Engelbert Humperdinck facts: Age, songs, real name and Tom Jones feud of the 'Release Me' superstar

26 September 2025, 12:42

The life and work of MOR megastar Engelbert Humperdinck, the man who stopped The Beatles.

There are few artists out there with the longevity of Engelbert Humperdinck.

He started before Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney or The Rolling Stones and is still going strong today.

• Engelbert Humperdinck reveals how "brother" Elvis Presley stole his trademark style
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• Listen to the Gold Radio 60s Live Playlist on Global Player, the official Gold app

But how much do you really know about the MOR megastar?

Do you know Engelbert Humperdinck's real name? Why he started feuding with Tom Jones? Which of his songs did what no other artist in the 1960s could and stop The Beatles?

Read on for all the fast facts you could ever want about Engelbert Humperdinck.

What is Engelbert Humperdinck's real name and how old is he?

Engelbert Humperdinck was born Arnold George Dorsey on May 2, 1936 in what was then Madras, British India (what's now Chennai, India), which means he celebrated his 89th birthday in 2025.

He came from a big family, being one of ten children born to British Army NCO Mervyn Dorsey and mum Olive.

The family moved to Leicester, England when he was ten years old.

How did Engelbert Humperdinck get into music?

Crazy Bells

After the family's move to England, Engelbert Humperdinck (as he would become) started listening to music and started learning the saxophone.

He was good enough to play in nightclubs by the 1950s in his teens and twenties. It was around then when he started to sing, too, and his spot-on impression of Jerry Lewis earned the young Arnold George Dorsey the nickname "Gerry Dorsey".

It was under that name that he related tried to break through in the music business with little success. Gerry Dorsey's attempt at stardom wasn't helped by being conscripted into the British Army Royal Corps of Signals in the middle of the decade.

After he was discharged he won a talent contest in the Isle of Man, which led to him recording his first single 'Crazy Bells' for Decca Records. It wasn't a hit, nor was 'I'll Never Fall in Love Again', which he released on Parlophone.

Gerry Dorsey - I'll Never Fall In Love Again

He didn't give up. Dorsey toured with Billy Fury, Vince Eager, and Terry Dene as part of The Big Beat Show, popped up here and there on telly, and supported Adam Faith.

Momentum was building, but a severe bout of TB and nine month stint in hospital in 1961 set him right back to the beginning.

He still wouldn't give up.

HIs luck finally changed for good when he signed up with Gordon Mills, a music manager who had previously roomed with in Bayswater.

Mills had already struck gold with one of his other clients, Thomas Woodward, who he had renamed Tom Jones after the 1963 movie adptation of Henry Fielding's 1749 novel.

Engelbert Humperdinck - Dommage, dommage

This time around he went wackier with the name change, suggesting that Dorsey be known as Engelbert Humperdinck.

That wasn't because Dorsey had anything to do with the 19th-century German composer of operas like Hansel and Gretel, but just because of the quirkiness.

It immediately paid off.

Englebert won the Knokke Song Contest for Britain in Belgium in July 1966, and charted in that country with 'Dommage Dommage' three months later.

He met German songwriter Bert Kaempfert and recorded versions of his 'Spanish Eyes', 'Wonderland by Night' and 'Strangers in the Night'. He was likely only denied a massive hit on the last of those because Frank Sinatra had dibs on it.

But his breakthrough was delayed rather than denied, and in 1967 he put out 'Release Me'.

How did 'Release Me' defeat The Beatles?

Engelbert Humperdinck - Release Me [Old Video Edit] 1967

The Beatles' first single 'Love Me Do' didn't get to number one. Despite topping some listings, according to the "official" charts, neither did 'Please Please Me'.

But every one of the following 11 singles from 'From Me To You' in 1963 to 'Yellow Submarine'/'Eleanor Rigby' in 1966 went to the toppermost of the poppermost.

The Beatles always, always got to number one.

That was until 1967, when The Beatles released what's still widely acclaimed as one of their greatest singles (and so one of the greatest singles in the history of popular music), the double A-side of 'Penny Lane' and 'Strawberry Fields Forever'.

So far so good for the Fabs, but Engelbert Humperdinck had recorded a little track called 'Release Me'.

With a little bit of help from session musicians du jour Big Jim Sullivan and Jimmy Page (I wonder what happened to him), an arrangement from Charles Blackwell and a full chorus backing up Enge, the song entered the charts in February, and rose week by week by week.

By March it rose to number one, where it stayed for a whopping six weeks, as part of its 56 weeks on the top 100.

For the first of those three weeks at the summit, nestling in the number two spot was none other than 'Penny Lane'/'Strawberry Fields Forever'.

What's the story of Engelbert Humperdinck's feud with Tom Jones?

With their made up names granted by their shared manager Gordon Mills, Engelbert Humperdinck and Tom Jones used to be good pals.

You can still dig out photos of them sat atop Rolls Royces together, or sharing a snog with Raquel Welch, but those days have been long gone for a long time.

It's not clear exactly when they fell out with one another, but it happened in the 1970s.

Theories abound that the bad blood was rooted in competing affections for either the ladies, or the attention of their manager.

Whatever caused it, things were at their lowest ebb in 2015 when Sir Tom told Metro of Engelbert: "It's as I say – once a c**t always a c**t."

Things have rumbled on since then.

"I think he's lost his voice," Humperdinck joked last year of his pop rival. "I don't think he's got it anymore."

For his part, Tom confirmed that Engelbert had tried to kiss and make up, but he wasn't having any of it.

"He has tried but I don’t want to talk," Jones said. "There is nothing friendly about me and Engelbert because he is a prick and you can quote me on that. We fell out years ago."

Engelbert more recently was incredibly complimentary about Sir Tom.

"Although we're not friends, I still think he’s probably one of the best singers the world has ever known", he said.

"And I always will say that. I'm not jealous of him, in fact... I don't like to hold grudges. Life is too short for that sort of the thing."

What are Engelbert Humperdinck's biggest songs?

The Last Waltz ❤️ Engelbert Humperdinck 🎤 Flashback

After 'Release Me', Engelbert has kept on releasing music, year after year after year, racking up a number of top five hits before the decade was out.

His most recent album was 2023's All About Love and as he approaches his 90s he's still going strong.

Engelbert's biggest songs include:

• Dommage Dommage
• Release Me
• There Goes My Everything
• The Last Waltz
• Am I That Easy To Forget
• A Man Without Love
• Les Biyclettes de Belsize
• The Way It Used To Be
• I'm A Better Man
• Winter World of Love
• My Marie
• Sweetheart
• Another Time, Another Place
• Too Beautiful to Last
• Love Is All
• Free As The Wind
• After the Lovin'
• This Moment in Time
• Lesbian Seagull
• Love Will Set You Free

How did Beavis and Butt-head help Engelbert Humperdinck have a 1990s revival?

Engelbert Humperdinck - Lesbian Seagull (from "Beavis And Butt-Head Do America")

While he was certainly not without his admirers by the 1990s, it's fair to say that Engelbert's fanbase had mainly grown up with him

But two animated idiots helped bring Humperdinck to a brand new audience.

In 1979, inspired by long term monogamous lesbian behaviour in seagulls on Santa Barbara Island, Tom Wilson Weinberg wrote and recorded the song 'Lesbian Seagull' for his 1979 album Gay Name Game.

Beavis and Butt-head - Lesbian Seagull

In the classic 1996 movie spinoff Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, the song is performed by Beavis and Butt-head creator Mike Judge in character as teacher David Van Driessen.

Over the end credits though, and on the official soundtrack CD, we're treated to a full length cover by Engelbert Humperdinck.

This performance was also released as the flip side of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers' cover of 'Love Rollercoaster'.

What happened when Engelbert Humperdinck represented the UK at Eurovision?

Engelbert Humperdinck - Love Will Set You Free | United Kingdom 🇬🇧 | Grand Final | Eurovision 2012

The UK has taken a haphazard approach to choosing its representatives at the Eurovision Song Contest since the turn of the century.

It's veered from X Factor contestants to other TV stars to up and coming acts to established groups looking for a comeback to proper pop stars, and there in 2012 (a year before Bonnie Tyler took the mic, in fact) was Engelbert Humperdinck.

It wasn't a storming success, it must be said, that it was Enge's fault.

Engelbert finished second bottom, 25th out of 26 with just 12 points for his performance of er Martin Terefe and Sacha Skarbek's 'Love Will Set You Free' in Baku.

Is Engelbert Humperdinck married and does he have any children?

Engelbert Humperdinck has only been married once.

He wed his girlfriend Patricia Healey, who he had met at the Palais de Danse nightclub in Leicester, in 1964.

They had four children together and remained married until her death in 2021.

Humperdinck was known to have strayed more than once during their marriage, however. Patrica acknowledged the affairs and said that there were "enough paternity suits to wallpaper a bedroom".

Indeed, two women successfully got Engelbert to pay maintenance for their daughters.

"I didn't give two hoots about it, as long as it was sexual," Patricia said of the flings frankly in the chapter on herself in Engelbert's memoir.

"But when it becomes a relationship that's when it becomes hurtful. I always said to myself, if ever he bought a flat or a home for someone then that would be it, because I would know then that the person meant a lot to him."

"I kept the confession box very busy," the Catholic Engelbert told The Observer in 2001.

"Naughtiness is a part of growing up. It starts when you're a toddler and never ends. You're just trying life out, you know: am I missing anything? Those are some of the errors that you make. I'm not that naughty any more, anyway."