Engelbert Humperdinck (singer) - 1980s & 1990s

1980s & 1990s

By the 1980s, approaching his fiftieth birthday, Humperdinck continued recording albums regularly and performing as many as 200 concerts a year, yet maintained a strong family life, even as the family alternated between homes in England and in southern California.

In 1988 Humperdinck filed a libel suit against the National Enquirer. The origin of the libelous statements was said to be Kathy Jetter, the mother of Humperdinck's illegitimate child, and were made in an affidavit filed by Jetter in New York Family Court in an effort to increase child support payments from Humperdinck. Jetter lost the action. Jetter had successfully brought a paternity suit against Humperdinck following the birth of her daughter Jennifer in 1977.

Humperdinck was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1989 and won a Golden Globe Award as entertainer of the year, while also beginning major involvement in charitable causes such as the Leukemia Research Fund, the American Red Cross, the American Lung Association, and several AIDS relief organisations. He wrote a song for one group, the theme anthem for Reach Out. "He's a gentleman," longtime friend Clifford Elson has been quoted as saying of him, "in a business that's not full of many gentlemen."

In 1989 he recorded the album Step Into My Life (released as Ich Denk An Dich in Germany). All the songs on the album were written by Dieter Bohlen, and some were written with Barry Mason. The album contained the singles, "Red Roses For My Lady", "I Wanna Rock You In My Wildest Dreams", and a version of Dieter Bohlen's first hit, from the album Modern Talking, "You're My Heart, You're My Soul".

Humperdinck sang The Star-Spangled Banner before the start of the 1996 Daytona 500. Humperdinck performed the song Lesbian Seagull for the 1996 film Beavis and Butt-head Do America. In the movie, the song is sung by one of Beavis and Butt-head's teachers, Mr. Van Driessen. The song appeared on the official movie soundtrack.

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