The Engelbert Humperdinck Show,<\/a>\u201d the 90-year-old British singer opened up about the struggles he faced while pursuing a music career in his early 20s.<\/p>\nHumperdinck recalled that he began traveling from his hometown of Leicester, England, to London in the late 1950s in hopes of establishing himself as a singer. <\/p>\n
He said that at the time, his older sister was able to give him just enough money to spend one night in a hotel while he visited talent agents.<\/p>\n
He revealed that seeking representation proved to be a \u201cvery difficult task\u201d because many of the agents instead pursued him personally.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn those days, you know, a lot of the agencies were\u2026the men that fancied men,\u201d he said. \u201cI had to go through a lot because I got chased a lot by agents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Singer Engelbert Humperdinck, 90, revealed he faced \u201ccasting couch\u201d advances from male talent agents early in his career, calling it \u201chell.\u201d 8.5.96<\/p>\n
\u201cI was true to myself then,\u201d Humperdinck continued. \u201cAnd I avoided all that, but I went through hell with that sort of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Humperdinck described the experience as refusing to participate in the industry\u2019s \u201ccasting couch.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCasting couch, it\u2019s called the casting couch, right?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot in a Hollywood way, but in an agent\u2019s way, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery agent I went to was the same thing,\u201d Humperdinck added.<\/p>\n
During a recent episode of \u201cThe Engelbert Humperdinck Show,\u201d the 90-year-old British singer opened up about the struggles he faced while pursuing a music career in his early 20s. Bettmann Archive<\/p>\n
\u201cExcept I did find one guy that helped me out,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was a married man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Humperdinck identified that agent as Sydney Myers, who invited the aspiring singer to stay at his apartment in London\u2019s Maida Vale neighborhood for six months while introducing him to the industry. <\/p>\n
He remembered that Myers helped cover some of his other living expenses and the agent\u2019s wife also welcomed him into their home.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe treated me very well. I ate very well during that six months, you know,\u201d Humperdinck recalled.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he was a meticulous man,\u201d he added of Myers. \u201cI liked him very much.\u201d<\/p>\n
He revealed that seeking representation proved to be a \u201cvery difficult task\u201d because many of the agents instead pursued him personally. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n
Myers later\u00a0helped Humperdinck land a 42-week stint\u00a0on the British music variety series \u201cSong Parade,\u201d where he performed under his birth name Gerry Dorsey before adopting the stage name Engelbert Humperdinck. <\/p>\n
The singer said the television exposure helped establish him as a household name and led to more work.<\/p>\n
Throughout his early struggles, Humperdinck was supported by his longtime girlfriend, Patricia, who would later become his wife and whom he has credited with encouraging him to pursue his music career before he found fame.<\/p>\n
Humperdinck first met Patricia at a Leicester dance hall in 1956, shortly after returning from military service. <\/p>\n
The couple dated for seven years before marrying in 1964, three years before his breakthrough hit \u201cRelease Me\u201d made him an international star.<\/p>\n
The pair, who shared four children, remained together for 56 years until her death in 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Engelbert Humperdinck is reflecting on the dark side of trying to make it in the music industry, claiming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":921358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,317232,75,4274],"class_list":["post-921357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-engelbert-humperdinck","tag-entertainment","tag-singers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/921358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}