Engelbert Humperdinck’s Exclusive Interview With Examiner.com
Music legend Engelbert Humperdinck recently spoke with Examiner.com, in which they discussed his upcoming performance at Morristown, New Jersey’s Mayo Performing Arts Center, Friday evening, April 17th. “I’ll be singing some of my standards, songs from my new album, as well as some new songs from other artists. It will be a lively evening, very entertaining, with a touch of humor,” says Humperdinck.
Humperdinck also spoke with Examiner about his first ever duets album, Engelbert Calling. The pair spoke about what it was like to record with music legend Gene Simmons, as well having the honor of having Cliff Richard on the album as well.
HUMPERDINCK: To my surprise, the great Gene Simmons from KISS came in to record with me. He was truly an exciting person to have in the studio, believe me. You know, I’m six-one, but he’s about three inches taller than me, just a giant of a man with a great sense of humor, and just brought a great deal of pizzazz to the recording.
EXAMINER: On the album you also have Cliff Richard, who must have been a major hero of yours, growing up in England.
HUMPERDINCK: Well yeah, the funny thing is, Cliff was a major star in the ’50s at the same time when Elvis came in. Cliff has probably had more number one hit singles than anyone else in the world. I used to be an opening act for Cliff and now all of these years later, he agreed to be on a duet with me. So that was quite a thrill for me. He still looks great. He’s like the Peter Pan of the industry.
Humperdinck also spoke about the unlikely musical pairing of himself and Jimi Hendrix. “I’ll tell you why that happened; they were just introducing Jimi to Europe. So, what they did was to put him on a bill with someone like me who was already well-known in England, to give him some publicity. Not that he needed it, because he was really already becoming a star in his own right,” say Humperdinck. Jimi Hendrix also performed with Humperdinck when Humperdinck’s guitar player did not show you. “He came up to me and said, “Don’t worry, man. I’ll play for you.” I mean to have Jimi Hendrix play for me.. I just wish that someone was there to record or film it.”
For more information regarding Humperdinck’s “Engelbert Calling” Tour please visit: engelbert.com/tour
Engelbert’s latest CD Engelbert Calling is available for purchase on all tour dates, as well as at music retailers nationwide and online from our webstore, iTunes, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Bandcamp, and Spotify.
You can now pre-order Humperdinck’s Duets EP in the OK!Good web-store. Pre-order today and receive your vinyl in time for Record Store Day on Saturday, April 18th.
Visit Examiner.com to read the full interview
