take Me Back Again.”

EH: “Take Me Back Again” was written by Rudy Perez from Miami, south of you in Florida. He is a very good songwriter and arranger in the Latin music world. I recorded a version of it in 2010 and I thought I would record it again for this album. “Walk Away” was a mid-1960s hit for Matt Monro. I like the song. It has good content in it which will be good to add on stage when I decide to put it in.

GM: Speaking about the stage, your Cleopatra Entertainment documentary Engelbert Humperdinck: The Legend Continues is coming out. I love in the trailer how your daughter Louise so excitedly says, “Dad, we’re here at The Palace!”

EH: Yes, and I seem shocked about it. I have been there many times. I am a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats, which is a British entertainment industry fraternity and charitable organization based in London. The last time I went was the 125th anniversary of the Water Rats. The queen gave a speech and spoke to me, and I had to bend down a long way to talk with her. She was a little lady and very charming. She was a wonderful person and is very dearly missed. 

GM: In the trailer Gene Simmons said about you, “If the magic connects with the audience, then you’ve got a superstar.”

EH: Isn’t that nice. Gene is a wonderful guy. When I worked with him on my duets album, he made me feel so comfortable. I had never been in the company of people of that rock star magnitude, singing with them before. Then Elton came in afterward and he was also the same. We spent a lot of time just talking and remembering old times. Gene told me, “Just think of us having a party.” As a matter of fact, we look a little bit alike. I know you have spent time with Gene and me both backstage and I look forward to seeing you again on the road as more tour dates get added to my website. Thank you and God bless you.

Following a summer and fall 2023 international film festival run and a Hollywood theatrical premier, Engelbert Humperdinck: The Legend Continues, which takes the viewer to three continents, will be released in time for the holidays on digital platforms worldwide and as a special Blu-ray and DVD package through Cleopatra’s home entertainment film distribution partner, MVD Entertainment.

https://www.goldminemag.com/columns/engelbert-humperdinck-on-new-album-documentary-and-lou-rawls-flip-side

BY TINA BENITEZ-EVES American Songwriter June 6, 2023

“It makes the world round,” Engelbert Humperdinck tells American Songwriter from his home in Beverly Hills, California. “Love makes the world go round.” 

Dubbed the “King of Romance,” the subject of love is far from exhausted within Humperdinck’s vocabulary, or catalog, one spanning nearly six decades. “Romance is what starts a love life,” he says. “People love to hear things that relate to their relationship, and my stories are of that nature.” 

Love, it’s been the bedrock of Humperdinck’s career. The subject matter followed albums Release Me, The Last Waltz, A Man Without Love, and his eponymous 1969 release with hits “Winter World of Love” and the Burt Bacharach and Hal David-penned “I’m a Better Man.”

On May 2, 2023, Humperdinck turned 87. Removed from the more sedentary activities of most octogenarians, the balladeer commemorated the day by releasing a new album, a collection of songs centered around the sweetest spot of his career on All About Love.

A collection of 13 R&B and pop classics, on All About Love Humperdinck takes on the Bee Gees’1971 hit “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart,” Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes R&B hit “If You Don’t Know Me By Now,” along with a country-western take on the Barry White classic “You’re The First, The Last, My Everything” — which reached nearly three million views on YouTube since its release in late 2022. All About Love also breaks down Lou Rawls’ 1970s hits “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine” and “When Will I See You Again,” along with Mel & Tim’s “Starting All Over Again” and The Flamingos’ 1959 crooner “I Only Have Eyes For You.”

Restoring more songs of romance, All About Love follows Humperdinck’s 2021 EP, Regards. The latter project featured more soulful renditions of “Let It Be Me,” made famous by The Everly Brothers in 1977, Willie Nelson’s “Funny How Time Slips Away,” and the Louis Armstrong classic, “What A Wonderful World.” It also included his version of Elvis Presley’s “Blue Christmas” — complete with a Texas two-step arrangement — and a more orchestral rendition of Charles Chaplin’s 1936 Modern Times classic, “Smile,” which was also featured on Humperdinck’s 2020 EP Sentiments.

Working around covers, specifically released within the 1960s and 1970s, All About Love was more about connecting to a song for Humperdinck, rather than searching for new standards. “I don’t have any new songs, because it’s very difficult to find that new song that you can turn into a standard of your own,” he says. “Familiar sounds are what people like to hear, and that era — the’60s and 70s — was a very good era for great songs.”

Deeper into All About Love, Humperdinck revisits the 1940 bolero song “Bésame Mucho” with mariachi star Lupita Infante and closes the album with a Spanish-English duet of his 1968 hit “A Man Without Love (Cuando Me Enamoro),” featuring Mexican singer Angelica Maria, who also had a hit with the song in Mexico in the late ’60s.

“Angelica [Maria] agreed to do it with me because my song was a hit in America and all over the world, and hers was a big hit in Mexico, so the collaboration was made sense,” says Humperdinck. “She did it in Spanish and a little bit in English, and I did a little bit in Spanish and a little bit in English.” He laughs, “My Spanish is not too bad.”

“A Man Without Love,” originally written by Italian songwriters Daniele Pace, Mario Panzeri, Roberto Livraghi, peaked at No. 2 on the U.K. charts for Humperdinck and remained on the U.S. charts for more than a year after its release.

Reminiscing on songs further back in his collection, including “There Goes My Everything,” “Am I That Easy to Forget,” “After the Lovin’, and “This Moment in Time,” Humperdinck considers them all timeless. 

“I still sing them in my show, so they really have good standing for me, because they don’t date,” says Humperdinck. “For instance, ‘Quando Quando Quando’ and ‘Spanish Eyes,’ these songs never die. They’re forever things.”

Originally released on A Man Without Love, “Quando Quando Quando” recently appeared in an episode of The Umbrella Academy, while “A Man Without Love” was featured in the 2022 Marvel Studios series Moon Knight. Both songs demonstrate Humperdinck’s cross-generational connections nearly 60 years on.

“I’ve got all generations across the board, in every age group,” he says. “It’s unbelievable. I’ve got fans in their teens.”

To this day, Humperdinck still marvels at stories of people still playing his 1967 No. 1 hit “The Last Waltz” at weddings and other special occasions. “That song is known all over the world,” says Humperdinck. “I was talking to somebody about it from another country, and they said, ‘Your song was played in my dancehall at the end of the night.’ It’s the last song played in dance halls around the world.” 

Humperdinck continues, “It’s totally amazing. I still hear how a song like ‘After the Lovin’ has had so much influence in people’s lives. Last week, someone else said, ‘We got married to After the Lovin.’ It’s beautiful.”

Following the 2021 death of his wife of nearly 60 years, Patricia Healey, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for more than a decade, Humperdinck admits that he reads lyrics differently now. 

“Since I’ve lost my darling two years ago, I read lyrics a lot differently now,” shares Humperdinck. “I think there’s more depth and more meaning to it now for some reason or another. It’s just taken a different place in my heart.” 

He adds, “Each and every word becomes more meaningful before you read it as part of the content. Each becomes more meaningful, and you express it in a different way. It’s more heartfelt — not that it wasn’t before — but it’s even more so now.”

Just three years shy of 90, and tour-bound in 2023, with stops in Chile and the Philippines, Humperdinck says he’s not sure what comes next. But there will be something. 

“One never knows what the next project is going to be,” he says. “You just have to wait and something will strike.”

What is certain is the thing Humperdinck has always come back to in the end: love.

“I’m a love songwriter, so most of my songs are to do with love, but I also write poetry,” Humpedinck says. “I’m a poet, so I think writing lyrics comes quite easily for me, but melody’s a little bit more difficult.” 

When it comes to melody, Humperdinck doesn’t hesitate to take advice from his daughter, singer Louise Dorsey — who also voiced the character of Jetta in the 1980s cartoon Jem. “She’s very good at lyrics,” shares Humperdinck. “She’s written many songs on my albums.” 

Though Humperdinck considered canceling his tour following his wife’s death, he continued on. Retirement hasn’t entered his lexicon just yet.

“It’s my job,” he says, “I love walking on stage. I love the feeling that I get — and especially now. I just want to keep singing for as long as I can. To be honest with you, I’ve got nothing. I’ve got no one to come home to, so I’d rather be on the road and sing.”

https://americansongwriter.com/engelbert-humperdinck-never-tires-talking-all-about-love/

• British pop legend Engelbert Humperdinck lost his wife Patricia in February 2021

By LISA SEWARDS FOR WEEKEND MAGAZINE THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED: 17:31 EDT, 19 May 2023 | UPDATED: 17:31 EDT, 19 May 2023

He's the four-time Grammy-nominated legend who has had thousands of shirts ripped off his back and countless G-strings thrown at him on stage. 

Now Engelbert Humperdinck, the star with the most preposterous name in pop, is desperate to brave his army of adoring fans once again as he goes on tour in the hope of assuaging his grief after Patricia, his beloved wife of 56 years, died in February 2021.

'I'll be honest with you, I'm lonely,' says Engelbert, whose latest album was released on his 87th birthday earlier this month. 

'The only thing I want to do is get back on the road and sing. I want to work as much as I possibly can because I love getting the love from my fans. It gives me the will to live.'

Patricia, who suffered from Alzheimer's for over a decade before she died, was his rock and his soulmate until she succumbed to a cardiac arrest after overcoming Covid. 'You don't realise what you've lost until it's gone,' he says. 

'After losing Patricia I've felt so vulnerable and raw. Your whole thinking changes, your heart changes, your whole world changes. You read lyrics differently. Everything becomes more vivid in your mind and you can portray them in a more sensitive way.

'So in the show I dedicate a song called Everywhere I Go to her that I wrote about 30 years ago, saying I didn't realise a lyric could be so poignant at this point in my life. Although I wrote it so long ago I've put it back in my show because I've dedicated it to my darling, and people love it.'

The new album, called All About Love, is his unique take on some of the greatest love songs of all time, beginning with his first single in a few years – a fresh take on Barry White's 1974 chart-topper You're The First, The Last, My Everything.

Indeed Engelbert, or Enge as he's fondly known, is enjoying a bit of a renaissance right now, with a newly recorded version of West Ham United's football anthem I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles featuring in Brad Pitt's movie Bullet Train, his 1968 hit A Man Without Love going viral with 15.9 million streams on Spotify after appearing in Disney+ superhero drama Moon Knight, and Netflix's comedy fantasy The Umbrella Academy playing Quando, Quando, Quando during a fight scene.

'When I walk on stage even now, the reaction I get is amazing – they still scream,' he beams. 'I've also noticed that younger people have started to discover who Engelbert Humperdinck is, so I see a lot of new faces in the front row. I'll never retire. I just want to keep doing what I do because I love showbusiness.'

It was a chance meeting that led to the love story that spanned 65 years when he and Patricia crossed paths in 1956 at Leicester's Palais De Danse nightclub when she was 17 and he was 20. Back then, Enge went by his plain old birth name of Arnold Dorsey and was fighting to make a name for himself as a singer. 

He was so broke that he refused to marry Patricia until 1964, when he'd made enough money to provide for her and the four children – Louise, Jason, Brad and Scott – that followed.

It was Patricia who bought him a new pair of shoes when she heard that the Isle of Man was hosting a talent contest, and off they went to try his luck. He won the £75 prize and a free holiday. 

'She was so good to me and she made me feel so good,' he recalls wistfully. 'She stood by me all those years. That competition was a great experience. I sang Your Eyes Are The Eyes Of A Woman In Love and I won it. I knew then what I wanted to do.'

But it was a struggle in the early days. Enge was so strapped for cash he ended up sleeping on railway station benches or in freezing cold telephone boxes, unscrewing the light bulb so that passers-by wouldn't see him shivering inside. 'It was a hard life, but I think you learn from the hard knocks. 

One of the worst places I ever slept was a public convenience. When you put a penny in the slot you could stay in there as long as you liked,' he laughs. 'But Patricia stood by me even when I got tuberculosis in 1961, which was life-threatening. I spent six months on my back in hospital, and when I tried to get back into the business I was turned down by so many people.'

It was that brush with death that persuaded him to team up with Tom Jones's manager Gordon Mills, who suggested he change his name from Arnold Dorsey to Engelbert Humperdinck, borrowed from the 19th-century German composer of the same name. In 1967 Enge had his first Number One with Release Me. 

'It happened when I was asked to stand in at the last minute for my friend Dickie Valentine on Sunday Night At The London Palladium and I performed Release Me,' he says. 'It was a turning point I'm truly grateful for. It brought the song to such a huge audience and it spent 56 weeks in the top 50. It even stopped The Beatles from having their 13th Number One.'

He and Patricia were able to move from a tiny flat to a luxurious home in Surrey where John Lennon was a neighbour, before making the move to California. They then brought up their family between their LA mansion and their home in his native Leicester (the late Queen, who he sang for four times, used to call him Leicester Boy), complete with its own pub and a red telephone box.

At his peak he'd have to travel with 150 shirts as frenzied women would tear them off his back every night and throw their underwear at him, but these days he's more muted about that heady time. 'It was a phase and it never used to upset me, it was quite a compliment,' he says.

What hasn't changed is Enge's lustrous locks. 'I've been grey since I was 25, so I decided to colour it to avoid looking old. But at least I've still got hair to colour,' he laughs. 'And I've still got my sideburns too, after starting the fashion in the 60s. Everyone had them – The Beatles and my friend Elvis. I said to him, 'You stole my sideburns!' And he said, 'If it looks good on you then it's going to look good on me!'

Patricia loved sitting behind that 'glorious head of hair' when she rode pillion on his motorbike, and he still rides his Harley-Davidson around the Hollywood Hills. He's pleased to have been able to be by her side for her last years, just as she had been by his. 

After the Alzheimer's diagnosis he tried every kind of treatment, from stem cells to electroacupuncture, and she seemed to be making an astonishing recovery, saying his name again after being unable to speak for three years. 'I really thought she'd come out of it,' he says. 'Then along came the pandemic, which weakened her.'

But Patricia was far from weak. In his 2004 autobiography she confidently wrote her own chapter, which addressed his affairs and what she called 'enough paternity suits to wallpaper a bedroom'. 

She described how, far from being the long-suffering wife, she was not only robust but also took strength from dealing with these situations and encouraging Enge to tell the truth. 'Men are so different and sex doesn't always mean there's any love attached,' she wrote. 

'Men need it. That's why I didn't give two hoots about it, as long as it was sexual. But when it becomes a relationship that's when it becomes hurtful. I always said to myself, if ever he bought a flat or a home for someone then that would be it, because I would know then that the person meant a lot to him.'

Enge only read his wife's chapter after the book was published, and today he says, 'It was hard to read. I haven't read it for a while, but it is important so I think I'll read it again. My wife shot from the hip and told it like it is. I never met anybody as honest and straightforward as her. That's what I loved about her. She didn't pull any punches.

'I was so proud of her for writing that, and it was a release valve for me too. I needed to say a few things. As a matter of fact, I do have more to say, so maybe I'll write another. But for now Patricia would want me to just keep carrying on with the show, because there's no business like showbusiness. I just love it.'

• Engelbert's new album All About Love is out now.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12090617/Engelbert-Humperdinck-reveals-two-things-given-fresh-live.html

Cleopatra Entertainment Acquires Global Rights to Brand New Documentary Film Engelbert Humperdinck: The Legend Continues

Los Angeles, CA – After their successful 2021 Blu Ray release of Engelbert Humperdinck’s Totally Amazing concert film, Los Angeles-based Cleopatra Entertainment has followed up by acquiring global rights to the brand new and first ever documentary film about the legendary performer entitled Engelbert Humperdinck: The Legend Continues.

With unprecedented access to Engelbert and his close family, friends and business associates, director Steven Murray delivers a documentary shot across three continents at locations close to Humperdinck’s heart which shines an insider’s light on this multitalented, yet humble and unexpectedly humorous musical genius. Engelbert Humperdinck: The Legend Continues offers a unique insight into the world of Humperdinck, including never before seen concert footage and funny, frank and touching narration by Engelbert himself.

Following a summer and fall 2023 international Film Festival run and a Hollywood theatrical premier, the film will be released in time for the Holidays on digital platforms worldwide and also as a special Blu Ray and DVD package through Cleopatra’s home entertainment film distribution partner, MVD Entertainment.

The rights deal was brokered by Cleopatra Founder and CEO Brian Perera, Tim Yasui VP/GM of Cleopatra Entertainment, and by Alan Margulies of AM Productions & Management on behalf of the filmmakers.

Watch Engelbert Humperdinck: The Legend Continues Official Trailer: https://youtu.be/wU1lK4esUIw

About the artist:
Engelbert Humperdinck has been entertaining global audiences for decades, accumulating 64 gold albums, 35 platinum albums and a Golden Globe Award along the way. He continues to maintain an active Tour schedule around the world throughout 2023 and remains committed to recording new music for his fans. For more information about Engelbert Humperdinck, please contact https://www.engelbert.com/

https://www.wsmv.com/video/2023/05/17/engelbert-humperdinck-joins-today-nashville/

Los Angeles-based Cleopatra Entertainment has acquired global rights to the documentary film “Engelbert Humperdinck: The Legend Continues.” With unprecedented access to Humperdinck and his close family, friends and business associates, director Steven Murray delivers a documentary shot across three continents, which shines an insider’s light on the renowned musician.

Following a summer and fall 2023 international film festival run and a Hollywood theatrical premiere, the film will be released in time for the holidays on digital platforms worldwide and also as a Blu-ray and DVD package through Cleopatra’s home entertainment film distribution partner, MVD Entertainment.

Watch the trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=23&v=wU1lK4esUIw&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fvariety.com%2F&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY&feature=emb_logo

Sabrina Barr

Monday 8 May 2023 2:30 pm Metro

Just over a decade ago, the UK sent a legend of the music industry to the Eurovision Song Contest, putting forward acclaimed singer Engelbert Humperdinck to represent the nation.

Real name Arnold George Dorsey MBE, Engelbert headed to Baku in Azerbaijan for the contest, where he performed his song Love Will Set You Free.

As he releases a new album to mark his 87th birthday, Metro.co.uk spoke to the crooner about his time in the competition, some of the biggest milestones in his career and why he took his stage name from the 19th century composer behind the opera of Hansel and Gretel.

The artist also shared what he thought of the recently-released Austin Butler biopic about his close friend Elvis Presley, and what it’s been like to brush shoulders with royalty over the decades, having spoken ahead of the King’s Coronation.

Happy Birthday! Thank you so much for speaking with me on your birthday.

You’re welcome. It’s a big day today because today my album is released, All About Love, and it’s a great gift to me. It seems to be doing well. I’m looking forward to comments from social media and to see what happens.

Eurovision is coming up very soon. When you represented the UK in 2012 in Baku, what were some of your biggest standout memories?

I was a little bit concerned because they took somebody like me, who’s been around the world several times and got 65 gold and 20 platinum albums on my wall and I was with people who, they didn’t even have a record [contract].

One of the things they did, which I thought was rather harsh for me, they put me on first. There were grandmas that were there who were cooking and talking and singing, and they came somewhere like second.

I really hope that we have a winner this time with this young lady, Mae Muller. The song is great and may the best song win. Mae – you get that one?

Yes, great fun! Will you be tuning in to watch this year?

I’ll be watching, if I get a chance.

You have led such an incredibly illustrious career. Are there any achievements or milestones that you’re particularly proud of?

I’m very proud of the fact that I’m an artist that has been put on the Hollywood Walk of Fame along with many great legendary figures over there, that I was so happy to see when I walked down that strip. I’m in a very prominent position on that road. I’m right in front of The Roosevelt Hotel, so it’s a very prime position. I’m very happy about that.

I love the fact that your stage name was taken from the famous German composer. Going all the way back to when you adopted that name, what pushed you to make that decision?

I had a manager that gave me that name, his name was Gordon Mills. And I said, “Gordon, it’s very difficult carrying somebody else’s name.” And people were getting me confused and saying that, “How did you write Hansel and Gretel?”

But our late Queen was very kind to me during her time of life. She gave me the MBE, which I can put behind my name now, so it distinguishes me from the original.

Was it the Queen that you met when you had the ceremony?

No, it was Princess Anne.

What was it like meeting Princess Anne?

She was fantastic. I do admire her and her tenacity and the way that she could stand there for hours and talk to all the people receiving awards, one after the other, and with patience. When she spoke to me, I was so thrilled to be talking to this lovely lady. She really spent a lot of time with me, and I was thrilled about that.

I have been in the presence of royalty many times. I’ve met the Queen many times, I met the Queen mum, and of course the Duke of Edinburgh. When I performed for him, he used to sing all my songs all the way through. So I’ve been in that company many many times, which is really thrilling.

I have read that your most passionate fans have a nickname, the ‘Humperdinckers’. What do you think of that title?

There’s a lot of various silly names that they use, using my name as a play-off. The Humperdinckers, yes that’s one of those. I’ve got a plaque on the wall, it’s got all the names of it. They had a lot of strange names using my name.

It’s lovely to see the way that you connect with your fans a lot on social media.

Well, I do this this thing called Tuesday Museday, and I service them with all the information about what’s going on in my life at that particular moment, that day or that week, or whatever. It’s nice that I can communicate with them all over the world, and they all reciprocate. They answer me and I read the answers, when I have time I sit down and I go through the comments.

It’s so wonderful to know that people around the world appreciate you and your music and your way of life.

I know that you were very close with Elvis Presley. Did you see the recent biopic about him with Austin Butler?

Oh yes, I saw the movie. Absolutely fantastic and a very real life situation, because that was what he went through, his manager was taking him for a ride. I thought the actor did a great job of portraying him. Knowing Elvis in person, I think he did a very, very good job.

How would you feel if someone wanted to make a film about your life?

It would be a great thrill to know that my life was on film. It would make a good story. I’m thinking about writing my second autobiography, and putting in some home truths – more home truths than I did in the first one. It might make a good story for the movies.

Who would you want to play you?

It was tough to find a lookalike who was still on the planet. There were a few classic stars who could have pulled it off. I’ve been through so many looks, including hair below my shoulders and an almost-blonde era without the sideburns, but the sideburns have been my constant companion for most of my life. Harry Styles came to mind.

I’d have to leave it to a casting director though. I was so thin when I was young that I couldn’t keep the deck chair from folding in.

The music industry evolves at such a fast pace, and especially nowadays with social media as well. How do you feel in your experience that the music industry has evolved in recent years?

It’s a whole different ballgame in today’s world. In the early days, you had your arrangers that you met with, they would write the arrangement, and then you go into the studio with all the musicians and you would sing the song. In today’s world, you don’t do that.

You record the tracks early, and you could take your time recording and putting your voice on. Everything is so easy today, but not as rewarding as it was in the past. Because in the past, you had to sell a million albums to get a gold album. In today’s world, you don’t have to do that.

Can you tell me a bit more about your new album All About Love?

My producer and I have decided to take songs that are familiar to the public and songs that have been done before by many great artists. Finding new songs in today’s world is very difficult, it’s like a needle in a haystack. So I decided to do some songs that other people have done, and do it myself. All the tracks were done in Nashville, so it has a country flavour to it. I enjoy the music.

Performing live is a huge aspect of your career. How do you feel about your new tour?

I just got back from Chicago and Minnesota. I did a couple of shows and now I’m relaxing and preparing to go down to South America, to Chile and places like that.

In my new album, I did a couple of duets with two lovely ladies. One of them is a huge, huge star in Mexico, the sweetheart of Mexico, [Angelica Maria]. I sang one of my songs with her, A Man Without Love, and as a matter of fact, she had a big hit with it. She did it in Spanish and I did it in English, then I did it in Spanish and she did it in English on this particular album.

Another one is with another girl called Lupita Infante, with a romantic song Bésame Mucho, which is probably one of the most romantic Spanish songs written. It was recorded by Lupita Infante’s grandfather, and was a big hit by him, and now she’s recording it with me.

Do you have any memorable fan stories that you can share?

I used to take 175 shirts on the road, as every night I’d leave the stage and just be left with the cuffs. It may be hard to imagine, but that cost hit my pocket after every tour. Crazy movie-like days. 

A friend pretended to be me and exited the stage door while I slipped out another way and he was just left with cuffs.

When you go out on stage, do you have any pre-show rituals that you do?

First of all, I always have a good meal before I walk out on stage. I do warm up a little bit prior, but I am always very nervous at first when I’m on stage. I get cold hands, but after about two or three minutes of being on stage and getting a warm reception from my wonderful audience, that all goes away and I start to perform like a real performer.

For any other performers that feel nervous when they go up on stage, do you have any advice for how to get over the nerves?

It’s a personal thing, it really is personal and how do we get over it? They’ll find out in their own little way. It’s a personal thing getting nervous, and the way you handle it this the way you handle it. Some people handle it with a little bit of a tipple, a little bit of a drink, but I don’t. I just get over it naturally.

We have the King’s Coronation coming up. Are you going to be watching it?

I certainly will. I wouldn’t miss that for the world. I’m very happy and I’m sure it’s going to be a wonderful, wonderful sight for the world to see.

Have you met King Charles in the past?

No, I haven’t but I’ve met all the rest of the family. I’ve met the Queen, the Queen mum, Princess Anne, Princess Margaret when she was alive. The Duke of Edinburgh, who loved my music, because whenever I did something for him, he’d sing all my songs all the way through the show. It’s been wonderful.

Engelbert Humperdinck’s new album All About Love is out now.

https://metro.co.uk/2023/05/08/eurovision-engelbert-humperdinck-on-elvis-biopic-and-king-coronation-18729336/

Guy Bellamy's interview with Engelbert Humperdinck will air tonight, May 15th, at 9PM BST / 4PM EST / 1PM PST

https://greatmusicstories.com