On This Day 12/03/1969 Engelbert Humperdinck

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On this day, 12 March 1969, British singer Engelbert Humperdinck played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre. Support was provided by comedian Ted Rogers with special guest the Welsh songstress Mary Hopkin.

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.

His recordings of the ballads "Release Me" and "The Last Waltz" both topped the UK Singles Chart in 1967, selling more than a million copies each. Humperdinck scored further major hits in rapid succession, including "There Goes My Everything" (1967), "Am I That Easy to Forget" (1968) and "A Man Without Love" (1968). In the process, he attained a large following, with some of his most devoted fans calling themselves "Humperdinckers". Two of his singles were among the best-selling of the 1960s in the United Kingdom.

In early 1967, the changes paid off when Humperdinck's version of "Release Me" topped the charts in the United Kingdom and hit No. 4 on the US Billboard 100. 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).

The B-side of "Release Me", "Ten Guitars", continues to be enormously popular in New Zealand. "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. The song has remained at the core of Humperdinck's repertoire ever since. Humperdinck's easygoing style and good looks soon earned him a large following, particularly among women. His hardcore female fans called themselves "Humperdinckers". "Release Me" was succeeded by two more hit ballads: "There Goes My Everything" and "The Last Waltz", earning him a reputation as a crooner, a description which he disputed. As Humperdinck told Hollywood Reporter writer Rick Sherwood:

"f you are not a crooner it's something you don't want to be called. No crooner has the range I have. I can hit notes a bank could not cash. What I am is a contemporary singer, a stylised performer."

On This Day, 01/03/1969 Mary Hopkin

On this day, 1 March 1969, Welsh Songstress Mary Hopkin was interviewed to publicise her debut LP titled Postcard, produced by Beatle Paul McCartney.

It was also on this day that Mary Hopkin went into the studio to record her follow up single Goodbye, again with McCartney producing.

Mary Hopkin hasn’t changed much since she came up from the valleys for Opportunity Knocks.

She’s very quiet to the point of shyness - even after a number 1 hit.

Sitting in a room at Apple’s office whilst her new album “Postcard” Mary brushes her blonde hair out of her eyes and when she speaks you have to listen very closely because her Welsh voice is very soft.

“I don’t like singing without my guitar because I hide behind it,” she says, “it gives me self confidence, I’m a bit more use to it than I use to be, but I won’t stop using it on stage.”

The telephone rings with an invitation for Mary to go to the opening night of the Merry Widow. “ it’ll be nice Mary “ says publicist Derek Taylor.

“But I don’t have anyone to go with.” Derek promises to ring back and tells Mary he knows someone nice to take her.

Mary really is a shy girl and you think she would have changed with Beatle Paul producing “Postcard” , Paul’s girlfriend taking the photographs and with Donovan writing three of the album tracks.

“It’s great to sing his songs. I’ve been an admirer of his for a long time. They’re a very different kind of song to others on the album but they match in quality.

“He accompanies me on ‘Lord Of The Reedy River’ and ‘Voyage To The Moon’ “

The album consists of many songs from past decades. Why had she chosen songs from the Twenties, Thirties and Fourties’ ?

“Paul had the idea and I like the thought of trying them. My favourites are ‘Show Business’ and ‘ Love Is The Sweetest Thing’

“ I think I had the most trouble with George Martin’s song ‘The Game’. I thought ‘Show Business’ would be very difficult but it turned out the easiest. It is a very well constructed song.

“I didn’t have anything in mind, the album turned out like it. The songs are what I want to sing.. I don’t know who the bulk of my fans are - I get letters from all ages but it’s probably the mums and dads mainly.”

The album will have immense appeal to mums and dads. Has Mary thought about concentrating on the older market by having a show of her own or going cabaret?

“Oohh no,” she says, pulling a face, I don’t think so, I’ll carry on what I’m doing, just singing the songs I like.”

What about a new single, a follow up to “Those Were The Days,” ? “ We’ve a few songs in mind for a new single but nothing definite .”

As we leave Mary warns of the loose carpet on the stairs. “Someone’s going to fall down there, I expect it’ll be me. Goodbye.”

As Apple say, “she’s only eighteen and her accent and attitudes intact”.

On This Day 13/12/1969 Mary Hopkin

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On this day 13 December 1969, the Melody Maker reported on Welsh singer Mary Hopkin and the choice of songs for January's Eurovision Song Contest.

Mary Hopkin, Britain's 1970 representative at the contest will sing six songs from which viewers will choose the British entry.

Mary will feature one each a weekk on Cliff Richard's forthcoming BBC-1 series starting in January.

The songs chosen by Mary and the joint BBC TV and Music Publishers Association Committee are : "I'm Gonna Fall In Love Again" by Cyril Ornadel and Hal Shaper, "Easy in The Morning Of Your Life" by Alan Hawkshaw and Ray Cameron, "Can I Believe" by Valerie Avon and Harold Spiro, "Knock,Knock, Who's There?" by Geoff Stevens and John Carter, "Three Ships" by Guy Fletcher and Doug Flett, and "You've Everything You Need" by Anthony Dyball and Roger Reynolds.

At Amsterdam, the song was performed seventh on the night, after France's Guy Bonnet with "Marie-Blanche", and before Luxembourg's David Alexandre Winter with "Je suis tombé du ciel". At the end of judging that evening, "Knock, Knock Who's There?" took the second-place slot with 26 points after Ireland's "All Kinds of Everything", performed by Dana. The UK received points from nine out of a possible eleven voting juries.

The single was released in March 1970, backed by "I'm Going to Fall in Love Again" (the runner-up in the Song for Europe final) on the B-side. On 28 March 1970, "Knock, Knock Who's There?" entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 7, the highest new entry of the week. It peaked at No. 2 and remained on the chart for 14 weeks.

Rather different from her usual material, Hopkin rarely performed the song after the Eurovision due to her distaste for it. She later commented: "I was so embarrassed about it. Standing on stage singing a song you hate is awful." She also referred to it as humiliating. At the time, she conceded victory gracefully saying that "the best song won" and wished Dana well.