Romantic balladeer Engelbert Humperdinck returns

What a banner year in the fight against ageism this year has turned out to be. In a surprising show of their remarkably fit fighting forms, the mature artists seem to have decided to let the kids in on what real talent is and what staying power is all about this year. Truth to tell, what has been happening around town these past months really makes one think that youth is indeed wasted on the young.

Who needs Super Junior when Tony Bennett with his ballads can charm everybody at the PICC while providing a relaxing evening as well? Who needs cute Coco Martin on TV when there is the dapper, dependable and quite attractive presence of Richard Yap, businessman-turned-actor, star and now also singer and recording artist? Why even Paul McCartney, Sting, David Bowie and Elton John, all older statesmen of rock ‘n roll who are on the South side of 50, all came out with new, notable albums this year.

And what do you think of the success of The New Minstrels, Circus Band Greatest Hits Reunion concert series that played to packed houses? Louie Reyes, Eugene Villaluz, Tillie Moreno, Jacqui Magno, Ding Mercado, Pat Castillo, Joey Albert, Ray-An Fuentes and Chad Borja packed the Music Museum for two nights last Valentine’s Day weekend. So they decided to get Basil Valdez and Hajji Alejandro to join the fun at the PICC last September and toured Baguio and Cebu to boot. They also recorded an album together, All For Love, and it is selling very well.

Want more? Give a look or I should say a listen to the first-ever winner of The Voice, Philippine edition. He is Mitoy Yonting who is certainly no teen-aged aspiring pop star. Why, he certainly bucks the belief that singing contest winners should be young and attractive like Sarah Geronimo. In fact, Mitoy has been around for quite a while, solo, with others or with his current group The Draybers. He is now our newest singing champion and he is working on his very first solo album this late in his career.

No need for him to worry though, that is only getting his big break late in the day. He still has a lot of years ahead. Remember, Tony Bennett is 84. And take a look at Tony Butala, who is frontman of what surely deserves to be called one of the greatest pop vocal groups of all time. He started singing in the trio Lettermen over 50 years ago. He is still at it. In fact, Butala, and his co-Lettermen, Bobby Poynton and Donovan Tea, still sound the same way that the famous trio did when they recorded The Way You Look Tonight, which was first sung in 1926, in 1964.

Now we get the news that Engelbert Humperdinck, the British balladeer, dubbed the King of Romance, will be back in town. Now a very handsome 77 years old and a music heartthrob for the past 46 years, Humperdinck will be performing at the Newport Performing Arts Center at Resorts World Manila in Pasay City on Dec. 4. Presented by Ovation Productions, the concert will also be going to the SMX Convention Center in Davao City on Dec. 5. Manila or Davao, you can bet that fans, who have idolized him for many years will be on hand to give him a warm welcome.

Humperdinck, who was born Arnold George Dorsey but renamed himself after the Austrian composer famous for the opera Hansel And Gretel, burst into the music scene in the ’60s. He became one of the few acts to survive the band onslaught fueled by The Beatles, thanks to a hugely-successful debut with his recording of Release Me. The phenomenal seller was a No. 1 song in 11 countries, including the Philippines where it remains a big favorite. Just check out public reaction whenever this Release Me is played and you will know what I am talking about. The swooning is almost palpable.

Humperdinck’s full, virile tone also made hits out of Quando, Quando, Quando; The Way It Used To Be; Strangers In The Night; After The Loving; Dance The Night Away; Spanish Eyes; There Goes My Everything; Am I That Easy To Forget; The Last Waltz; A Man Without Love; Wonderland By Night, Winter World Of Love and many others. For those who might be curious, he also has a different but also very good version of Frank Sinatra’s signature song, My Way.

All that Humperdinck has to do is perform his hits and everybody will be assured of a very satisfying evening. Check out ticketworld.com.ph for Manila show or smtickets.com for Davao.