Engelbert: What's In A Name?: The Autobiography

Rating:
Summary: engelbert humperdinck a must read item
Review: after being an engelbert humperdinck fan for close to 40 years/i thought nothing could top everything the greatest singer in the world could do.i was wrong.this authorized autobiography of humperdinck is a must read for humperdinck fans everywhere.and for the man who has the largest fan club in the world.they are everywhere.too interesting and indebt to get into any certain chapters.all i will say.is that once you pick it up you wont be saying release me anytime soon.
jack major.providence journal buelltin.

Rating:
Summary: Engelbert is Still the BEST!
Review: I received my book, Engelbert: "What's In a Name?" the autobiography
WOW ! I've been a fan of Engelbert for many years, collecting his records, cassettes, CD's, and videos.
NOW a book !! It is very interesting, and makes me like the fella that much more. After realizing he went through some pretty tough times to get to where he is.
I'd very much recommend the book to any and all of his fans.
Thanks, once again, Engelbert for entertaining us, in yet another way,... by way of your book. We love you! Midwest fans USA


Rating:
Summary: a rapid and riveting read
Review: What a tale Engelbert has to tell, and how entertaining is the way he tells it; it's been a life full of twists and turns, and he writes it all, with all the bumps and bruises along the way.
From his childhood in Madras, India, where he lived through the violence of pre-Independence terrorism, to the many hardships of trying to make it as a singer, which were made that much tougher by the ever-present "couch-casting" that went on, a form of getting ahead that he would not participate in...and its prevalence explains why many of the untalented seem to "make it", if only for a season, while some of the really gifted have a rough time getting noticed.
Engelbert's rise to stardom was meteoric, with the single song of "Release Me" in 1967, and he went from living in a sparsely furnished flat into the lap of luxury, and all the pitfalls that come with fame and fortune.

Through it all, he has had Patricia, or Popea, as he calls her, with him since the early days. Beautiful as well as intelligent and strong, she's been the one that has kept the family of 3 boys and one girl (the stunning and talented Louise Dorsey) together, and "stood by her man" through thick and thin. Popea writes a portion of Chapter Fifteen with gritty honesty, and explains how, and why, she withstood the many women, the paternity suits, and all the paparazzi that hounded them through those many years of notoriety.
The women, as Engelbert explains, were an "occupational hazard", certainly not helped by his years of lonely nights and hard drinking on the road, and the many females who would make themselves exceedingly available.

Engelbert comes off as an extremely complex individual, but very likeable. A perfectionist in his work, living life to the fullest, and discovering in his later years that he has the gift of healing; this assertion I believe, as I find that the sound of his voice can have curative effects.
There are portions that are laugh-out-loud funny (like the UFO story in Chapter Seventeen), and adding to the charm of his writing style is some of the "Brit-speak" slang, with expressions like the now rarely heard "grotty" (a favorite word of mine coined by George Harrison in the '60s).

The book has two sections of photographs, from the age of 17 on. Favorites of mine are the one with Muhammad Ali, and a lovely family shot taken by the pool in one of their USA homes, affectionately named "The Pink Palace".
The final 12 pages are devoted to a UK discography, and include chart positions.
This is fast reading, and riveting, so walk the dog, feed the cat, turn off the telephone, and make yourself a big cuppa, because once you open this book, its going to be very hard to put down.