Dance 'N' Romance

Joe Dolan isn't the only ol' time crooner reaching a new generation. Now clubbers are dancing to the work of Engelbert Humperdinck, a romantic warbler who during the '60s transformed himself from Arnold Dorsey, ninth out of a family of ten kids from the industrial midlands of England, into one of cabaret's biggest stars.A classic-case ladies' man, Humperdinck has the kind of massive, maniacal and intensely fervid fan-base that could threaten a superpower if effectively mobilised. Now in his sixties, he's ridden the crests and valleys of stardom for thirty years, accruing many No. 1 hits since his first with "Release Me" in 1967 (a track which kept The Beatles out of the top spot in the UK). Engelbert has the dosh to match his charisma. The mansion he lives in near Beverly Hills used to belong to Jayne Mansfield. To relax, he likes to go riding with the Beverly Hills Harley-Davidson motorbike set. No wonder this charming knight of the old school—who took his startling name from the 19th-century German composer of Hänsel und Gretel—looks so well-rested. Wealth and well-being oozes from every pore. I feel like I'm talking to a living legend, one of the last of a dying breed."I wasn't really a romantic singer when I started," croons Engelbert, his English accent shot through with American. "I was a rock 'n' roll singer, and I thought that would be my way. But when I recorded this ballad 'Release Me', it stamped my style, and the manager I had at the time said, 'you're a good romantic singer, you should stay in that vein'. And it's proved worthwhile, because the press gave me the title, 'The King of Romance', which is rather a nice title to have.""And now," he says, chuckling, "I think they're going to give me the title 'The King of Dance'." Humperdinck is referring to his latest recording, The Dance Album, which waves a magical dance wand over this superstar's big hits, transforming classic romantic songs like "The Last Waltz", "Quando Quando Quando", "After the Loving" and "Release Me" into a mixture of house, hip-hop and R&B club grooves. Engelbert tells me that the album's No. 10 in the American charts. So is it bringing him in touch with the youth?"Yes," he says, looking pleased. "Though I think that at the back of their minds they must've heard these songs before. Maybe they heard their parents playing it, and all of a sudden it's a different feel to it. They'll say 'oh, that melody sounds familiar', they like it, it's a new kind of style and it's their kind of music."How are your original fans reacting to your dance reincarnation?"Oh, they love it!" asserts Humperdinck. "They're very thrilled that I have a hit. Whatever music comes along they don't mind, as long as I'm performing it."I get the feeling that Engelbert's fans would do anything for him. I ask whether kingly romance is something he feels pressurised to provide for his audiences. He doesn't seem to know what I'm talking about, so I rephrase the question.Do you have a lot of women in your fan-base?"There's a lot of ladies in my fan-base," he says, smiling rather enigmatically. "A lot. But you know, things are changing. It used to be 90% women and 10% men. And now I'd say it's 70% women and 30% men. As a matter of fact, it's moving very well, and that's what I want, I want the mixture. And I've noticed that a lot of men now enjoy the show as much as the ladies do. Because I'm not there to intimidate anybody or try and steal their wives or their girlfriends from them, or flirt with them; I'm there to entertain. That's my job, it's what I do and I try to do it well."Have you ever been mobbed by adoring fans?"Oh yeah. It's frightening. I've had all my clothes ripped off many times. That's one of the reasons why I stay on stage. I don't go into an audience ever, because things like that can happen to you. What they can get very quickly is the shirt." (Engelbert pretends to rip off his shirt.) "The shirt goes very quickly, and you wind up with just cuffs on. Though they don't do that so much any more, because audience ways of treating the artist are a little different now. They more or less like to touch and grab, but they don't rip you to pieces like they used to. It's a bit cooler now, even with the major groups; fans get on stage but they don't do tremendous damage, they just want to hug you."Humperdinck sees romance orbiting back into style. "As long as there's life there'll be romance. It fades away a little, it'll definitely come back. It's like the tide. By the way, you've got a beautiful handshake..."The Dance Album is released on Interhit Records.