Music Interview: Engelbert Humperdinck

“I’ve had an amazing life – I have no regrets,” he tells us.

SH: You’ve had an incredible career, starting out as Gerry Dorsey in the late ‘50s, before changing your name and then finding fame in the ‘60s. How does it feel to be celebrating more than 60 years in showbiz? 

EH: I think I’m one of the oldest pop artists around today – I still consider myself a pop artist… I’ve called this tour The Last Waltz Farewell Tour and I’ve just finished a tour of Australia – it was a sell-out. I did eight shows, and it was unbelievable. The critics were so kind and said wonderful things about me. As the lyrics say, I just hope this last waltz will last forever…

Why has your career endured for so long? Is it because you’ve tried different things? You’re a pop entertainer who’s known for Easy Listening, but you’ve experimented too – you made a dance album in the ‘90s, and you’ve also recorded country and gospel-roots records… 

I try to keep up with what’s going on in the world today. The fact that I made a dance album was fantastic – I think it was done very well. The gospel album was kind of underdone – it didn’t show the glossy side of it. It was nominated for a Grammy – it didn’t win, but that’s OK… as long as it was recognised. 

I’ve done a lot of different genres – I think it’s important to try everything out. 

Although I’m a ballad singer, I love good quality music with good lyrical content and melodies – music that lasts forever.

Some of the songs that I sing in my show today were recorded 58 years ago and they still get the same reaction now as they did when I first recorded them – it’s amazing. People clap their hands and sing along – people want to live by the lyrics and relate to them. That’s the kind of songs I like to deliver.

At the moment, I’m doing a concept album – it’s amazing because it’s out of my comfort zone. Cleopatra Records are doing their best to make it a good project for me. I’ve only recorded five songs so far – I’ve got a long way to go before I finish it.

What’s the concept for the album?

It’s a different type of music to what I’m accustomed to singing. I don’t know whether Cleopatra wants me to talk about it… I just did a song on my last tour by the band Journey – that will give you an idea of the kind of songs I’m going to sing. 

Hopefully it will be another stepping stone in my career, which has reached levels that I never thought it would reach. I’m just happy that I’m still making the effort and climbing the stairs to paradise.

What music do you remember hearing at home as a kid?

When I was very young, I didn’t think I was going to be in the music industry – I didn’t go out and buy records. 

I couldn’t afford it and I listened to what was on the radio. If you go back 75 or 80 years, that’s a hell of a long time ago… The people that were around then were Bing Crosby and Perry Como… Little did I know when I listened to Bing Crosby on the radio, that one day I would sing with that legend – I sang with him on one of his TV shows. I got to meet legendary people that I never dreamed I’d meet, like Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. – all those guys. 

You’re 89 and still touring – how do you keep in shape and look after your voice?

I respect my body – I know that if you don’t, you won’t be able to do the things that you do well. 

My voice? As you get older, your vibrato gets slower – mine has almost disappeared, and it’s like I’ve got a new style of singing at the age of 88. It’s just unbelievable that my pipes are in a very contemporary form right now. 

What have been some of your career highlights? You received an MBE in 2022 – that must’ve been great…

The MBE was quite something – our late queen gave me the honour and Princess Anne presented it to me. She did an amazing job – I respect her so much for that. 

The funny thing about having the name Engelbert Humperdinck… I’ve always wanted something to differentiate me from the guy who wrote Hansel and Gretel – I still get mistaken for him. People don’t know that he died in 1920 or whenever it was! I’m just happy that I can now differentiate myself – Engelbert Humperdinck MBE. 

Decca is reissuing several of your albums this year, including Release Me and A Man Without Love. What are your memories of making those records?

All I can tell you is that having the song ‘Release Me’ started off the whole thing in my life… I said to Gordon Mills, who managed me at the time, that I had heard an instrumental by a guy who played soprano sax [Frank Weir] and it had an interesting melody. 

I said let’s find the lyric and record the song – it will be good. We found it – Ray Price had had a hit with it. Every time Ray Price – God rest his soul – used to do a show, he’d say to the audience, ‘This song used to belong to me until Engelbert Humperdinck came along, but I’m going to sing it anyway…’

Famously, in 1967, your version of ‘Release Me’ kept The Beatles’ ‘Penny Lane’ / ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ off the number one spot in the UK Top 40 – you had the biggest selling single that year. How did that feel?

You don’t really know how to accept an honour like that… It never happened again, but as long as it happened once… It was something to talk about… 

Did you get to meet The Beatles? 

I met Paul and Ringo – I didn’t meet John or George but I was influenced by George’s work. In the early years, when Gordon Mills was introducing me to record companies, I wrote a song called ‘Stay’ – it had an Indian influence, with a sitar – George was interested in that and I thought, ‘If he can do it, let me do it…’ 

Gordon took it to a record company, when I had my old name, Gerry Dorsey, before I became Engelbert Humperdinck, but they said I was old hat. I was 20 years old… 

Anyway, Gordon took it away, put Engelbert Humperdinck on it, took it back to the record company and saw somebody different… They accepted it, it wasn’t a hit, but the next song was – that was ‘Release Me.’

You’ve worked with some great musicians – Jimmy Page and Big Jim Sullivan both played on ‘Release Me.’ They were the guitarists for the session… 

Oh, yeah – a lot of great people played on it. The great part of my life and being in showbusiness in that era was the kind of musicianship that you had to deal with – there were beautiful and amazing arrangers, like Johnny Harris, Johnnie Spence, Arthur Greenslade, Les Reed and Bebu Silvetti, who made your music come to life. 

The reason my music is still around today is because they left their fingerprints on it – their great work has kept me in the limelight. 

In 1967 you went on a package tour of the UK with Jimi Hendrix…

Yes – he was being introduced to the British market and he was part of our tour. He was just a great guy – I was on tour with a guy who was smashing his guitar… He was an incredible character – he wore amazing jackets. 

One time, he was wearing a red one, and I said to him: ‘Jimi – that’s a nice jacket.’ He said, ‘Try it on – if you like it, you can keep it…’ 

I didn’t ask him for that reason, but I should’ve taken it – wouldn’t that be something? He left behind an image that was just unbelievable. 

You worked in Las Vegas – how was that? And you got to know Elvis while you were there…

I went to Vegas in ’68 and I did it for many years. In 1970, when I worked on my television show with major artists, I gained a lot of experience from them – they knew the business like the back of their hand. I was a greenhorn – you need to work with those people to learn from them. I was always learning from them and if there was something I wanted to steal from them, I stole it, because I only steal something from the best people… 

A lot of the early rock ‘n’ roll stars stole from Elvis… 

Of course – and I told Elvis that. I said to him that when I watched him work, I stole a lot of his ideals – he was very humble but very charismatic. I looked at him and studied him, and thought, ‘That’s a great way to be…’

He never took his image seriously – he always took the mickey out of himself. I thought that was great. So, when I got my funny name, I decided to do the same thing.

Why did it take a while for your career to take off? 

It was destiny – you have to wait for your time. Prior to working with Gordon Mills, I tried many times to get off the ground – I was on the old rock ‘n’ roll shows with Larry Parnes’ outfits, like Terry Dene, Johnny Gentle, Duffy Power, Dickie Pride and Marty Wilde… but, do you know what? I’m still around – thank God. I’ve had an amazing life – I have no regrets. 

Didn’t you almost record a song with Gorillaz, but, sadly, it didn’t come off?

Yes – that was such a mistake.
I was mismanaged and I never heard about the project until afterwards.
My manager turned it down. I would never turn down a thing like that – never in a million years. That was when I had management that didn’t know what the heck they were doing. Had that been Gordon Mills, he’d have snapped it up. I would have recorded it in a heartbeat. 

Would you like to play Glastonbury?

I would like to, and with my new project that’s coming, I might stand a chance. 

What can we expect from the new tour?

I’ve got a lot of new material that I’m promoting, but I have to sing the standards – the songs that made it possible for me to travel around the world. 

My career has been kept alive in many ways – I have a staunch following that I’m very proud of, but it’s also been kept alive by karaoke. My songs are very good on karaoke machines – everybody sings them. 

What would the 89-year-old Engelbert Humperdinck say to the young Gerry Dorsey who’s trying to break into the music industry?

Learn your craft and take care of business. 

The reissues of Release Me and A Man Without Love are out now on Decca Records: coloured vinyl, CD and digital.

Engelbert Humperdinck tours the US throughout 2025: tickets are available from
www.engelbert.com/tour

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