Engelbert Humperdinck reveals how "brother" Elvis Presley stole his trademark style

19 February 2024, 13:38

Elvis Presley thought so much of Engelbert Humperdinck.

In a later autobiography of the 'King of Rock 'n' Roll', one of his former minders was asked why he struck up such a strong bond with the British balladeer.

He said it was because Engelbert reminded him of the brother he lost, his twin brother Jesse Garon who died at birth.

That's some accolade, and testament to the pair's connection that they established during their periods performing in Las Vegas.

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The 'Release Me' singer - whose real name is Arnold Dorsey - recently opened up about his relationship with Presley in a new interview.

Talking to The Mirror ahead of the release of his brand new cover of Elvis Presley's 'Help Me Make It Through The Night' with his friend Emin, Humperdinck revealed how close the two actually were.

In fact, Elvis admired him so much that he even stole Engelbert's style and adopted it as his own.

Recalling the head nights in Sin City together, particularly one night at the Riviera Hotel, Engelbert smiled as he said: "One fond memory is when he came to see me and he came all dressed with his cape on and everything like that."

"I introduced him and he stood up on the seat and spread his cape like Batman. The audience went berserk and it took me about 10 minutes to quiet them all down.

"I had to shout out 'Elvis this is my show'. He was quite the character. As far as a showman, the was nobody like him."

Despite his outlandish public persona, Engelbert admitted that behind the scenes, Elvis was a completely different character.

"He was very down to Earth person," Engelbert explained. "He liked all the simplicities of life. You know, his favourite sandwich was a banana sandwich and I have to tell you, I love it."

"And burgers, he loved burgers, which I love too. He was very down to earth, he didn't have caviar and all that business, you know?"

He did admit, however, that he thought Elvis stole his trademark sideburns – and happily told Presley that was the case.

"I had it first," he claimed. "He took it from me and I told him so."

EMIN, Engelbert Humperdinck - Help Me Make It Through the Night

Presley may've pinched Humperdinck's style, but he did the same when it came to the 'Suspicious Minds' singer's outlook on life.

"He taught me humility. When you see him work, you realise the traits that he had. I recognise them very easily because there was a lot of honesty in his performance and he never took his image seriously."

"As a performer, for me, he was the best I've ever seen, so I stole a lot from him."

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Talking about his tribute to his dear friend with his cover of 'Help Me Make It Through The Night', Engelbert revealed he'd always sing Elvis songs at his concerts, so wanted to record one for an album.

"For me, I love Elvis. I always had an Elvis song or two in my show for the last twenty years and was wanting to do it [an album]," he said about the track which appears on Emin's upcoming album, Now Or Never, which was produced by sixteen-time Grammy Award-winning music arranger David Foster.

"To have your own twist on it, but at the same time not to lose the DNA of those songs, was crucial and I think David has done tremendous work on delivering that result."