ENGELBERT: Therapy has reversed my darling wife’s Alzheimer’s
Legend Engelbert Humperdinck on the treatment he says helps his beloved Patricia
‘Sometimes you’re tempted and make a mistake. You always think the grass is greener but it is not’
HIS HEYDAY was in the 1960s and ’70s, when fans queued for autographs rather than selfies and the only way to follow an idol was by reading about them in a pop magazine bought from the local newsagent.
So it comes as something of a surprise to discover that at 83 Engelbert Humperdinck is a huge fan of social media. He’s not only all over Facebook, he’s a regular poster on Instagram and Twitter too.
What’s more, he even has a weekly vlog (video blog) on YouTube, entitled Tuesday Museday, where he chats to his fans.
“I wanted to keep up with the times,” he explains. “I didn’t want to rest on my laurels and grow old gracefully and sit in an armchair and do nothing. I wanted to keep up with what’s happening in today’s world.
“I love social media and Tuesday Museday tells people what’s happening in my life that particular week.
“From reading social media I also learn what I should and shouldn’t keep in my show. They’re good critics and well worth paying attention to.
“And through comments on Facebook and Instagram I see how people appreciate my work, which makes me think, ‘Well, it’s been worthwhile and I want to keep doing it until God calls me’.
“Retirement is a big no-no. I still have a youthful approach to life – I don’t let the old man in.”
Engelbert has always refused to acknowledge the idea of ageing. Fit and well, he’s enjoyed a career spanning more than 50 years and still performs dozens of concerts every year.
A singer since his teens growing up in Leicester as plain old Arnold Dorsey, Engelbert first found fame in 1967. After changing his name (a suggestion made by his manager), his single Release Me made the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, keeping The Beatles off the top spot.
ENGELBERT was 31 by then and already determined to hang on to his youth. “When I was 25, I went grey prematurely,” he explains. “I thought I couldn’t go into showbusiness with grey hair.
“So I decided to dye it and I’ve been dyeing it ever since. I don’t want to see an older person when I look in the mirror in the morning.”
He married his wife Patricia just three years before hitting the big time. And with such a large following of devoted, mostly female fans, it must have been difficult to resist the temptations?
Engelbert pauses.
“Er, of course it was. Temptations are temptations and you either take them or leave them but sometimes they are irresistible and you make the mistake.
“You always think the grass is greener, but it’s not.”
Whatever the difficulties, the relationship survived and the couple have been married for 55 years now with Englebert still enjoying the green grass of home in California.
Patricia was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s 10 years ago at the age of 73. But Engelbert is convinced that the revolutionary acupuncture treatments he has arranged for his wife have not only halted her decline but are actually improving her condition. She’s starting to utter a few more words each day and she’ll answer now and again when she feels like it,” he says, smiling. “It’s an intelligent answer, not a mumble. One of the carers said to her the other day, ‘Oh, I’m such an idiot,’ and she said, ‘Yes, you are!’ She said, ‘Good morning’ to me recently, which was lovely. She’s showing signs of improvement. Before, if you walked into the room she’d just stare, but now she turns round and looks at you and smiles.
“I tell her I love her every day and all through the day. She hears everything. You may not think she hears everything, but she does.
“She’s getting stem cell treatment through acupuncture. It’s a new discovery. It’s non-invasive and uses electrical impulse done with pads. It’s a good treatment and we’re making progress and hopefully, with the grace of God, she will become better.”
The theory is that the acupuncture targets the nervous system and mobilises the body’s stem cells. At Christmas, Patricia said Engelbert’s name for the first time after three years of barely speaking at all and the previous month she called their son Scott, visiting from Australia where he lives, by his name.
“That’s totally unheard of, because after 10 years nobody can say people’s names like that. When Scott went back to Australia, she cried. So she knows who he is.”
Alzheimer’s is currently considered incurable, but there are medications that can temporarily reduce the symptoms and some believe that alternative treatments can also help.
Nine years ago the couple flew to Germany for an operation involving cutting-edge stem cell therapy.
“It didn’t work,” he says. “I think it was a little early in the stages of stem cell therapy at that point. But who knows? Maybe it contributed to her longevity, which I’m thankful for. She gets good medical attention and as long as I have a breath in my body, I’ll provide that.”
Patricia, who struggles to walk, requires 24-hour care and is looked after by a team of live-in carers at their fourstorey house in Los Angeles.
Engelbert lives on the top floor and the carers live on the second floor with Patricia.
In May, Engelbert will be performing concerts at the iconic London Palladium and also Southport Theatre.
But Patricia unfortunately won’t be well enough to accompany him.
“The moment she can start walking and get on a plane, we’re going to be home because she loves our home in Leicester,” says Englebert.
“She has a wonderful garden there that she created and I hope that she’ll be able to go back and see it again.” Over his career, Engelbert has enjoyed record sales of more than 140 million and released more than 100 albums, including Reflections, which came out last year.
“His upcoming shows will give audiences an opportunity to hear the new material, as well as the hits from the ’60s and ’70s. In those days, Engelbert was such a big star he hosted his own television shows here and in America, where he was joined on screen by stars who included Tom Jones, Dusty Springfield and Tony Bennett.
At the same time, he became friends with Elvis Presley, who went on to copy Engelbert’s signature sideburns.
“It was one of the best times of my life,” Engelbert recalls with a smile. “Elvis came to see my show and when he stood up in the crowd it took me 10 minutes to quieten the audience.
“The world loved him and I loved him. Elvis was a twin and he once said, ‘I like Engelbert, because I think of him as the brother I lost at birth.’ That was great.” Engelbert also crossed paths with Frank Sinatra, but that ended less successfully when Sinatra recorded Strangers in the Night, a song that Engelbert had wanted to release.
He recalls: “I was given three songs – Spanish Eyes, Wonderland by Night and Strangers in the Night.
“I recorded all three, but then my manager said to me that I couldn’t have Strangers in the Night.
“I said, ‘Why not? I think it’s a hit.’ And it was – for Sinatra! He had a Number One with it, but never sang it again,” he recalls. “He never liked the song, I don’t know why he took it – I loved it.
“But who’s going to argue with Frank Sinatra?”
‘Elvis once said, I like Engelbert because I think of him as the brother I lost at birth. That was great’