This much I know: Engelbert Humperdinck

I'm never without my sideburns.

They are my lucky charm and have done well for me this far. It's cold out there in the world without them.

Ten Guitars was the B-side to Release Me. It was the perfect flip side to the aching heart hit that put my name, in it's entirety, on billboards around the world. I'm so proud of the life that your country continues to pour into that infectious song. When I perform it in New Zealand, I get overwhelmed by the participation and response. Everyone is happy and dancing and singing in full voice with a full heart and not a shy one in the lot. At one show, there looked like 250,000 in "the lot". It was in a park and you couldn't see where the crowd stopped and the horizon started. It was a
"is this really my life?" moment.

If I were to serenade my wife, I would take her into one of the many secret gardens she has created herself over the last 36 years. They are amazing, beautiful and inspired by many things in this world, made with her hands in the earth and her heart in the work. I'd sing Love is All to her. When we had nothing, love was all I had to give, and she is the kind of woman who asks for no more than that simple gift.

The King of Romance was a title kindly bestowed upon this Leicester lad by fans of my music. Whether in jest or in earnest, it's an honorary title that I am very proud to be called and if it had a crown that came with the title, you'd find me spit-shining it all the time. I may have been swayed by the phrase over the years because I always say "my kingdom for a cuppa tea" to start every day.

The most truly outrageous thing I witnessed in Vegas in my early days was when The King of Rock 'n' Roll came to my show. I introduced Elvis in the audience and when the spotlight hit him, he rose to his feet and lifted his arms as if to embrace the entire place, and the cape he wore looked like wings in the light. It was surreal and I was in complete awe.

I kissed two other women, every night in front of my wife and, to top it off, half of those women had their husbands with them. It was a fun, and sometimes wild, part of my show for years. I would serenade two ladies from the audience and then thank them with a kiss. I don't know how I made it through those years without a shiner, a cold or a thick ear.

If I could reinvent myself, I'd be a rapper called EZ (pronounced Easy), I'd release Am I That EZ 2 Forget. I may have to change my phrasing and my pace but I wouldn't give up the sideburns.

I was raised Catholic. I pray every night. As I get older the list gets longer. I say it out loud, partly to really hear what is on my heart and when I'm home, to share those words with my wife. I light a candle when special intentions or extra prayers are needed and I place it at the foot of a statue of Jesus, that has been with us since we lived at the Pink Palace on Sunset Blvd. I am a blessed man and I thank God for his mercies, grace and blessings. I pray for peace ... please pass it on.

ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK IS TOURING NZ FROM AUGUST 31.
TICKETMASTER.CO.NZ