Engelbert Humperdinck Says He ‘Went Through Hell’ During Early Career Due to Unwanted Advances from Talent Agents

0Engelbert Humperdinck in April 2022Credit: Steve Parsons-WPA Pool/Getty“I had to go through a lot,” he said on ‘The Engelbert Humperdinck Show’NEED TO KNOWEngelbert Humperdinck revealed he had trouble launching his career because some agents sought personal rather than professional relationships with him

“I had to go through a lot because I got chased by a lot by agents,” he said

His luck took a turn with Sydney Myers, his agent, who helped support him in the first few months of his career

Engelbert Humperdinck is reflecting on the challenges he faced while breaking into the music industry in the ‘50s.

The 90-year-old singer opened up about the struggles of his early career on an episode of The Engelbert Humperdinck Show, revealing it took some time to launch his career — because very often, he said, agents tried to pursue a personal rather than professional relationship with him.

“When I was hopping around, all the agents popping around — that was a very difficult task because in those days, a lot of the agencies were… the men that fancied men,” Humperdinck said. “And of course, if you wanted to get on the business, if you went that way, you had a problem.”

While Humperdinck said he “avoided all that,” he “went through hell with that sort of thing.”

“But I had to go through a lot because I got chased by a lot by agents,” he added, noting that he managed to avoid the “casting couch.”

“Every agent I went to was the same thing — except I did find one guy that helped me out,” Humperdinck — whose latest album, Faithfully, came out in August — said.

Ultimately, Humperdinck teamed up with Sydney Myers, who helped the singer get his bearings in the first months of his career by inviting him to stay with him and his wife in a “very posh area in London.” While Myers brought the singer along and paid for their manicures and haircuts, Myers’ wife cooked for them, he said.

“She treated me very well. I ate very well during that six months,” he said, adding of Myers, “He was a meticulous man. I liked him very much.”

Before finding Myers, Humperdinck said his sister helped support his efforts to build his career by funding his accommodation during his travels from their hometown in Leicester, England, to London.

“She said, ‘If you’re going to go to London,’ she says, ‘you have to stay at a proper hotel so that you give the agents that you’re going to see a good impression of yourself,’” he recalled.

So his sister gave him £5 for one night — “I had to get all the jobs done, all in one day,” he said — which would roughly equate to £500 (or $660) now.