Engelbert Humperdinck says that as a young singer trying to break into the music business, he faced repeated unwanted sexual advances from talent agents who controlled his shot at a career.
The 90-year-old British singer, speaking on a recent episode of “The Engelbert Humperdinck Show,” described traveling from his hometown of Leicester, England, to London in the late 1950s in his early 20s, hoping to land representation. His older sister gave him just enough money to cover one night in a hotel each trip.
“In those days, you know, a lot of the agencies were…the men that fancied men,” Humperdinck said. “I had to go through a lot because I got chased a lot by agents.”
“I was true to myself then. And I avoided all that, but I went through hell with that sort of thing.”
He said the pattern was the industry’s version of the “casting couch.”
“Casting couch, it’s called the casting couch, right? Not in a Hollywood way, but in an agent’s way, you know. Every agent I went to was the same thing.”
One agent proved to be the exception. Humperdinck named him as Sydney Myers, a married man who took the young singer in rather than pressure him. Myers let him stay at his apartment in London’s Maida Vale neighborhood for six months, covered some of his living expenses, and had his wife welcome him into their home.
“She treated me very well. I ate very well during that six months, you know,” Humperdinck recalled. “And he was a meticulous man. I liked him very much.”
Myers went on to help him land a 42-week run on the British music variety show “Song Parade,” where he performed under his birth name, Gerry Dorsey, before taking the stage name Engelbert Humperdinck. That television exposure made him a recognizable name and opened the door to more work.
Through those early years, Humperdinck had the backing of his girlfriend Patricia, whom he met at a Leicester dance hall in 1956 after returning from military service. The couple dated for seven years before marrying in 1964, three years before his breakthrough hit “Release Me” turned him into an international star. They had four children and stayed married for 56 years, until Patricia’s death in 2021.
