Just like Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck was a Las Vegas performing contemporary of Elvis Presley.
The British singer, who turns 90 next month, shows no sign of stopping, having performed at Westgate in Sin City this past weekend.
Ahead of returning in October for a couple more dates at what was the International Hotel, where Elvis performed all 636 of his residency shows, Engelbert has given a new interview on his friendship with the King from the suite at the top of the casino hotel where he once had a spooky encounter after Elvis’ death in 1977.
Speaking with Vegas PBS, Engelbert shared: “When I first met him, the first thing he ever did was he embraced me. He gave me a hug. And I thought, ‘Wow, that’s incredible coming from Elvis.’ He came to see my show when I was working at the Riviera. He came backstage that’s how we first met.”
On the King coming to watch his Vegas show, he remembered telling his crew: “‘Please let Elvis come in when the lights go down, I don’t want too many distractions!’ He sat down, but the buzz was around Elvis. And when I did introduce him, it took me 10 minutes to quiet the audience down. In the end, I said, ‘Elvis, this is my show!’. I brought out one of my big guns [hit songs] and it helped to quiet the audience down.”
“[We had] no rivalry. It was most friendly. I learned more from him than he learned from me because his status was much bigger than mine and he was the No 1 in the world. When I went to see his show, I took notes. I stole a lot of things from him… He never took his image seriously. He always made fun of his image which I thought was so wonderful.”
During his residencies, Elvis living in the suite at the top of the casino hotel where Englebert believes he was haunted by his ghost.
Englebert shared: “After Elvis had passed, I was booked in this particular hotel, and I stayed in his suite. There was something there that was unbelievable and had an atmosphere about it. When I went to bed the first night in his bedroom, there was a lamp… I’m watching the TV so I turned the light off. Boom, the light came on again. So I turned it off because I’m watching TV. The light came on again. Three times, the light did that. And then the jacuzzi was not far from me, it was behind the lattice door and that jacuzzi came on six times during that night. So I said to myself, ‘Elvis, I’m your friend, what are you doing to me?’
“And then the next week I was going to Hawaii and so I thought, why don’t I do a song that Elvis did in Hawaii called the Wedding Song. So I sent one of my guys out to get a tape so I could take the lyrics down. We put it in the machine ready to put the lyrics down. It just ate the tape and all the lights went out. My hair stood up like this. I said, ‘Elvis, come on now!’ That’s what happened on my very first night over here in this suite. But I think he was just making himself known… it was quite an experience.”
Engelbert Humperdinck is performing live at the Westgate Las Vegas this October and tickets can be booked here.
