Arnold George Dorsey MBE (born 2 May 1936), known professionally as Engelbert Humperdinck, is a British pop singer described by AllMusic as "one of the finest middle-of-the-road balladeers around".

Starting as a performer in the late 1950s under the name "Gerry Dorsey", he later adopted the name of German composer Engelbert Humperdinck as a stage name and found success after he partnered with manager Gordon Mills in 1965.

Having garnered a reputation as a prolific concert performer, he received renewed attention during the 1990s lounge revival with his recordings of "Lesbian Seagull" for the soundtrack of Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996), and a dance album (1998).

[10] Mills, aware that the singer had been struggling for several years to become successful in the music industry, suggested a name-change to the more arresting Engelbert Humperdinck, borrowed from the 19th-century German composer of operas such as Hansel and Gretel.

Humperdinck enjoyed his first real success during July 1966 in Belgium, where he and four others represented Britain in the annual Knokke song contest, winning that year's prize.

Arranged by Charles Blackwell in an "orchestral country music" style, with Big Jim Sullivan and Jimmy Page as session musicians and a full chorus joining Humperdinck on the third refrain, the record kept the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" from the top slot in the United Kingdom (for the first time since 1963).

[26] "Release Me" spent 56 weeks in the Top 50 in a continuous chart run, and was believed to have sold 85,000 copies a day at the height of its popularity.

In this musical variety format, he was joined by, among others, Paul Anka, Shirley Bassey, Tony Bennett, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Ray Charles, Four Tops, Lena Horne, Liberace, Lulu, Carmen McRae, Dusty Springfield, Jack Jones, Tom Jones and Dionne Warwick.

Titled Engelbert with The Young Generation, the show ran for thirteen weeks, and featured the dance troupe, regular guests the Goodies and Marlene Charell, and international stars.

[37] By the middle of the decade, Humperdinck concentrated on selling albums and on live performances, with his style of balladry less popular on the singles charts.

He performed regularly at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas through the early and middle years of the decade, recording a live album at the venue with the Three Degrees as backing singers.

[38] In 1976, Humperdinck's commercial credentials were buoyed by "After the Lovin'", a ballad produced by Joel Diamond and Charles Calello, and released by CBS subsidiary Epic.

[42] Rounding off the year, Humperdinck made his first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson with a live performance of the hit single.

[49] In the early and mid-1980s, he made a number of special appearances as an actor on popular television dramas of the time, including The Love Boat, Hotel and Fantasy Island.

Following his stint as a recording artist with Epic, Humperdinck released what William Ruhlmann has called an "ambitious double album" titled A Lovely Way to Spend An Evening (1985).

[59] Musical appraisals of Humperdinck's career in the 1990s point to him earning "a new hip cachet" during the Lounge Revival, and note the success of new artistic ventures such as his recording of "Lesbian Seagull" for the soundtrack of the film Beavis and Butt-head Do America (1996), and his dance album from 1998.

[52] 1995's Love Unchained, produced by Bebu Silvetti, peaked in the UK Top-20 album charts, marking a return to form in his home country.

Music critics have remarked on the historical span of material in the album, from songs first made popular in the 1920s to more recent ones from the 1990s, and point especially to Humperdinck's version of Nick Lowe's "You Inspire Me" as a noteworthy cut.

In a conversation with Larry King, Humperdinck discussed the genesis of the album; he pointed out that The Winding Road featured songs exclusively by British composers, as a "tribute to [his] home country", released as it was to mark 40 years since his first international hit recording.

[65][66] In March 2012, the BBC announced that Humperdinck would represent the United Kingdom in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, to be staged in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 26 May.

A career-first double-CD of duets, Engelbert Calling, was released in the United Kingdom in March 2014 by Conehead Records, charting in the UK Top 40.

[71] The album found the singer in the studio with musicians like Charles Aznavour, Elton John, Il Divo,[72][73] Johnny Mathis, Lulu, Willie Nelson, Olivia Newton-John, Cliff Richard, Smokey Robinson, Kenny Rogers, Neil Sedaka, Ron Sexsmith, Gene Simmons and Dionne Warwick.

Good Records on 30 September 2014, with Humperdinck making a number of promotional appearances on radio and television, including an extended conversation with Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani on HuffPost Live.

[75] In the UK, Humperdinck showcased songs from the album in shows like Weekend Wogan for which he performed acoustic versions of Make You Feel My Love and "The Hungry Years".

[77] 2017 was the 50th anniversary of Humperdinck's first international chart success, and two major celebratory disc sets were produced in the early summer.

The first, Engelbert Humperdinck 50, was a two-disc album bringing together the singer's charting singles for Decca, other songs from different points in his career, two new studio recordings, and a new remix of "Release Me".

[81] While composed largely of newly written material, the album included two notable covers: "Photograph" (Ed Sheeran), and "Just the Way You Are" (Bruno Mars).

[82] In May 2019, Humperdinck premiered a new song, "You", a self-described ode to motherhood written for him by British songwriters Jon Allen and Jake Fields.

While touring North America on an annual basis, he has performed in a range of venues and events in Europe, Australia and the Far East.

In the latter half of the 1970s, the singer bought the Pink Palace in Los Angeles, previously the home of Jayne Mansfield; in 2002, he sold it to developers.