Engelbert Humperdinck Featured on The Sacramento Bee
International music legend Engelbert Humperdinck is gearing up for his 50th Anniversary Tour. The King of Romance recently spoke with The Sacramento Bee, where he discussed his upcoming performances at Cache Creek taking place on Friday, February 10th and Saturday, February 11th, touring, future albums, and much more. Read some of the exclusive interview below, but be sure to head over to sacbee.com for more!
Humperdinck is now on a 50th-anniversary tour, playing at Cache Creek on Friday and Saturday, and the number 50 is on his mind. “I need a hit,” the 80-year-old said by phone from his office. “I need new blood. I’ve realized that I don’t feel my age. I am not going to recognize the passing of the rest of my life. I will be 50 from now on. I will sing 50.
“I am in great physical shape,” he continued. “I was in the studio the other day visiting with this young piano player, and he talked about his exercising with a punch bag. I told him I do that, too, and he couldn’t believe it, so I showed him a picture of me punching the bag. I have a 100-pound bag hanging on my patio. I run on the treadmill also and have a black belt. I studied martial arts under Mike Stone. I can be a bit of a show-off.”
Humperdinck had just come from a recording session in which he laid down tracks for two brand new songs. The arranger is Johnny Harris, with whom he worked 45 years ago on songs like “From Here to Eternity” and “Quando, Quando, Quando,” “one of the best arrangers the world has ever know,” Humperdinck said.
He is one of the few in the business to love touring. “I like the long trips especially. Last year I went to Egypt, South Africa, Bangkok, Singapore, a lot of places. I was on Egypt Air, the same flight one day later as the one that crashed. They really came out to see me when I arrived at the airport, so happy I did that.”
Humperdinck travels with an eight-piece band but remembers the days when the casinos provided full orchestras. It was great, he says, singing with an orchestra, “but they present problems, the need for a full rehearsal, for instance. Now with the smaller group and some tape boost it’s a sound check and then the show and, boom, it’s over.”
“I want a new contemporary album, something I can make a smash with. You can’t do that with a Christmas album, but you can with a pop album.”
Engelbert Humperdinck’s duets album Engelbert Calling is available for purchase at music retailers nationwide and online from our webstore, iTunes, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Bandcamp, and Spotify. Humperdinck’s limited edition vinyl, Duets EP, is available for purchase our web-store.
To find a tour date near you, visit: engelbert.com/tour
