Engelbert Humperdinck
Engelbert Humperdinck
Background information
Birth name	Arnold George Dorsey
Also known as	Engelbert Humperdinck
Born	May 2, 1936 (1936-05-02) (age 71), Madras, India
Genre(s)	Easy listening, pop
Instrument(s)	Vocalist
Years active	1956-present

Engelbert Humperdinck (b. Arnold George Dorsey, May 2, 1936, Madras, India) is a well-known Anglo-Indian pop singer who rose to international fame during the 1960s, after adopting the name of the famous German opera composer as his own stage name. Engelbert Humperdinck (September 1, 1854 – September 27, 1921) was a German composer, best known for his opera, Hänsel und Gretel (1893). ... Image File history File links ENGELBERT2. ... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_India. ... , “Madras” redirects here. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For popular forms of music in general, see Popular music. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... , “Madras” redirects here. ... Anglo-Indians are persons who have descended from a mix of British and Indian parentage. ... Popular music is music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more of the mass media. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ...

Early years

One of ten children of a British Army officer and his British wife, Arnold George Dorsey's family migrated to Leicester, England when he was ten, and a year later he showed an interest in music and began learning the saxophone. By the early 1950s, he was playing in nightclubs, but he's believed not to have tried singing until he was seventeen and friends coaxed him into entering a pub contest. His impression of Jerry Lewis prompted friends to begin calling him Gerry Dorsey, a name he worked under for almost a decade. Leicester city centre, looking towards the Clock Tower Leicester (pronounced ) is the largest city and unitary authority in the English East Midlands. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto)1 Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Monarch Queen Elizabeth II... This does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

His budding music career was interrupted when he served in the British military in the mid-1950s, but he got his first chance to record in 1958, when Decca Records gave him a chance. His first single, "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," was anything but a hit, but Dorsey and the label would reunite almost a decade later with far different results. Dorsey continued working the clubs until 1961, when he was stricken with tuberculosis. He regained his health but returned to club work with little success, until, in 1966, he teamed with an old roommate named Gordon Mills who had become a music impresario and the manager of Tom Jones. Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... It has been suggested that Decca Music Group be merged into this article or section. ... Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... Gordon L. Mills (born March 30, 1928 in Brighton, Sussex, England, died June 4, 2004) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. ... Sir Thomas Jones Woodward, OBE, (born 7 June 1940), known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Grammy Award-winning Welsh popular music singer particularly noted for his powerful voice. ...

Changes and chart topping

Aware that Dorsey had been struggling several years to make it in music, Mills suggested a name change to the more arresting Engelbert Humperdinck, borrowed from the composer of such operas as Hansel and Gretel. Mills also arranged a new deal with Decca Records. And in early 1967, the changes paid off when Humperdinck's version of "Release Me," done in a smooth ballad style with a full chorus joining him on the third chorus, reached the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic and went to number one in England, knocking The Beatles' adventurous "Penny Lane" from the top slot in America. Hänsel und Gretel is an opera by Engelbert Humperdinck (Humperdinck himself described it as a fairy opera. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... Release Me is a song recorded by Wilson Phillips. ... The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ... Music sample Penny Lane ( file info) Problems? See media help. ...

Even in a year dominated by psychedelic rock music, "Release Me"'s success may not have been that surprising, considering Frank Sinatra's chart comeback that began a year earlier, and stablemate Tom Jones's success with a ballad or two in the interim, both of which probably opened some new room for more traditionally-styled singers. "Release Me" was believed to sell 85,000 copies a day at the height of its popularity, and the song became the singer's signature song for many years. For psychedelics, see psychedelic drug. ... Francis Albert Sinatra (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American jazz-oriented popular singer and Academy Award-winning actor. ...

Humperdinck's deceptively easygoing style and casually elegant good looks, a contrast to stablemate Tom Jones's energetic attack and overtly sexual style, earned Humperdinck a large following, particularly among women. "Release Me" was followed up by two more hit ballads, "There Goes My Everything" and "The Last Waltz", earning him a reputation as a crooner that he didn't always agree with. "If you are not a crooner," he told Hollywood Reporter writer Rick Sherwood, "it's something you don't want to be called. No crooner has the range I have. I can hit notes a bank could not cash. What I am is a contemporary singer, a stylized performer." There Goes My Everything is a book and a song. ... The Last Waltz was one of Engelbert Humperdincks biggest hits, spending 5 weeks at number one on the British charts in September and October 1967. ... The Hollywood Reporter is one of two major trade papers of the film industry in the United States, the other being Variety. ...

The hits kept coming---he charted with "Am I That Easy To Forget," "A Man Without Love," "Les Bicyclettes del Belsize," "The Way It Used To Be," "I'm A Better Man," and "Winter World of Love" before the 1960s ended and the 1970s were truly underway; he scored with such albums as The Last Waltz, The Way It Used To Be, A Man Without Love, and Engelbert Humperdinck. So did his own television program, though it didn't last as long as Jones's program did, being cancelled after six months.

Beyond the 1960s

As top 40 radio became less hospitable to his kind of balladry and a few Broadway influences found their way into his music, Humperdinck concentrated on selling albums and on live performances, developing lavish stage presentations that made him a natural for Las Vegas and similar venues. He wasn't entirely a stranger to hit singles, however---"After the Lovin'," a rhythmic ballad recorded for Mills's MAM Records (and released through Epic, a CBS subsidiary, in the United States), became one of the biggest hits of his career in 1976 and earned the singer a Grammy Award nomination for the album of the same name. The Lion King at the New Amsterdam Theatre, 2003 Broadway theatre[1] is the most prestigious form of professional theatre in the U.S., as well as the most well known to the general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows. ... The south end of The Strip; approximately one third of the entire Strip is represented here. ... CBS Broadcasting, Inc. ... Year 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

It was a conscious effort to update his music and his image. "I don't like to give people what they have already seen," Humperdinck was quoted as saying in a 1992 tourbook. "I take the job description of 'entertainer' very seriously! I try to bring a sparkle that people don't expect and I get the biggest kick from hearing someone say 'I had no idea you could do that!'" He also defended his fan mania, which helped him continue to sell records when radio play dried up for him. "They are very loyal to me and very militant as far as my reputation is concerned," Humperdinck had told Sherwood. "I call them the spark plugs of my success." Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ...

But he later revealed that he had little if any say in the selection of songs for his albums, a fact that had sometimes brought into question whether he was his own or his manager's or record label's pawn. As his career moved on, however, Humperdinck began gaining more creative freedom, and his albums accordingly brought several kinds of songs into his reach beyond syrupy ballads. But he kept romance at the core of his music regardless, and he's long since been tagged by fans as "the King of Romance."

1980s to present

Engelbert at his very best album released in 2000

By the 1980s, approaching his fiftieth birthday, Humperdinck continued recording albums regularly and performing as many as two hundred concerts a year---yet managed somehow to maintain a strong semblance of family life. He and his wife, Patricia, raised four children, all of whom are said to have become involved, eventually, in their father's career, even as the family alternated between homes in England and in southern California. Download high resolution version (690x690, 75 KB) This is an album cover. ... Download high resolution version (690x690, 75 KB) This is an album cover. ...

He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1989 and won a Golden Globe Award as entertainer of the year, while also beginning major involvement in charitable causes such as the Leukemia Research Fund, the American Red Cross, the American Lung Association, and several AIDS relief organisations. He even wrote a song for one such group, the theme anthem for the group Reach Out. "[H]e's a gentleman," longtime friend Clifford Elson has been quoted as saying of him, "in a business that's not full of many gentlemen." A band plays on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. ... The Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are American awards for motion pictures and television programs, given out each year during a formal dinner. ...

The 21st century

Humperdinck—who changed his name legally to his stage name at the height of his career (though he's known in Germany and Austria merely as Engelbert; the composer's heirs had sued him over his stage name adoption)—hit the top five British album charts in 2000 with Engelbert At His Very best, and returned to the album top five four years later, after he appeared in a John Smiths advertisement.

In August 2005, Humperdinck auctioned his Harley-Davidson motorcycle on eBay to raise money for the County Air Ambulance in Leicestershire, where he spent so much of his British youth. [1] Logo on a 2003 Harley Davidson The Harley-Davidson Motor Company (NYSE: HDI) is a manufacturer of motorcycles based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ... eBay headquarters in San Jose eBay North First Street satellite office campus (home to PayPal) eBay Inc. ...

Trivia

Engelbert Humperdinck bought the famed Pink Palace, the former home of actress Jayne Mansfield during the 1970s. He sold the forty-room, Mediterranean-style mansion---built in 1929 but famous for Mansfield's installation of a heart shaped swimming pool and pink lighting, and sitting on over an acre of land---for a reported $4,000,000, $3,025,000 more than Mansfield had paid, to developers who tore it down to make way for other houses in 2002. Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer, April 19, 1933—29 June 1967) was an American actress and Playboy centerfold. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ...

His only daughter, Louise Dorsey, made a brief foray into television during the 1980s. Most notably she appeared in an episode of Murder, She Wrote and voiced the new Misfits band member Jetta on the third and final season of Jem. She currently works for her father as a PR consultant and occasionally sings with him on stage. Jessica in the episode The Cemetery Vote Murder, She Wrote is a popular, long-running television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. ...

Eddie Izzard has an entire section about Engelbert Humperdinck as part of his Dress to Kill routine where Izzard speculates on other possible stage names for Humperdinck including Zangelbert Bingledack, Wingelbert Humptyback, and Slut Bunwalla. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Eddie Izzards performance of Dress To Kill is a continuation of the British comedians surrealist, ideas-based comedy. ...

Humperdinck appeared in a Christmas commercial for the office supplies store Staples in late 2006. STAPLES redirects here. ...

Humperdinck performed the introduction music "Little Boxes" on Season 2, Episode 3 of Showtime's comedy series Weeds in 2006. Showtime is a subscription television brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world, but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United States. ... Weeds may be: Weed, an undesired plant growth (weeds, plural) Slang for Cannabis, the herb used for its psychoactive effects, but also grown into hemp Weeds (television), the 2005 Showtime television series starring Mary-Louise Parker and Elizabeth Perkins. ...

Chris LeDoux mentions Humperdinck in his song "Honky Tonk World", released in 1994. It includes the line, "Don't even think that your Engelbert Humperdinck record's gonna turn her on." Ironically, the song was covered by Humperdinck on his 2006 album "Totally Amazing". Chris LeDoux (October 2, 1948 – March 9, 2005) was an American country music singer-songwriter, bronze sculptor and rodeo champion. ...

In an episode of Arthur, "The World of Tomorrow; Is there a Doctor in the House?" Binky travels to the future and greets someone named Thruster whom he mistakes for Buster. When Thruster asks his name he replies, "and my name is Engelbert Humperdinck." to which Thruster refers to him until he travels back. Arthur is an American and Canadian educational children’s television series which airs primarily on PBS in the United States; CBC Television, Radio-Canada, Knowledge Network and TVO in Canada; and BBC One in the UK, although it has been syndicated to numerous other stations throughout the world. ...

Engelbert and Jimi Hendrix were on the same package tour as the Walker Brothers and Cat Stevens in 1967 and surprisingly the two got on quite well. This article contains a trivia section. ... Walker Brothers is a series of pancake houses in Chicagoland. ... Yusuf Islam[2] (Arabic: يوسف إسلام) (born Steven Demetre Georgiou on 21 July 1948 in London), who was known as Cat Stevens from 1966 to 1978, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, educator, philanthropist and prominent convert to Islam. ...

Well-known songs

• "Am I That Easy to Forget?"
• "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You"
• "Release Me"
• "The Last Waltz"
• "Misty Blue"
• "After the Lovin'"
• "Quando, Quando, Quando"
• "A Man Without Love"
• "Spanish Eyes"
• "This is My Song"
• "There Goes My everything"
• "Christmas Songs - Engelbert's rendition of Winter wonderland"
• "Les Bicyclettes de Belsize"

The Last Waltz was one of Engelbert Humperdincks biggest hits, spending 5 weeks at number one on the British charts in September and October 1967. ... Album cover for Ella Fitzgeralds Misty Blue. ... After the Lovin is a 1976 hit song, performed by singer Engelbert Humperdinck. ... Quando, Quando, Quando is an Italian pop song dating from the early 1960s, written by Alberto Testa and Tony Renis (sometimes credited under his birth name Elio Cesari). ... This Is My Song was an international hit song for British singer Petula Clark (and in the UK for Harry Secombe). ... There Goes My Everything is a book and a song. ... Les Bicyclettes de Belsize is a 1968 British musical short film (30 mins) starring Judy Huxtable and Anthony May. ...

Hit singles

¹ #1 Adult Contemporary hit for 1 week
² #1 Adult Contemporary hit for 2 weeks The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. ... The UK Singles Chart is currently compiled by The Official UK Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the British record industry. ... See also: 1960s in music. ... The Last Waltz was one of Engelbert Humperdincks biggest hits, spending 5 weeks at number one on the British charts in September and October 1967. ... See also: 1967 in music, other events of 1968, 1969 in music, 1960s in music and the list of years in music // January 4 - Guitarist Jimi Hendrix is jailed by Stockholm police, after trashing a hotel room during a drunken fist fight with bassist Noel Redding. ... Les Bicyclettes de Belsize is a 1968 British musical short film (30 mins) starring Judy Huxtable and Anthony May. ... // Perhaps the most famous musical events of 1969 are two legendary concerts. ... // Charles Wuorinen, aged 32, becomes the youngest composer ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. ... See also: 1970 in music, other events of 1971, 1972 in music, 1970s in music and the list of years in music // February 8 - Bob Dylans hour-long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New Yorks Academy of Music. ... See also: other events of 1972 list of years in music 1970s in music // January 17 - Highway 51 South in Memphis, Tennessee is renamed Elvis Presley Blvd January 20 - Pink Floyd debuts Dark Side of the Moon during a performance at The Dome, in Brighton, but due to technical difficulties... See also: 1970s in music. ... See also: 1970s in music. ... See also: 1970s in music. ... See also: other events of 1988 Musical groups established in 1988 Record labels established in 1988 list of years in music 1980s in music // Peter Ruzicka becomes director of the Hamburg State Opera and State Philharmonic Orchestra. ... See also: 1999 in music (UK) Musical groups established in 1999 Record labels established in 1999 // January 7 After eight years of marriage, Rod Stewart and supermodel wife Rachel Hunter announce their separation. ... See also: 2000 in music (UK) Musical groups established in 2000 Record labels established in 2000 2000s in music. ...

See also

• List of best selling music artists

This is a non-definitive list of best selling recording artists, embracing worldwide single and album sales. ...

References

• Allmusic
• The Biography Channel
• Yahoo!
• Starpulse
• Live Daily

External links

• Engelbert Humperdinck Official Website
• Engelbert Humperdinck Fansite
• Interviews in the Leicester Mercury
• Engelbert Humperdinck at the Internet Movie Database