NEWS

By Steve Smith, LA Daily News, POSTED: 02/19/16, 10:55 AM PST

For nearly a half-century, Gerry Dorsey has been making the ladies swoon.

This tradition continued at his Valentine’s Day show before nearly 2,000 fans, including actor-singer James Darren, at the landmark Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.

Never heard of Gerry Dorsey?

How about Engelbert Humperdinck?

That’s the name in 1965 that Gordon Mills, who also managed Tom Jones at the time, suggest Gerry use professionally. A short time later, as Engelbert Humperdinck, Mills was able to get him a record deal with Decca, and he has used that name ever since.

At age 79, Engelbert still brings it. At a time when even big name stars have been known to employ lip-syncing, Engelbert sang live and he did it for a full hour and 40 minutes.

It was a fun, often light-hearted, show as Eng (as he is also known) easily moved about the stage, often dancing and posing while telling stories filled with humor. In between, he delivered such hits as “A Man Without Love” and “Am I That Easy to Forget,” both from 1968, and his 1976 biggie, “After The Lovin’,” which returned him to Billboard’s Top 10 after nearly a decade.

During those years, he continued to score major hits on the adult contemporary easy listening Top 10; in fact, he had a dozen of them.

In 1967, the man with more than 150 million records sold worldwide scored a coup of sorts: He had not one, but two, No. 1 smashes that each sold more than a million copies that year. That would be his debut 45, “Release Me” (which kept The Beatles’ “Penny Lane” at No. 2) and “The Last Waltz.”

Of course, he treated fans to both near the end of the evening, utilizing a voice that remains as strong and on-pitch as ever and with just the right amount of vibrato — a remarkable feat for a man his age.

Other highlights include his take on Boz Scaggs’ “Look What You’ve Done to Me” and giving Bruce Springsteen’s smoldering ballad “I’m on Fire” a country flair as he donned a cowboy hat while he and his backup singing gals line danced and two-stepped.

He told of meeting Elvis in Las Vegas and the advice The King gave Mr. Romance: “When you sing, keep your legs wide apart.”

Eng wisely chose to ignore this.

As he’s done for decades, he handed out oodles of his trademark red scarves to his female fans. He joked that his lifelong pal, fellow sex symbol Sir Tom Jones (he of the ultra-tight pants) also loves them. So much so that he always stuffs about 30 scarves down his crotch to make him appear, well, you know.

Backed by a seven-piece outfit, plus those female backup singers, he ended his set with a medley of some of hits from his salad days, (the late ‘60s) including “This Moment in Time,” “Les Bicyclettes de Belsize” and “There Goes My Everything.”

Alas, it would have been fun to hear his tongue-in-cheek stand alone single from the hit 1996 animated feature, “Beavis and Butt-head Do America” called “Lesbian Seagull,” but not surprisingly, it was not to be.

The man who was born in Madras, India, and grew up in Leicester, England, but who embraced our country music in the earliest days of his career, ended the evening with a country classic, Kris Kristofferson’s “For the Good Times,” which, in 1970, became country legend Ray Price’s signature song.

Afterward, a good portion of the crown made a bee-line to the restrooms, as usual. It’s interesting: younger guys tend to do their business in silence, while the older fellas can be quite chatty.

So, I’m standing at the stall when an older gentleman on my left says, “Man, he still has it!”

The Baby Boomer on my right added, “Does he ever! I want whatever he’s using that keeps him that young and energetic.”

To which all of us, including a couple guys in line behind us, said in unison: “We all do!”

http://www.dailynews.com/arts-and-entertainment/20160219/steve-smith-engelbert-humperdinck-brings-the-romance-kiss-strips-down