Engelbert Humperdinck

Arnold George Dorsey born 2 May 1936 known professionally as Engelbert Humperdinck is a British pop singer described by AllMusic as one of the finest middleoftheroad balladeers around He achieved international prominence in 1967 with his recording of Release Me Humperdinck started as a performer in the late 1950s under the name Gerry Dorsey but found success after 1965 when he partnered with manager Gordon Mills who advised him to adopt the name of German composer Engelbert Humperdinck as a stage name His recordings of the ballads Release Me and The Last Waltz topped the UK Singles Chart in 1967 selling more than a million copies each Humperdinck scored further major hits in rapid succession including There Goes My Everything 1967 Am I That Easy to Forget 1968 and A Man Without Love 1968 He attained a large following with some of his most devoted fans calling themselves Humperdinckers Two of his singles were among the bestselling of the 1960s in the UK During the 1970s Humperdinck had significant American chart successes with After the Lovin 1976 and This Moment in Time 1979 He garnered a reputation as a concert performer and received renewed attention during the 1990s lounge revival with his recordings of Lesbian Seagull for the soundtrack of Beavis and ButtHead Do America 1996 and a dance album 1998 The new millennium brought a range of musical projects including the Grammynominated gospel album Always Hear the Harmony The Gospel Sessions 2003 and the double album of duets Engelbert Calling 2014 Humperdinck represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku with the song Love Will Set You Free placing 25th out of 26 Humperdinck continues to record and tour having sold more than 140 million records worldwide Dorsey was born in Madras British India now Chennai India in 1936 one of 10 children born to British Army NCO Mervyn Dorsey who was of Irish descent and his wife Olive who according to the singer was of German descentHis family moved to Leicester England when he was ten years old He later showed an interest in music and began learning the saxophone By the early 1950s he was playing saxophone in nightclubs but he is believed not to have begun singing until he was in his late teens His impression of Jerry Lewis prompted friends to begin calling him Gerry Dorsey a name that he worked under for almost a decade Source Article Engelbert Humperdinck singer from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA