The thespian of song _{by Madelaine Empson}

Engelbert Humperdinck is a global icon. With record sales in excess of 150 million, 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 is known the world over as the king of romance.

“I just love singing, I love creating – that’s my number one thing”, he tells me when I ask about his remarkable career, which spans one shy of 60 years of countless chart-toppers and sell-out world tours.

Just last month, the Release Me balladeer turned 90 years old. Let The Celebration Tour commence! “I’m so looking forward to coming over and doing my thing”, he delights of his Wellington concert at the Michael Fowler Centre on the 26^th of June.

Hello, how are you?

Hello, here I am! I’ve just been out this morning taking in a little sunshine. I don’t know what it is in Celsius, but it’s about 88 degrees Fahrenheit here.

Ooh, it’s about 10 degrees Celsius here.

Let me add that up… that’s 48 degrees Fahrenheit! That’s not much! Bloody cold [laughs].

It is! It’s been about seven years since you last toured here…

Seven years! Has the time gone that quickly? It’s just whizzing by, isn’t it! Already, I’m 90. I can’t believe it myself. I love work and I love being on stage, dancing around, doing my thing. I can’t sit at home and put my feet up and watch television, I have to be on the road. I’m a road warrior [laughs].

I bet seven years in the life of Engelbert Humperdinck would be remarkable.

It’s been very good. Nothing has changed really, as far as my ability to work and to be on stage and travel around the world. I’m on the road all the time on world tours. Except for COVID, that’s the only time I’ve had time off at home without working in… 59 years.

Wow. What is it that drives you?

I’m a thespian of song. I love to act on stage. I love to act upon the tools that God has given me, and the wonderful songs that I’ve recorded over the years, for the people who have made me who I am today by buying my records. About 15 years ago, we had a census about how many records I’ve sold around the world. It was over 150 million, and that’s a wonderful number for any person. It doesn’t happen in today’s market, not at all, because of the different style of selling now – the internet, downloading, this and that. It’s not the same. I used to love the past. I’d call up and say, ‘How many did we sell today?’ It was so exciting. Now you don’t know, it’s all digital.

With so many things moving online these days, your music has experienced a surge on social media. Do you see the reels that people make with your songs?

I see what people are up to! I use social media quite a lot, because on a Tuesday I put out an all-round bulletin called Tuesday Museday. I say, ‘It’s Tuesday Museday, and I’m talking to my friends around the world’, and I give people the news about what’s going on for me that week. So I see what’s happening on Facebook and Instagram and all that business.

I understand you have new music out now and coming soon?

I’ve got a new single out right now called I’ve Got You, which is a great title. It was written by a gentleman called Larry Butler, who incidentally worked with Kenny Rogers on his number one hits. Unfortunately, Larry Butler passed away in 2012. I had lunch with Joel [Diamond], a producer I worked with about 49, 50 years ago on songs like After the Lovin’ and This Moment in Time, and he said, ‘It’s time for us to do something’. I said, ‘Yes, I need another After the Lovin’’. Because that was in 1976/77, and that was the most highly played record on radio, ever. Joel said, ‘I’ll play you a couple of songs’, and I picked I’ve Got You. I said, ‘I want that one!’ Larry Butler did a great job. As a matter of fact, he had told Joel, ‘I think this is probably the best song I’ve ever written’. That’s on tape, on Joel’s answering machine. I’ve heard it myself. So, we went into the studio and recorded it. In England, they’ve made a dance version of it. It’s only been out a couple of weeks, but it’s moving!

And I’ve got a new album coming out in July – not with this producer, with Cleopatra Records – of songs from the 80s that some of the big groups recorded: The Cars, Aerosmith, Kiss, Journey. I took singles from all their albums and recorded them my way. I think it’s going to make quite an impression, because for a person like me, who’s a balladeer, to get into that market… it’s quite different.

When you perform in Wellington, will audiences get to hear any of the songs from the new album?

I’ll be doing a couple from the new album, definitely! Plus I’ll be doing the new single. I’ve got to promote, haven’t I? [Laughs.]

When you get out on stage, can you describe what happens – that feeling of connecting with your audience?

First and foremost, I’m a basket case. Before I walk on stage, my hands are cold, I’m walking around doing all these [vocal warmups]. The microphone is switched off! I’m very nervous, and when I get out there, I don’t touch the audience for about 10 minutes because I’m freezing – I don’t want them to think. ‘Oh, that guy feels as if he’s dead!’ After five or 10 minutes, once you get hit by an audience reaction, it charges your batteries immediately. You warm up to it and you know that they’re gonna be fine, you’re gonna be fine.

Do you have a favourite song to perform live?

I don’t really – but I have to say that the song I recorded that made me what I am today, really, is a song called Release Me. And on the B-side of Release Me, my dear, is the national anthem of New Zealand.

Oh?

It’s called Ten Guitars! [Laughs.] It might as well be, because little kids in the audience, they all know Ten Guitars. What a big hit that was…

We learned and sang that song in primary school as a whole class!

Of course, at that particular time, you didn’t realise you were going to be talking to the guy who recorded that song! Well, here I am!

That’s a huge pinch-me moment for me – what are the biggest pinch-me moments for you?

Believe me, I’ve got to pinch myself now that after 59 years I’m still playing to audiences all over the world. Release Me started the ball rolling. I was nobody at the time, and I came along and stopped the almighty Beatles, who I’m a big fan of, from having their 13^th number one. I remember the beginning. You have to remember your beginnings. Release Me still, to this day, is as fresh as it was when I recorded it 59 years ago.