GREAT MALE SINGERS: Engelbert Humperdinck

Here are sevaral songs performed by the great singer Engelbert Humperdinck.

Engelbert Humperdinck (born Arnold George Dorsey in 1936) is an English pop singer. He is best known for his songs "Release Me" and "The Last Waltz", both singles topping the UK music charts in 1967 and selling in large enough numbers to help the singer achieve "the rare feat of scoring two million sellers in one year." In North America, he is also known for his 1976 hit single "After the Lovin'." Humperdinck is regarded by music critics to be "one of the finest middle-of-the-road balladeers around." He has sold more than 150 million records worldwide.

By the early 1950s, he was playing saxophone in nightclubs, but he is believed not to have tried singing until he was seventeen, when friends coaxed him into entering a pub contest. His impression of Jerry Lewis prompted friends to begin calling him "Gerry Dorsey", a name that he worked under for almost a decade.

In 1965, Dorsey teamed up with Gordon Mills, his former roommate in the Bayswater area of London, who had become a music impresario and the manager of Tom Jones. Mills was aware that Dorsey had been struggling for several years to become successful in the music industry, and he suggested a name-change to the more arresting Engelbert Humperdinck, borrowed from the German 19th-century composer of operas such as Hansel and Gretel. Dorsey adopted the name professionally but not legally. Mills arranged a new deal for him with Decca Records, and Dorsey has been performing under this name ever since.

Humperdinck enjoyed first real success during July 1966 in Belgium, where he and four others represented England in the annual Knokke song contest. Three months later in October 1966, he was on stage in Mechelen. He made a mark on the Belgian charts with "Dommage, Dommage", and an early music video was filmed with him in the harbour of Zeebrugge.

In the mid-1960s, Humperdinck visited German songwriter Bert Kaempfert at his house in Spain and was offered arrangements of three songs: "Spanish Eyes"; "Strangers in the Night"; and "Wonderland by Night". He returned to England where he recorded all three songs. He recognized the potential of "Strangers in the Night" and asked manager Gordon Mills whether it could be released as a single—but his request was refused, since the song had already been requested by Frank Sinatra.

Humperdinck's easygoing style and good looks earned him a large following, particularly among women. His hardcore female fans called themselves "Humperdinckers".

For six months in 1969 - 1970, Humperdinck fronted his own television series The Engelbert Humperdinck Show for ATV in the UK, and ABC in the US. In this musical variety show, the singer was joined by some of the most popular and legendary figures then active in entertainment, including Paul Anka, Shirley Bassey, Tony Bennett, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Ray Charles, Four Tops, Lena Horne, Liberace, Lulu, Carmen McRae, Dusty Springfield, Jack Jones, Tom Jones and Dionne Warwick.

By the start of the 1970s, Humperdinck had settled into a busy schedule of recordings, and a number of signature songs emerged from this period, often written by noted musicians and songwriters; among them, "We Made It Happen" (written by Paul Anka), "Sweetheart" (written by Barry Gibb and Maurice Gibb), "Another Time, Another Place," and "Too Beautiful To Last" (theme from the motion picture Nicholas and Alexandra). In 1972, he starred in his own BBC Television series Engelbert with The Young Generation on BBC1 which ran for thirteen weeks, featuring the dance troupe and regular guests The Goodies and Marlene Charell, as well as international guests. By the middle of the decade, Humperdinck concentrated on selling albums and on live performances, with his style of balladry less popular on the singles charts, developing lavish stage productions that made him a natural for Las Vegas and similar venues. He performed regularly at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas through the early and middle years of the decade, recording a live album at the venue with The Three Degrees as backing singers.

In 1976, Humperdinck's commercial credentials were buoyed by "After the Lovin'", a ballad produced by Joel Diamond and released by CBS subsidiary Epic. The song was a top ten hit in the US and was nominated for a Grammy Award, went Gold, and won the "most played juke box record of the year" award. The album of the same name reached the top twenty on the US charts, and was a Double Platinum hit for the singer. As critics point out, the singer's unexpected foray into the "Philadelphia Sound" was successful, adding to the overall strength of the work. Rounding off the year, Humperdinck made his first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson with a live performance of the hit single. Joel Diamond went on to produce a series of albums recorded by Humperdinck for Epic, including This Moment in Time from 1979 (the title song topped the US adult contemporary charts) and two Christmas albums. In 1979, following his late-decade chart successes stateside, Humperdinck took his stage show to Broadway with appearances at the Minskoff Theatre.

In the 1980s, Humperdinck consolidated his discography, recording regularly and performing as many as 200 concerts a year while continuing with headlining appearances in Las Vegas at the Hilton Hotel (Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino). In the early and mid 1980s, he made a number of special appearances as an actor on popular television dramas of the time, including The Love Boat, Hotel, and Fantasy Island.

Following his stint as a recording artist with Epic, he released what William Ruhlmann has called an "ambitious double album" titled A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening (1985). Ruhlmann commends Humperdinck for recording this album of standards from the American Songbook; he notes that the work "was a long time coming," while acknowledging that "the album deserved a broader distribution than it received." The album was released in the UK as Getting Sentimental and reached the UK Top-40 album charts in the summer of 1985.

In the following years, Humperdinck continued with studio recordings, including a duet with Gloria Gaynor for his 1987 album Remember, I Love You. In 1989, he recorded Step into My Life. Songs on the album were written by songwriters and musicians such as Dieter Bohlen and Barry Mason. It spawned several singles: "Red Roses for My Lady", "I Wanna Rock You in My Wildest Dreams", and a version of Dieter Bohlen's first hit from the album Modern Talking, "You're My Heart, You're My Soul".

Humperdinck was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1989 and won a Golden Globe Award as entertainer of the year.

In the 1990s he retained a public profile, making numerous appearances on radio and television, including the Late Show with David Letterman and The Howard Stern Show, and at events such as the 1996 Daytona 500, where he performed The Star-Spangled Banner.

Humperdinck's recording career has continued into the new century, with new albums and a range of musical collaborations. In 2000, he hit the top five of the British album charts with Engelbert at His Very Best, and returned to the top five four years later, after he appeared in a John Smith's TV-advertisement. In the spring of 2003, Humperdinck collaborated with Grammy Award-winning artist-producer Art Greenhaw to record the roots gospel album Always Hear the Harmony: The Gospel Sessions; joining Humperdinck on the album were The Light Crust Doughboys, The Jordanaires and The Blackwood Brothers. The critically acclaimed album was nominated for a Grammy for "Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album of the Year", while Humperdinck was photographed with generations of fans at the 2004 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. He was back in the studio soon after, releasing Let There Be Love in 2005. Music critics have remarked on the historical span of material in the album, from songs first made popular in the 1920s to more recent ones from the 1990s, and point especially to Humperdinck's version of Nick Lowe's "You Inspire Me" as a noteworthy cut. In 2007, Humperdinck released The Winding Road. In a conversation with Larry King, Humperdinck discussed the genesis of the album; he pointed out that The Winding Road featured songs exclusively by British composers, as a "tribute to [his] home country", released as it was to mark 40 years since his first international hit recording.

Well into his fifth decade as a successful entertainer, Humperdinck enjoys an annual schedule of international concert dates. He has performed in a range of venues and events. In 2009, Humperdinck performed at Carols in the Domain, a popular Christmas event held in Sydney, Australia. The following year found him in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the prestigious Orchestra Hall, in a performance on October 2010. In November 2010 he returned to Australia for a number of concerts, while adding a new studio album, Released, to his discography. Despite international tours, Humperdinck frequently returns for concerts in the United Kingdom; in May 2015, Humperdinck returned for three concerts in his home country, at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, the Symphony Hall, Birmingham, and the Royal Albert Hall.

Humperdinck's current recording project is a new studio album of duets. The double-CD, Engelbert Calling, was released in the UK on 17 March 2014 by Conehead Records, and charted in the UK Top-40. The album finds the singer in duets with such musicians as Charles Aznavour, Elton John, Johnny Mathis, Lulu, Willie Nelson, Olivia Newton-John, Cliff Richard, Smokey Robinson, Kenny Rogers, Neil Sedaka, Ron Sexsmith, Gene Simmons, and Dionne Warwick, among others. The album was released in North America by OK! Good Records on 30 September 2014, with Humperdinck making a number of promotional appearances on radio and television. A Special Edition Vinyl EP with four tracks from the album was released in May 2015. According to OK! Good Records, the EP is Humperdinck's first vinyl release after a gap of twenty-five years, and "will be a limited edition 7” vinyl record with a first pressing of 1,000 copies on transparent cloudy clear vinyl."

On January 13, 2016, Humperdinck performed for a sold out show in The Villages.

In 2006, the University of Leicester awarded Humperdinck with an Honorary Doctorate of Music. On 25 February 2009, Leicester City Council announced that Humperdinck would be given the Honorary Freedom of Leicester. In 2010, Humperdinck was one of the first nine people to be honored with a plaque on the Leicester Walk of Fame.

Enjoy Engelbert Humperdinck’s great voice and style!