NEWS

Entertainment legend Engelbert Humperdinck is returning to the Aloha State August 25 and now August 26, just on-sale today, at the Hawaii Theatre. HPR All Things Considered Host Dave Lawrence  spoke with him about a career that's intersected with some of the biggest stars, including Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Cary Grant and numerous other critical figures.

http://hpr2.org/post/hprs-all-things-considered-special-guest-engelbert-humperdinck

NHS Voices Release 'With A Little Help From My Friends' Today

NHS Staff Target Second No.1 Single Featuring A Plethora Of Amazing Artists 

With Production From US Superstar Timbaland

Today NHS Voices release 'With A Little Help From My Friends', a charity single that brings together superstar singers and healthcare heroes to mark the 70th birthday of the NHS.

A team of NHS staff organised the release featuring the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir which is made up of children’s doctors, physiotherapists, IT experts, midwives and more. They recorded the track at the legendary Abbey Road Studios alongside an incredible line up of musical talent.

Seal, Guy Garvey, Myleene Klass, Nile Rodgers, Louisa, Danny Jones, Beverley Knight, Engelbert Humperdinck, Reef, HRVY, Marina and the Diamonds, Una Healy, Alexandra Burke, Rick Astley, Squeeze, Gabrielle, Tom Smith from Editors, Tony Hadley, UB40, Blue are just a few of the amazing names who have generously given their time and energy to help sing on this incredible NHS milestone.

At the helm have been Brit Award-winning, Grammy nominated producer Jon Cohen and US superstar Timbaland creating a cover of the classic Beatles song.

Watch the video here:

https://ql.mediasilo.com/#ql/5b3cd867e4b0e74e47ba28cf/b076fef8-831a-42b5-b520-17f986d07c1a

The project was started by Joe Blunden, an NHS communications professional, and children’s Dr Katie Rogerson. Choir leader and children’s community physiotherapist, Caroline Smith, has also been instrumental in getting the project off the ground.

The record has been spearheaded by ordinary NHS staff, amazingly in their our own time in addition to their day jobs. Their tireless work saw them organise the recording of the song. From convincing ITV to make a documentary, to recruiting artists and booking studios, alongside orchestrating the publicity, they have hand a hand in it all. 

The team have form too! In 2015 they successfully campaigned to get the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir to the much coveted Christmas No.1 spot, beating (a very gracious) Justin Bieber.

The driving force behind this record is the current pressures on the NHS. . Joe and Katie want staff to know how much they are loved; both by celebrities, and the general public. Katie knows how much this record will do for morale. Joe works with NHS staff all over England, and see how hard they work, and how much they deserve a lift.

The track deliberately represents seventy years of music, to reflect seventy years of the NHS. Featuring artists from Englebert to HRVY, there is something for everyone, just like the NHS has something for everyone.

Joe said: “We see how hard NHS staff work every single day, and wanted to create something that would show them all just how appreciated they are. Everyone involved has been so generous with their time, and their talent, and we can’t thank them enough.” 

Dr Katie adds: “Joe and I wanted to think of a way to include everyone who is touched by the NHS in a huge celebration. What better way than a Band Aid-style song. This is our way to nod to the past seven decades of love, care and the best of British, standing hand in hand with 1.3 million fantastic staff to say ‘happy birthday NHS’.”

Caroline Smith said: “It is so exciting to be working on a project that celebrates the NHS on this incredible anniversary. Recording with other NHS staff from around the UK - in such a special setting as Abbey Road - has been a real honour. The fact so many amazing musical heroes of ours gave up their time speaks volumes about how highly they regard the NHS and its staff.”

All proceeds from the release will go to NHS Charities Together, a group of more than 130 NHS charities that have come together to celebrate the 70^th birthday of the NHS and raise awareness of the work they do to support patients, staff and community initiatives. 

NHS Voices features:

•  Alexandra Burke
•  Ali Campbell and Astro from UB40
• Aston Merrygold
• Beverley Knight
• Blue
• Chris Difford, Glenn Tilbrook, Simon Hanson from Squeeze
• Coleen Nolan
• Danny Jones
• Dennis Greaves, Mark Feltham and Ben Willis from Nine Below Zero
• Engelbert Humperdinck
• Gabrielle
• Gary Stringer from Reef
• Guy Garvey
• HRVY
• Jack and Tim, Britain’s Got Talent
• Louisa Johnson
• Marina and the Diamonds
• Mark King
• Myleene Klass
• Nile Rodgers
• Rick Astley
• Seal
• Tom Smith from Editors
• Tony Hadley
• Una Healy

Website www.nhsvoices.com

Twitter @NHSVoices

Facebook: nhsvoices

Instagram: nhsvoices

NHS Charities Together: www.nhsbig7tea.co.uk

#NHSVoices / #NHS70 / #NHSCharities

NEPA Scene, June 11, 2018

After celebrating 50 years of music there last year, legendary English balladeer Engelbert Humperdinck – known for hits like “Release Me,” “The Last Waltz,” “A Man Without Love,” “After the Lovin’,” and “This Moment in Time” – will return to the Sands Bethlehem Event Center on The Man I Want to Be Tour on Friday, Oct. 19 at 8 p.m.

Tickets, which are $35, $45, $55, and $75, go on sale this Friday, June 15 at 10 a.m. and can be purchased at sandseventcenter.com, the Event Center box office (77 Sands Blvd., Bethlehem), ticketmaster.com and all Ticketmaster outlets, or by phone at 800-745-3000. A pre-sale for members of the venue’s Music Insiders Club will take place on Thursday, June 14 from 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

Engelbert Humperdinck never wanted to be a singer. A career in music, yes, but he was extraordinarily shy. The youngest boy of a family of 10 children originally from Leicester, England, he grew up in Madras, India, where his father was stationed during World War II. Engelbert’s childhood was dominated by the love of his parents and his brothers and sisters. He knew he could sing harmonies, but the power of his own voice came as a surprise to him and other people. “It’s just so loud, but I discovered I can be tender with it at the same time.”

Like all great icons, he is a man of great depth – masculine and loving, shy inside and uninhibited onstage, prepared to play the sex god to the hilt and, still, at this stage of his career, managing to get away with it. “My mother’s side of the family had the singing voice, so I must have inherited that from her. My father was a man’s man – strong, athletic, charismatic. And I like to do all kind of men things. I love sports, golf, tennis martial arts, soccer, skiing, but at the same time, yes, I do appreciate women.”

In a career spanning almost 50 years, Engelbert has generated sales in excess of 140 million records, including 64 gold albums and 35 platinum, four Grammy nominations, a Golden Globe, and stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Las Vegas Walk of Fame, and Leicester Walk of Fame. He has performed for the Queen four times, several presidents, and many heads of state. He has recorded everything from the most romantic ballads to movie theme songs, disco, rock, and even gospel. His unique voice has charmed millions of fans around the globe. However, it’s not just the voice, but the man himself, with his endearing sense of humor and self-deprecating jokes. Engelbert managed to strike a new chord with a younger generation after appearing on MTV several times.

Engelbert entered the world as Arnold George Dorsey. At the age of 11, he started studying music and playing the saxophone. When he was 17, Engelbert found himself playing at a pub that sponsored a singing contest. Goaded by his friends to enter, he put down his sax and, for the first time, revealed another vocal talent: impersonations. Arnold George Dorsey gave an incredible impersonation comedian of Jerry Lewis – and was quickly dubbed Gerry Dorsey by his fans. It soon became his professional stage name.

Gerry Dorsey was very popular on the U.K. music circuit and, in 1959, he released a single called, “Crazybells/Mister Music Man” on Decca Records. However, he contracted tuberculosis, which silenced him for six months and nearly ended his rising music career. Upon regaining his health, Gerry Dorsey knew he had to end his former image to make a comeback as a strong, dynamic performer. A former manager suggested the new name, Engelbert Humperdinck, taken from the Austrian composer who wrote Hansel and Gretel. It was outrageous enough to be memorable. And thus was born the soon-to-be legend Engelbert Humperdinck.

Engelbert exploded on to the music scene in the ’60s with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. His ’60s did not so much swing as rage. The shy handsome boy catapulted almost instantly to world icon. He became great friends with Elvis Presley, and the two legends often performed each other’s songs. His first single in the charts was “Release Me,” which went into the Guinness Book of Records for achieving 56 consecutive weeks on the charts. It was No. 1 in 11 countries. The song was re-released after being used for a U.K. national television commercial for John Smith’s beer. The following decades saw Engelbert touring the world to sell-out crowds. He seems to take great pleasure in every moment on stage, a place where he can lose his inhibitions and no longer be the child who was once shy.

Engelbert’s music has transcended time and his voice still continues to reach out to people now – serving to transport and inspire, to embrace, and to provoke feelings and emotions… ingredients that are no doubt the essence of his long-lasting success.

http://nepascene.com/2018/06/balladeer-engelbert-humperdinck-returns-sands-bethlehem-event-center-oct-19/

Border Crossings host Larry London interviewed Engelbert Humperdinck whose career has spanned almost 50 years, Engelbert has generated sales in excess of 140 million records, including 64 gold albums and 23 platinum, four Grammy nominations, a Golden Globe, and stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Las Vegas Walk of Fame.

https://www.voanews.com/a/4389810.html

By Cathalena E. Burch Arizona Daily Star

May 4, 2018

Engelbert Humperdinck marked his 82nd birthday on Wednesday, but you might not want to make a big deal of it when he takes the stage at the AVA at Casino del Sol on Sunday, May 6.

“What do you mean happy birthday?” he quipped in a phone call on the eve of the big day last Tuesday. “I don’t have a birthday. I don’t have any birthdays, ever.”

Seems Humperdinck, who’s bringing his “The Man I Want to Be” tour to Tucson, stopped paying attention to birthdays when he turned 50. And he will be the first to tell you, he still feels 50, even on those long travel days as he makes his way around the country for 80 to 90 concert dates a year. And when he gets on stage, the years don’t seem to matter; he can still hit those high notes, dip into the lower register and sound just as crisp and heartfelt as he did when he was topping the charts back in the late 1960s and throughout the ’80s.

“I love it. And when I’m not working, I get itchy feet and I can’t wait to get on the road and do some more concerts,” he said. “It charges my batteries, It’s really, really a good feeling to walk on stage. It’s the best feeling I can get. It’s better than television, better than recording.”

Humperdinck, who is in the studio now working on a Christmas album, is touring on his latest studio album, released last November. “The Man I Want to Be” is a covers project of songs by everyone from Richard Marx and Ed Sheeran to Bruno Mars and Willie Nelson.

“I think it’s one of the best I’ve done in a long time,” he said, admitting that artists are quick to say that about their newest albums. “But I do think this is one of the best because it has some very unusual music on it and some very contemporary music.’

“Man I Want to Be” is a love letter to Humperdinck’s wife of 53 years Patricia Healey, who has been battling Alzheimer’s disease for the past decade. The record includes Humperdinck dueting with his 10-year-old granddaughter Olivia on the ballad “I’m Glad I Danced With You,” written by Olivia’s parents, Humperdinck’s daughter and son-in-law.

“It’s a love letter,” he said of the song. “I think my granddaughter does a great job of singing the lyrics that (Patricia) would want to sing herself.”

Expect to hear Humperdinck sprinkle a few cuts off the record into his show, which will celebrate the 50th anniversary of his breakthrough hit “Release Me.”

Backed by an eight-piece band, Humperdinck will pull out all the big hits — “After the Lovin’,” “Last Waltz,” “A Man Without Love,” “Crazy” — and toss in a medley of other notable songs from his 50-years-plus career in a show that will end with his trademark red handkerchief toss.

Every night, Humperdinck will toss out dozens of red handkerchiefs, embroidered with his name and sprayed with his cologne. It’s the ultimate fan-girl souvenir.

The tradition started by accident early in his career when he used a few handkerchiefs to wipe away the sweat during a concert. Fans in the front row extended their hands begging for the spent pieces of cloth and Humperdinck obliged.

“From then on I ordered thousands of handkerchiefs and carried on the ritual,” he said.

http://tucson.com/entertainment/music/years-after-release-me-humperdinck-covers-bruno-mars-ed-sheeran/article_e15c5c9d-b5aa-5e26-b5f9-f30106caa368.html

By Ron Onesti

Special to dailyherald.com, April 20, 2018

Few performers out touring today still represent the glitz, glamour and class of the tuxedoed entertainers of the 1960s. Tony Bennett, Tom Jones and Paul Anka are still out there, giving magical shows and bringing all audiences' memories to life.Another guy with whom I have been very fortunate to work with on several occasions is the epitome of class and ultimate entertainment … Engelbert Humperdinck.

On many nights at The Arcada, we are rockin' hard with those blazing guitars and bangin' snares, but we also have nights like the ones when living legends grace our stage and bring us all back to a calmer, sweeter time in our lives. A time when music was more about families joining together in front of a television, sharing the music and comedy of the day, after a pot roast dinner on a Sunday afternoon.

As a child of the early '70s, my musical heart lies within the classic rock of that decade. I am a rock 'n' roller deep down, but I was also brought up in a time when Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson and Dick Clark were the talent "showcasers" of the day, and when variety show hosts like Carol Burnett, Sonny & Cher, Dean Martin and many others were the hottest thing on our TV (in Technicolor!).

Speaking of "hottest" things on TV, what about the great Tom Jones and his show? Every single female in my extended family, from cousins to aunts, joined together to watch this "Prince of Wales" grind his way into the hearts of millions of women around the world. And the music was fabulous, too, prompting loud singalongs in the front rooms of homes everywhere.

These were classier times on TV, when the showmen of the day wore tuxedos on a regular basis. Rarely did you see Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jones, Humperdinck, Sammy, Bennett and the like without sporting a hand-tied bow tie and vest or cummerbund. Even Elvis wore a tux as he did duet medleys on TV with Frank.

I'm not saying I don't like the styles of various generations as they have evolved over the years on television, but those were just plain classier days.

And I am here to tell you, that when it comes to class, rarely will you find a finer example of entertainment elegance than you will with Engelbert Humperdinck.

As his musicians and vocalists usually travel in a caravan of two buses, he flies into the city of his next performance. He likes fine cars, often speaking of his classic automobiles, mainly Jaguars and Rolls-Royces. So I always pick him up from the airport and hotel in something sleek and sporty, but something spacey to accommodate his long limbs and fit physique.

We celebrated his 80th birthday on his last trip! It is hard to believe that a guy who looks like him, sounds like him and moves like him, is just over 80! But man, he owns it, and delivers a show as good as it ever was in the grandest of Las Vegas showrooms and big-city theaters.

As I spoke with him about his upcoming performance at The Arcada this Sunday, he re-thanked me for a painting I gave him the last time he played The Arcada. He was sitting in our dressing rooms where I had a painting of the late Woodstock-era guitar superstar Jimi Hendrix. I was walking by the room and noticed him just staring at the psychedelic representation of Hendrix. "Did you know him?" I asked.

"Oh, very well," he said. "He was a giant of a man, a true gentleman. Everything that people say about him being a musical genius is true. The way he played those guitars, he actually played the thing upside down! He had the guitars restrung backward and played the guitar upside down to accommodate his left-handed style! He was a genius!"

Engelbert also told me about the time Jimi was on the bill with him, Cat Stevens and others during "Hump's" first tour of the U.K. "My guitar player got sick and could not perform. Jimi offered to step in, but he had just come out with 'Purple Haze' and his stardom would have disrupted our show, I felt. So he played behind a curtain! It sounded like three guitars were playing! It was incredible, and nobody knew about it."

In a turn of activity that doesn't usually happen, I autographed the back of the painting (With love from The Arcada Theatre) and presented HIM with a souvenir of the night! It is usually the other way around! He graciously accepted our gift, and now says it is proudly framed and mounted in his home office. A piece of The Arcada is in HIS home!

His show was a combination all-hits concert and career retrospective, including rare video footage of he and Dean Martin doing medleys, a duet with Elton John's voice piped in, a country number with him in a cowboy hat and a couple of choreographed routines with his backup vocalists. He even shared some funny stories of Dean referring to him as "Engledinck Bumpalump!" And his voice? Powerful as ever, with an incredible range. What a night it's going to be this Sunday!

During his show, he is proud to proclaim he has not touched alcohol in 22 years, which I found strange because each time we worked together, we shared expensive cabernets after the shows. But then he subsequently announces that he lied about the alcohol thing, and toasts to the audience with glass of Bordeaux. He really keeps the crowd smiling and in sincere laughter for the entire two hours.

After the show last year, he took his final bows in a bright red, knee-length bathrobe with his name embroidered on front. He proceeded to jump around the stage, throwing boxing jabs and karate chops. Remember, 81 YEARS OLD! He then made his way back to my car outside the backstage door, stopping for a few adoring fans along the way. He gave us his all, and the crowd returned the favor with all of its devotion.

It is interesting that a guy with so many syllables in his name would be so classy of an individual. Although, the "Bumpalump" name is really growing on me!

Just a few great seats are available for Engelbert Humperdink live at The Arcada Theatre this Sunday at 4 p.m. Call (630) 962-7000 or visit www.oshows.com.

• Ron Onesti is president and CEO of The Onesti Entertainment Corp. and The Historic Arcada Theatre in St. Charles. Celebrity questions and comments? Email ron@oshows.com.

http://www.dailyherald.com/insights/20180420/ron-onesti-engelbert-humperdink-reigns-with-class

By Richard Duckett

Telegram & Gazette Staff

Posted Apr 12, 2018 at 8:00 PM

WORCESTER — What’s in a name?

We talked about Engelbert Humperdinck with Engelbert Humperdinck.

“The name is 51 years old now,” said the iconic English pop singer/balladeer who spectacularly rose to fame in 1967 with the hit single “Release Me.” “It’s kept me in good standing all these years.”

Closing in on his 82nd birthday May 2, Humperdinck is still going strong, and he’ll be at the The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts for a show at 7:30 p.m. April 17. His latest album, “The Man I Want to Be,” was released late last year.

The man who would be Engelbert Humperdinck was born with the name Arnold George Dorsey. He lived for a while as a child with his parents in India before they returned to England and settled in the city of Leicester. Dorsey performed as Gerry Dorsey but his singing career was sidelined for a while by illness. His manager/agent suggested a change of name and, implicit in that, image. Engelbert Humperdinck (1854–1921) was a German composer best known for the opera “Hansel and Gretel.”

The new name was audacious. “Nevertheless it did prove itself,” Humperdinck said during a recent telephone interview. There’s no shame in the name. “It’s a good name ... It was fun. It turned a stage name into a romantic image.”

With a smooth singing voice and good looks and appearance, he’s kept the image going. “I have a great following wherever I go,” he said. Of all ages? “Very much so,” he said. “They definitely stimulate me in such a way it makes you want to work hard for them.”

Humperdinck is still celebrating the 50th anniversary of “Release Me.” Last year Decca, his old label, released “The Complete Decca Studio Albums,” an 11-CD box set. Then in November Humperdinck put out “The Man I Want to Be.”

“I’ve got a lot of new things to offer,” he said. “A lot of new songs that I’m very proud of. It’s a great performance by me, I think.”

And yet it is very bittersweet as well.

His wife, Patricia — whom he met at a dance hall when she was 17 and has been married to for 53 years - has Alzheimer’s disease.

“The album is dedicated to my wife, Patricia. It’s a love letter to my wife. There are songs that are specifically written for her,” Humperdinck said.

They include “I’m Glad I Danced With You,” which he sings in a duet with his 9-year-old granddaughter, Olivia. Also very touching is “Just Like the First Time.”

Humperdinck said his producer bought the songs to him. “He really made a great arrangement that really touches people’s hearts, including mine.”

Elsewhere the album has other new material such as the title song and the country-sounding “Absolute Beginners,” and covers that include “Photograph” by Ed Sheeran and “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars.

Humperdinck said he’d like to record a TV special later this year, preferably in Hawaii. He noted that Elvis Presley did his last show in Hawaii and said that the two were great friends. Asked if he was influenced by Presley, Humperdinck said, “Oh yes, by a long way. He never took himself too seriously. I think that was wonderful. He had a lot of humility. He was a very down-to-earth person.”

Humperdinck wasn’t keeping company with such big names when the single “Release Me” was released. “That was the one that started my life,” he said of the ballad-style plea for release from a failing relationship with a full chorus joining in on the final verse. The song hit No. 1 on the British charts, blocking the Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane” from Top of the Pops - the first time in four years that a Fab Four single hadn’t made No. 1. “I hope they didn’t hate me,” Humperdinck said. “I was an unknown person who came from nowhere.” That was changing. By the end of the year Humperdinck had had two more big hits, “The Last Waltz” and “After the Lovin’ ”

“I came over (stateside) and did the Ed Sullivan Show and that was it,” Humperinck said. “He (Sullivan) was a very, very good man for people who were new in the business. He had an amazing way of making people stars.”

Other hits that followed included “A Man Without Love,” “Les Bicyclettes de Belsize” and “Am I That Easy to Forget.”

These days, Humperdinck divides his time between homes in California and England, and performs about 80 to 90 live shows a year.

He said he doesn’t have a fitness regime. “I wish I did. I used to have a great fitness regime. I do try to keep myself as fit as possible.”

Humperdinck will be bringing a band to The Hanover Theatre. “I always have a band. I travel with my band everywhere I go.”

Of course he’ll be singing the hits. “I can’t come without doing that,” he said. And there will be the new songs as well.

“My show is very moving and uplifting,” Humperdinck said. “At times it has its sad moments, but it’s very entertaining.”

http://www.telegram.com/entertainmentlife/20180412/engelbert-humperdinck-to-perform-in-concert-at-hanover-theatre

By Susan McDonald / Special to The Journal, Providence Journal
Posted Apr 5, 2018 at 9:00 PM

The crooner will perform at Cranston’s Park Theatre.

After more than 50 years of crooning sexy ballads and love songs that filled almost 100 albums, Engelbert Humperdinck says he still isn’t quite the man he wants to be.

“I always feel discontent, like there’s somewhere else to go, somewhere else to be. I’m a very ambitious person,” Humperdinck said recently in a phone call from his California home.

The 81-year-old balladeer known for such hits as “After the Lovin’ ” and “Release Me” has spent five decades on an often grueling touring and recording schedule.

“If I’m off the road, I get itchy feet,” he said with a laugh. “It’s my work, my job. I don’t know the word ‘retirement.’ As long as I can make albums, I will.”

Humperdinck says he loves that “certain magic that happens” every time he steps on stage.

“The adoration I get from fans is amazing. It’s been a wonderful journey,” he says.

Born Arnold George Dorsey, Humperdinck grew up in India, where his father was stationed during World War II. The family later moved to Leicester, England, where he studied music and played the saxophone. A former manager suggested his stage name, after the 19th-century German composer of the same name.

On his current tour, Humperdinck is promoting his new album, “The Man I Want to Be,” which was released in November.

“It’s one of the best things I’ve ever recorded,” he said.

The album includes new material and covers “Photograph” by Ed Sheeran and “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars. The two covers reflect Humperdinck’s desire to stay current. He said watching such TV singing competitions as “The Voice” helps with this.

“The contestants are usually singing what’s up to date,” he said.

Humperdinck said he remembers seeing Mars as a 5-year-old performing at a party in Hawaii.

“He was in a little Elvis suit and I told him, ‘Young man, you’re going to be a massive star,’ ” he said. “It’s the same feeling I have about my 9-year-old granddaughter, Olivia, who sings a duet with me on this album. I think she’s a female Bruno Mars. She’s just amazing.”

In his typical style, though, Humperdinck makes the songs by Sheeran and Mars his own. With Olivia, he sings “I’m Glad I Danced with You,” which he calls a love letter to his wife, Patricia, who has Alzheimer’s disease. They met at a dance hall when she was just 17, and have been married for 53 years.

Every one of Humperdinck’s shows — he still performs about 80 a year, a decrease from the 300 or more he did at one point — manages to pack a punch as Humperdinck mixes hits like “The Last Waltz,” “A Man Without Love” and “I’m a Better Man (For Having Loved You)” with his newer material, some of which was written by Richard Marx, Steve Mac and the crooner’s daughter Louise Dorsey.

“I never wanted to be a movie star because it takes up too much of your time. I prefer the style of touring and making new music,” Humperdinck said.

— Susan McDonald is a regular contributor to The Providence Journal. She can be reached at Sewsoo1@verizon.net.

If you go ...

Who: Engelbert Humperdinck

When: 8 p.m. Friday, April 13

Where: Park Theatre, 848 Park Ave., Cranston

Tickets: $55-$75

Information: (401) 467-7275, parktheatreri.com

http://www.providencejournal.com/entertainmentlife/20180405/engelbert-humperdinck-coming-to-ri-during-his-50th-anniversary-tour

Engelbert talks about coping with his wife’s Alzheimer's, his new album, singing with his granddaughter, how he got started in show business, his friendship with Elvis and Dean Martin and why he doesn’t talk to Tom Jones anymore.

Bugle Newspapers, By Mark Gregory

For many people, their job is just what they do to pay the bills as they count down the days to retirement.

For Engelbert Humperdinck it is much more.

The 81-year-old s “Release Me” and “The Last Waltz” singer celebrated his 50th anniversary of his first international chart success last year by releasing a new album.

Humperdinck will bring songs from that album and his other mega hits to Joliet’s Rialto Square Theater on Saturday, April 21.

“I love what I do,” Humperdinck said. “This year is a continuation of my 50th year in the business and we are celebrating. Last year we did a box set of 11 CDs that was the first seven years of my career and this year we released a brand new album called “’The Man I Want To Be” because I still don’t know who I want to be and I have been in the business 50 years.

“It is an amazing album and has some fantastic new songs which I am thrilled about. This album is a love letter to my wife.”

The new album features new material as well as covers of songs like Photograph” by Ed Sheeran, and “Just The Way You Are” by Bruno Mars.

Mars is an artist that Humperdinck knew of long before the rest of the world.

“He performed for me in Hawaii when the fan club had a party for me and he was only five years old and I told him then he was going to be a big star – but now he is a mega star and now I am recording one of his songs,” Humperdinck said. “It is amazing how our paths have crossed again. I just hope he likes my rendition. I got a great note from Richard Marx thanking me for recording one of his songs.”

The covers, however, are not the songs that help make the album personal to the 81-year-old father of four.

He performs a duet on the album with his granddaughter Oliva.

“There is a song called “I’m Glad I Danced With You,” it is the only duet on the album and it is sung by my granddaughter who is nine years old,” Humperdinck said. “She is wonderful. She is family, but I wouldn’t have put her on the album if she wasn’t wonderful.”

The new material and an all new show is something fans can expect April 21 when Humperdinck arrives in downtown Joliet.

“I always give them something different,” he said. “I try and keep my show fresh when I play a place I have visited before. I never take a break, I am on stage one hour and 45 minutes and I try and keep fans interested.”

https://buglenewspapers.com/engelbert-humperdinck-to-play-rialto-april-21