Engelbert Humperdinck Proves He’s Still a Legend at 89

At 89 years old, Engelbert Humperdinck continues to reign as one of Hollywood’s most beloved crooners. With sold-out shows, soaring demand for his merchandise—including the fan-favorite Engelbert teddy bear—and a career that shows no signs of slowing down, he remains as iconic as ever. Nearly five decades after first wowing audiences, he’s preparing to take center stage at the London Palladium once again, proving that his charm and timeless voice still captivate fans worldwide.

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Success has brought riches. Although Team Humperdinck don’t give out figures, Engelbert’s wealth has been variously estimated at $90, $150 and even $180 million

Engelbert Humperdinck, entirely in black apart from plumped white silk tie and the flash of gold and diamonds on ring finger, hunches his back, spreads his palms and unleashes the furniture-shifting boom that signals the big key change in Release Me.

The crowd at the Pechanga Casino and Resort in southern California, mostly, it must be said, ladies of a certain age, loses what remains of its self-control and surges towards the 77-year-old singer.

One grey-haired woman climbs over me in her determination to be Humpderdincked. Who can blame her? Engelbert’s voice threatens to overwhelm the auditorium. He is fantastic.

Like most Britons, the last time that I saw Humperdinck live was Eurovision 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

He sang Love Will Set You Free, a composition precision-designed to showcase his ballad style.

‘I’ve been married to the same lady 49 years,’ said Engelbert (with wife Patricia)

But after voting so anti-British that the UK would have struggled if Harry Potter had been singing, Humperdinck finished some distance behind six singing grandmas from Russia and Ireland’s Jedward.

Nearly 70 million people were watching. Such a public setback would have broken other performers, but not Humperdinck.

‘I knew it was political but I didn’t think they’d be that cruel,’ he tells me in his dressing room after the show.

‘But I’m a fighter; I fight to keep my strength, my will, my talent.’

Off stage, he is just as remarkable as on.

Although over six feet tall and broad-chested enough to house the lungs that power that phenomenal voice, he fills the room as much by strength of character as size.

Sitting at a dressing table littered with the brushes required to tame his still energetic hair, he proclaims his mantra: ‘I move on, I’m always thinking of something new. Looking for the spark.’

Humperdinck’s latest spark is provided by – incredibly – his 80th album. Recorded over two years, Engelbert Calling features duets with, among others, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers and Dionne Warwick.

The name comes from Elton John’s admission that in his early days he’d wait for Engelbert Humperdinck to call so he could sell a song.

‘Now I’ve finally made that call to Elton,’ Humperdinck says with satisfaction.

‘And he answered so quickly. He wrote me a wonderful letter and of course, being Elton, sent flowers. Orchids.’

If Elton sends you orchids you’ve still got star attraction.

Born Arnold George Dorsey in Madras in 1936, the son of a British soldier, Humperdinck has had that pull ever since he performed Release Me on Sunday Night At The London Palladium in 1967.

‘I was scared,’ he says of the live broadcast.

‘I was shaking. I had six minutes to establish myself.’

On his Eurovision experience: ‘I knew it was political but I didn’t think they’d be that cruel. But I’m a fighter; I fight to keep my strength, my will, my talent’

Within a week the single was selling ‘127,000 copies in a day’ and had stopped The Beatles from getting to number one with Penny Lane.

He moved to the Surrey showbiz belt, with The Beatles as neighbours.

‘My dog used to steal food from John Lennon’s house and bring it home. Lennon said, “Tell that Humperdinck to keep his bloody dog away from me.”’

An international sensation after appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show (‘A nice man but he introduced me as Engeldinck Humperbert’), Humperdinck moved to the U.S., where his success as a British solo star would be matched only by Tom Jones.

Both were managed by Gordon Mills. It was Mills who plucked ‘Tom Jones’ from a movie poster, and Mills who gave Gerry Dorsey a name previously used by a 19th-century German composer.

‘Gordon said, “Tom will be the rocker and you take the ballads.”’

Gordon was right. Humperdinck went on to sell over 150 million albums.

At the height of his popularity in the Seventies he was on the road for six months at a time.

Performing under a hail of thrown knickers, Humperdinck developed a reputation as a womaniser to match the one he had as a singer.

The subject of at least two paternity suits in the Seventies, he admits he lost his perspective.

Born Arnold George Dorsey in Madras in 1936, the son of a British soldier, Engelbert hit the big time when he performed Release Me on Sunday Night At The London Palladium in 1967

‘You step in a bunch of s***,’ he says evenly enough to suggest he has both forgiven himself and been forgiven.

‘But I was able to climb out of it. You have to learn how to behave. To accept that you mess up sometimes, the devil takes over and you lose it for a moment.

‘Everything is brand new and everything is being thrown at you. But if you’ve got any intelligence you get back on the right path. That’s what I did.

‘I’ve been married to the same lady 49 years and she’s put up with some stuff. I’ll tell you, my respect for her is far greater than anything else in my life.’

His wife Patricia, mother of their four children, must wonder if the adulation will ever abate.

Earlier in the evening LaVonne Simonides, 84, who runs the California chapter of the Humperdinck fan club, had told me she stands at the front of the stage ‘in case there are people who don’t have good intentions.

‘We had one lady who got up on stage and bit Engelbert. You know, actually bit him.’

On stage, Humperdinck often takes the mickey out of himself, feigning an old man’s shaky legs. Does he do that to diffuse the remaining madness?

‘I learned from Elvis,’ he reveals. ‘Elvis had a great deal of fame but he kept his humility. He didn’t take his image seriously.’

Humperdinck owns one of the ‘Takin’ Care of Business’ pendants Presley gave to friends.

‘Elvis told people he thought of me as the twin he lost at birth. We always had that affinity,’ Humperdinck says.