Engelbert Humperdinck (singer)
Arnold George Dorsey MBE (born 2 May 1936), known professionally as Engelbert Humperdinck, is a British pop singer who has been described as "one of the finest middle-of-the-road balladeers around".[1] He achieved international prominence in 1967 with his recording of "Release Me".
For the German composer, see Engelbert Humperdinck (composer).
Engelbert Humperdinck
Starting as a performer in the late 1950s under the name "Gerry Dorsey", he later adopted the name of German composer Engelbert Humperdinck as a stage name and found success after he partnered with manager Gordon Mills in 1965. His recordings of the ballads "Release Me" and "The Last Waltz" both topped the UK Singles Chart in 1967, selling more than a million copies each.[2] Humperdinck scored further major hits in rapid succession, including "There Goes My Everything" (1967), "Am I That Easy to Forget" (1968) and "A Man Without Love" (1968). In the process, he attained a large following, with some of his most devoted fans calling themselves "Humperdinckers". Two of his singles were among the best-selling of the 1960s in the United Kingdom.
During the 1970s, Humperdinck had significant North American chart successes with "After the Lovin'" (1976) and "This Moment in Time" (1979). Having garnered a reputation as a prolific concert performer, he received renewed attention during the 1990s lounge revival with his recordings of "Lesbian Seagull" for the soundtrack of Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996), and a dance album (1998). The new millennium brought a range of musical projects for the singer, including the Grammy-nominated gospel album Always Hear the Harmony: The Gospel Sessions (2003) and a double album of duets, Engelbert Calling (2014). In 2012, Humperdinck represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku with the song "Love Will Set You Free", and placed 25th out of 26. After marking more than 50 years as a successful singer, Humperdinck continues to record and tour, having sold more than 140 million records worldwide.[3]
Early life[edit]
Arnold George Dorsey was born in Madras, British India (now Chennai, India) in 1936,[4] one of 10 children born to British Army NCO Mervyn Dorsey, who was of Welsh descent, and his wife Olive who, according to the singer, was of German descent.[5][6] Various sources also say that he has Anglo-Indian heritage.[7][8][9] His family moved to Leicester, England, when he was ten years old. He later showed an interest in music and began learning the saxophone. By the early 1950s, he was playing saxophone in nightclubs, but he is believed not to have begun singing until he was in his late teens. His impression of Jerry Lewis prompted friends to begin calling him "Gerry Dorsey", a name that he worked under for almost a decade.[10]
Dorsey's attempt to get his music career off the ground was interrupted by conscription into the British Army Royal Corps of Signals during the mid-1950s. After his discharge, he got his first chance to record in 1959 with Decca Records. He had been spotted when he won a talent contest in the Isle of Man the previous summer. Dorsey's first single "Crazy Bells" (b/w "Mister Music Man")[11] was not a hit despite him plugging the songs on two appearances on the ITV teenage music show Oh Boy! in February [12] and March 1959.[13] He switched to Parlophone later that year but his first record for them, "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (b/w "Every Day Is a Wonderful Day")[14] was not successful either. Dorsey would return to record for Decca again, but almost a decade later and with very different results. Also in 1959 he became part of a touring show called "The Big Beat Show" with other pop singers of the time including Billy Fury, Vince Eager, and Terry Dene.[15] Further television appearances followed in 1959 on the ITV show "The Song Parade".[16] A tour as a support to Adam Faith followed[17] and he continued working the nightclubs. In June 1961, however, he was stricken with tuberculosis and spent nine months in hospital.[18] He eventually regained his health and returned to show business in 1962 but had to start virtually all over again. Dorsey went back on the variety stage and to nightclub work, but with little success.[19]
Career[edit]
Changes and "Release Me"[edit]
In 1965, Dorsey teamed up with Gordon Mills, his former roommate while in Bayswater, London, who had become a music impresario and the manager of Tom Jones.[10] Mills, aware that the singer had been struggling for several years to become successful in the music industry, suggested a name-change to the more arresting Engelbert Humperdinck, borrowed from the 19th-century German composer of operas such as Hansel and Gretel.[1]
The reason was simply the unusual sound of the name in English. The same is true for German - this is why the artist performs only as "Engelbert" in Germany, Switzerland and Austria ("Humperdinck" sounds funny, because 'humper' reminds of 'humpeln", i.e. 'hobble').
Humperdinck enjoyed his first real success during July 1966 in Belgium, where he and four others represented Britain in the annual Knokke song contest, winning that year's prize.[20][21] 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.[22]
In the mid 60s, 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 Britain where he recorded all three songs. He recognised 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.[23] "Spanish Eyes" and "Wonderland by Night" would be included on the singer's 1968 LP A Man Without Love.[24]
In early 1967, the changes paid off when Humperdinck's version of "Release Me" topped the charts in the United Kingdom and hit No. 4 on the US Billboard 100. Arranged by Charles Blackwell in an "orchestral country music" style, with Big Jim Sullivan and Jimmy Page as session musicians and a full chorus joining Humperdinck on the third refrain, the record kept the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" from the top slot in the United Kingdom (for the first time since 1963).[25] The B-side of "Release Me", "Ten Guitars", continues to be enormously popular in New Zealand.[26] "Release Me" spent 56 weeks in the Top 50 in a continuous chart run, and was believed to have sold 85,000 copies a day at the height of its popularity.[27] The song has remained at the core of Humperdinck's repertoire ever since.
Humperdinck's easygoing style and good looks soon earned him a large following, particularly among women. His hardcore female fans called themselves "Humperdinckers".[28] "Release Me" was succeeded by two more hit ballads: "There Goes My Everything" and "The Last Waltz", earning him a reputation as a crooner, a description which he disputed. As Humperdinck told Hollywood Reporter writer Rick Sherwood:
Personal life[edit]
Lifelong Catholics Humperdinck and Patricia Healey wed in 1964; the two first met at the Palais de Danse, a nightclub in Leicester.[89] They had four children, and the family lived between homes in the UK and the US.[90][91]
Humperdinck's wife once said that she could paper their bedroom with all of the paternity lawsuits filed against her husband.[91][92][93] He was successfully sued for paternity by two women during the 1970s and 1980s.[91][92] In 1988, Humperdinck filed a libel suit against the National Enquirer. The origin of the libelous statements was said to be Kathy Jetter, the mother of Humperdinck's illegitimate child, and were made in an affidavit filed by Jetter in New York Family Court in an effort to increase child support payments from Humperdinck. Jetter lost the action.[94] Jetter had successfully brought a paternity suit against Humperdinck following the birth of her daughter Jennifer in 1977.[95]
In 2017, the singer revealed that Patricia had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for 10 years.[96][97][98] She died in Los Angeles on 5 February 2021 after contracting COVID-19. Humperdinck later described how the family had prayed with her and blessed her with water from Lourdes before she "slipped softly away".[99][100]
Humperdinck retains ties with Leicestershire, where he spent much of his youth, and is a fan of Leicester City F.C.[101] In August 2005, he auctioned one of his Harley-Davidson motorbikes on eBay to raise money for the County Air Ambulance in Leicestershire. In 2006, the University of Leicester awarded Humperdinck an Honorary Doctorate of Music.[102] On 25 February 2009, Leicester City Council announced that Humperdinck would be given the Honorary Freedom of Leicester alongside author Sue Townsend and former professional footballer Alan Birchenall.[103] In 2010, Humperdinck was one of the first nine people to be honoured with a plaque on the Leicester Walk of Fame.[104]
Humperdinck has also been active in real-estate investments in Mexico and the US. In the latter half of the 1970s, the singer bought the Pink Palace in Los Angeles, previously the home of Jayne Mansfield; in 2002, he sold the mansion to developers.[105] During the 1980s, Humperdinck bought a hotel property in La Paz, Mexico, and renamed it La Posada de Engelbert.[106] The hotel was demolished in 2012, and replaced by the Posada Hotel Beach Club.[107]
Humperdinck was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to music.[108]