Engelbert Humperdinck: Not That Easy To Forget

Do you sing in the bathroom?

That’s my favorite question to all the singers whom I interview, whether local or foreign, and I always get interesting answers. Tom Jones (who cancelled his Big Dome show scheduled early this year due to pharyngitis) said, “Oh yes, I do!” and so did the others.

I asked Engelbert Humperdinck the same question during our third (yes, third!) exclusive interview, all by phone, in 2007 almost a month before he came to perform (again!) at the Araneta Coliseum and two weeks ago during our fourth exclusive phone interview, and he gave almost exactly the same answer, verbatim, “Do I sing in the bathroom? You mean, in the shower? Yes, of course, I do. You know, I always take a hot shower before I go onstage. It’s so refreshing. I let the steam into my throat. That’s the way I warm up my vocal cords — in the shower. I start by humming and then finally singing.”

Maybe that’s what he will do — “warm up in the shower” of whatever five-star hotel he’ll be billetted at — before he mounts the stage of, again, the Araneta Coliseum on June 22 for another Engelbert Humperdinck Live in Manila! concert, produced by Ovation Productions, as part of the worldwide promo for his new album, Legacy Of Love, which has taken him from Paris to Pennsylvania, Moscow to Manchester, Las Vegas to Vienna, and to Manila where his fans have seen him “live” during milestones in his colorful 43-year career.

Once more, with more (of the same) feeling, we will be reminiscing the good old days as Humperdinck sings his well-loved hits which we never seem to get tired listening to, such as Am I That Easy To Forget; Release Me; Cuando, Cuando, Cuando; Strangers In The Night; After The Loving; The Way It Used To Be; Spanish Eyes; There Goes My Everything; and many more.

In Legacy Of Love, Humperdinck revisits those greatest hits of his, and then some, summing up his musical heritage that includes staggering sales of 150 million albums worldwide, 64 of those were “gold” and “platinum.” The album comes on the heels of ATaste Of Country, his 2009 album that pays tribute to the musical genre that launched his early career and which has been recorded with his patented Humperdinck “stamp.”

Humperdinck, now 74, begged off from his concert in 2006 when, while in Malaysia as part of his Asian concert tour, he got the sad/bad news that his brother Erwin Dorsey was diagnosed to be suffering from a brain tumor.

“It was a very dangerous condition, so I had to rush back home to the United States and stay with him,” Humperdinck would tell Conversations when he returned a year later to resume his rudely-interrupted Big Dome concert. “The tumor inside his head was the size of an orange. I got so shocked when I got the news that I lost my voice.”

Humperdinck told me that story while we were, so to speak, shooting the breeze at the Oasis of the Gateway Mall where I was invited by Araneta Center big boss Jorge Araneta to have coffee with him and Humperdinck who flew in earlier that morning. I was not surprised to find Humperdinck so friendly because he has always been like that everytime I did a phone interview with him.

“It’s easy to get laryngitis or pharyngitis,” he was saying, “but what I got was shock pharyngitis which can stop you from singing. I’m glad that I got my voice back. How did I get it back? I got it back a week later. How? It just came back!”

Two weeks ago when Humperdinck, who was in L.A., answered my call, the first thing I asked was how his brother Erwin was doing.

“Oh, you have such good memory,” he said. “My brother has fully recovered. He’s back at work at the Bellagio (in Las Vegas) where he’s a member of the hotel staff.”

I reminded him that he celebrated his 40th anniversary as a singer in 2007 with his concert in Manila.

“That was a very special year for me and, yes, you’re right, I celebrated it in the Philippines. It was the 40th anniversary of my song Release Me, the very first song I recorded. That was my very first hit.”

I told him that he must love the Philippines so much for him to be coming back and he said, “Yes, you’re right. It’s because anywhere I go in the world, I always meet Filipinos who know my songs.”

Of course, Release Me is first and foremost on the mind not only of his Filipino fans but those from other countries as well.

“That’s the song that started my life,” Humperdinck said it then and said it again during our latest Conversation. “It’s the song that started me on a global career. It’s the song of my life, my signature song. Everywhere I go, when people see me, they start humming or singing, Please release me, let me go...! That floors me! Imagine, I recorded that song 43 years ago and everyone seems to know that song, even young people. I must have sung that song a million times during my concerts. It’s my most requested song. I love singing it because the audience always sings along with me.”

Do you also wonder why Engelbert Humperdinck got to be known by that tongue-twister of a name?

Well, he was actually born Arnold George Dorsey in Madras, India, but he grew up in Leicester, England, where he showed his passion for music by playing the saxophone at an early age. At 17, his vocal talent for impersonation was discovered during a singing contest in a pub.

Was he really, according to his biography, very shy when he was growing up in India where his father was stationed during World War II?

“Oh yes, I was very shy. But being in show business takes the shyness away a little bit. I’m still basically shy but when I get onstage, I stop being shy and I just concentrate on my performance.”

So, how did he become Engelbert Humperdinck?

“Wow, isn’t it a unique name? You know, at first I did try using my real name but it just didn’t work. So my manager at that time thought of giving me this very strange name I didn’t even know where he got, and it did click. That was how Engelbert Humperdinck was born.”

I’m sure that like a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, Arnold George Dorsey a.k.a. Engelbert Humperdinck would sound just as great.

And before we all together sing Please release me, let me go..., here are more interesting tidbits from my Engelbert Humperdinck Conversations:

? ”Do I avoid taking ice-cold water to protect my vocal cords? No, I don’t do that. I drink a lot of water and a lot of wine. I’m a wine drinker. Red wine preferably.”

? ”Is there any difference between Engelbert Humperdinck then and Engelbert Humperdinck now? He’s more or less the same. I’m not heavy; I’m in a pretty good shape. I work out; I do a little jump-rope, I punch a bag in the gym, I do the treadmill, I do stationary-bike exercise. I maintain a healthy diet.”

? ”Which of my songs do I want to be remembered for? All my songs. I recorded songs with a great deal of meaning, songs of lasting material. That’s the legacy I want to leave behind — a legacy of love.”

(Note: The Philippine STAR is among the supporters of Engelbert Humperdinck Live In Manila! on June 22, produced by Ovation Productions and sponsored by ETC Entertainment Channel 2, 2nd Avenue, Hallmark Channel, RJ 100.3 FM, Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge.

Other supporters are Business World, 105.1 Crossover, 96.3 Easy Rock, 90.7 Love Radio, 97.9 Home Radio, 104.3 DWBR, OptimaSignsolutions, EDSA Shangri-La Manila, PCSO and ABS-CBN. Tickets are priced at P4,500, P4,000, P3,500, P2,500, P1,000 and P500. Call Ticketnet at 911-5555 or Ovation Productions at 532-8883.)

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