Plus

Plus

Engelbert: Welcome to his world
By Ranjit Vethakan
It's one thing to review a book, but it takes on a totally different perspective when the subject happens to be one of your heroes! There's not much I had probably not known about Engelbert Humperdinck or his outstanding career before he sat down with Los Angeles-based entertainment journalist, Katie Wright, to pen his autobiography, What's In A Name.

His life, I thought, was an open book. However, Engelbert holds nothing back in this book which is not exactly a kiss-and-tell episode; rather a kiss and get on with it kind of thing!

Clearly, it's an exercise to "set the record straight", and reveals for the first time a lot more about the man than was known to those outside his world. What's In A Name is, perhaps, the most appropriate title for this biography, which traces the singer's life from his beginnings in Madras, and narrates the story of how a young Gerry Dorsey changed his name to the extra-ordinarily long, jaw-breaking Engelbert Humperdinck, and strolled from the dole queue all the way into the hearts and homes of scores of millions across the world! Not to mention the healthy bank accounts, and the opulence that comes with it!

Written in a free-flowing, conversational, often breathless style (one gets the feeling Engelbert is still unable to come to grips with his good fortune), the book hides nothing - even touching extensively on his universal reputation as a lady killer!

Legend has it that the superstar has made love to 3000 women or more, but he jokingly tells readers they should only believe half of what they read. Over the years, he's been the subject of paternity scandals and he acknowledges they've taken a toll on Patricia, his wife of more than 40 years. Pat Dorsey, more endearingly referred to as Popea or Pope, however, takes it all in her stride and reveals the strength of their marriage by writing her own chapter in the book.

Engelbert's reason for opening his heart out: "I didn't want anyone else to start nosing around and making inquiries and writing things that are incorrect." The book is personal and straight from the heart. Enge gives his version of his acrimonious split from Gordon Mills, the man responsible for changing his name and all that followed, citing Mills' preference for the career of fellow-stablemate, Tom Jones. A move that was given more credibility when The Voice of Wales too turned his back on Mills not long after!

The separation also cost him a whole lot of money; millions of pounds and the mansion he'd owned so proudly in upmarket Weybridge, where he counted John Lennon among his neighbours. Among the sticking points was this revelation: “Although he (Mills) was only too aware that I wanted a part in a film, he always dumped any scripts that came in for me without showing them to me!”

Engelbert also puts the spotlight on a whole lot more in this book, including the time he and his band spent several days in a jail in Caracas, Venezuela, because he was carrying "lots of little boxes containing antihistamine and other medication just in case one of us fell ill". Although legal and available over the counter back home in the UK, the South Americans were puzzled by the quantity and "a lack of knowledge of the tablets". Enge and his entourage had travelled to that country only for a holiday - one that certainly left the tourists more sick than ever imagined!

The book is full of anecdotes, the various forms of welcomes Enge had received in all parts of the world, the disbelief and the uncertainty that prevailed in the lead-up to being the first white man to sing to the blacks in South Africa, even before apartheid had been dismantled, the costume stuff-up while on his first tour of Japan, although it was only meant to be a prank and, of course the close relationship he and his merrymen had enjoyed with the best friend of almost everyone - the bottle.

There is also reference to Enge's unique power of healing, something he's used at every concert he has performed since discovering this "talent" a few years ago. This might be just trivia: among the musicians in the studio when Engelbert recorded his ground-breaking hit Please Release Me, were the then unknown Elton John on piano and Jimmy Paige on guitar.

This is a no-holds-barred, honest, humorous and inspiring story of a man who proves to the world that talent, laced with a healthy dose of determination, can really move mountains! The story of a man, given his last rites with tuberculosis, who went on to own a Hollywood palace, not forgetting his fleet of 14 Rolls-Royces and his favourite, the Harley Davidson. The story of a man who came out of virtual obscurity and became a close friend of Elvis, Ali, Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Tom Jones, Dean Martin, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicholson and Lana Turner, just to name a few. Yet, there's ample evidence that while Engelbert did strive to reach for the stars, and achieved it in grand style, he always ensured his feet never left the ground!

This autobiography is yet to be released outside the US or the UK. However, there's every likelihood of a few copies being available along with other merchandise when Engelbert performs at Water's Edge on June 11.

Back to Plus