Engelbert Humperdinck with Special Guest Star Crystal Gayle

Flytjendur

• 

  Engelbert Humperdinck

  There are two artists named Engelbert Humperdinck: A German composer and a modern-day singer.
  
  1. Engelbert Humperdinck (1 September 1854 – 27 September 1921) was a German composer, best known for his opera, Hänsel und Gretel (1893).
  
  2. Arnold George Dorsey (born 2 May 1936 in Madras, India) is a well-known pop singer of the 1950s-present. Of Anglo Indian ethnicity, he was raised in Leicester, England and adopted the stage name Engelbert Humperdinck, after the famous German opera composer.
  
  Born Arnold George Dorsey in Madras, India, the son of a British engineer and the youngest boy in a family of ten children, he moved to England at the age of 10. Growing up, he wanted to be a bandleader. But, things went in a different direction and, at 17, he sang on a public stage for the first time. At this point, he decided to use the name Gerry Dorsey as his professional name and he became quite popular working around the United Kingdom until his progress was interrupted by a stint in the military. He returned and picked up where he had left off but a bout with tuberculosis took him out of the scene again. When he was finally ready to re-start his career again, at the suggestion of his manager, he decided it would be a good idea to re-emerge with a new image and, thus, Engelbert Humperdinck was born.
  
  Dubbed music’s “King Of Romance,” the multiple Grammy nominee with the ultra-smooth three and one half octave range has sold over 150 million records worldwide, including 64 gold and 24 platinum albums and is currently marking four decades since he first entered the American pop charts with his smash hit “Release Me (And Let Me Love Again).” The song went to # 1 in eleven countries and it was so big in the United Kingdom that it managed to prevent The Beatles’ two-sided hit “Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever” from reaching the top of the charts.
  
  The next decade brought such hits as “After the Lovin’,” “Winter World Of Love,” “Am I That Easy To Forget,” “The Last Waltz,” “There Goes My Everything,” “Les Bicyclettes De Belsize” and “A Man Without Love.” He has now recorded almost 80 albums including many multi-language versions.
  
  This singer extraordinaire, whose music is instantly recognizable, has withstood the test of time with his sensitive interpretation of lyrics. But he has never limited himself to just one genre having recorded everything from movie themes to disco, rock and even gospel. He is also extremely proud of the fact that he has been able to use his fame to help raise funds for numerous charitable causes.
  
  Engelbert has performed for Her Majesty the Queen, several Presidents and many heads of state. In 1978 he received a “Georgie Award” from the American Guild of Variety Artists recognizing him as “Entertainer of the Year.” Other “Georgie” winners over the years include Johnny Carson, Barbra Streisand and Barry Manilow. In 1989 he joined the elite performers from the worlds of Movies, Television and Music when he was honored with a star on the prestigious Hollywood Walk of Fam
• 

  Crystal Gayle

  One of the most popular and widely recognized female country singers of her era, Crystal Gayle supported her trademark, nearly floor-length hair with a supple voice, a flair for ballads, and a crossover-friendly country-pop style that netted her the occasional mainstream hit. Gayle was born Brenda Gail Webb in Paintsville, KY, in 1951; her older sister was future superstar Loretta Lynn, though Lynn had already left home by the time Brenda was born. The family moved to Wabash, IN, when Brenda was four, and she started singing along with country and pop songs on the radio at a young age. Inspired in part by Lynn's success, Brenda learned guitar and started performing folk songs in high school, also singing backing vocals in her brother's band. Lynn encouraged her younger sister and started bringing her out on tour for a few weeks each summer. Lynn's label, Decca, signed the young singer as soon as she was done with high school, but suggested a name change so as to avoid confusion with labelmate Brenda Lee. Lynn suggested the name Crystal, inspired by the Krystal hamburger chain, and Brenda adopted her middle name to come up with Crystal Gayle. Gayle's debut single was 1970's "I've Cried (The Blues Right Out of My Eyes)"; done in a style very similar to Lynn's, it reached the country Top 40. Far from encouraging Gayle to develop her own style, Decca pushed for more "little Loretta" records, and Lynn actually wrote some of her early singles. Unfortunately, this approach failed to establish Gayle in her own right, even with regular appearances on Jim Ed Brown's television show The Country Place. Frustrated, she parted ways with Decca and signed with United Artists in 1974, where she was teamed with producer Allen Reynolds. Reynolds offered Gayle the creative freedom she wanted, and she began to experiment with her style and phrasing en route to her own distinctive approach. Her first-ever album, titled simply Crystal Gayle, was released in 1974, and the following year she landed her first Top Ten country hit, "Wrong Road Again." In 1976, "I'll Get Over You" became the first of her 17 number one country singles. Reynolds, feeling that Gayle was poised for a larger breakthrough, encouraged her to record the jazz-flavored pop ballad "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue," which he felt sure had crossover potential. He was right -- not only did the song hit number one on the country charts in 1977, it also climbed to number two on the pop side, garnered substantial international airplay, and won Gayle a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal. Plus, the accompanying album, We Must Believe in Magic, became the first by a female country artist ever to go platinum. Now a bona fide star, Gayle followed her breakthrough success with a string of hits that lasted for approximately the next decade. Before the '70s closed, she scored several more number one country hits: "You Never Miss a Real Good Thing (Till He Says Goodbye)" (1977), "Ready for the Times to Get Better" (1978), "Talking in Your Sleep" (1978; also a pop Top 20 hit), and "Why Have You Left the One You Left Me For" (1979); plus, 1979's "Half the Way," her first single for new label Columbia, was a number two country hit and also reached the pop Top 20. She kept on scoring as the '80s dawned; 1980 brought two chart-toppers in "If You Ever Change Your Mind" and "It's Like We Never Said Goodbye," 1981 another in "Too Many Lovers," and 1982 her first number one duet, "You and I," which was recorded with Eddie Rabbitt and became her second Top Ten pop hit (it also inaugurated her tenure with Elektra/Warner). Gayle hit number one three times in 1983 ("Baby, What About You," Rodney Crowell's "Till I Gain Control Again," "Our Love Is on the Faultline") and twice more in 1984 ("The Sound of Goodbye," "Turning Away"), and began to cross over to the adult contemporary charts with regularity as well. Gayle's last country number ones came in 1986 with "Cry" and the smooth Gary Morris duet "Makin' Up for Lost Time," after which she -- rather abruptly -- all but disappeared from the charts. She did continue to record, reuniting with Allen Reynolds for the 1990 Capitol set Ain't Gonna Worry and cutting specialty projects for smaller labels thereafter. She recorded two gospel albums during the '90s, Someday and He Is Beautiful, and in 1999 completed a tribute project, Crystal Gayle Sings the Heart & Soul of Hoagy Carmichael. In the meantime, she ran a shop in Nashville devoted to fine jewelry and (naturally) crystal. Gayle opened the new millennium with 2000's In My Arms, an album of children's songs. ~ Steve Huey