Born in Madras, India, Engelbert Humperdinck (real name: Arnold Dorsey) began his singing career as a teenager, but struggled for the best part of a decade before releasing a cover of Eddie Miller's classic . It transported Engelbert to the top of the UK chart, famously keeping ' classic double-header from the number one spot. The release coincided with a UK package tour in the company of The Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens and , a run of dates that opened at the Finsbury Park Astoria, where Hendrix set his guitar alight for the first time.
Later on the same tour, he came to Humperdinck's rescue, as the crooner relates below. "A couple of Jimi’s musicians used to play with me before they were with him. In the early sixties, when I was becoming established in the United Kingdom, I had Noel Redding and the drummer Eric Dillon [who later joined Redding in Fat Mattress] in my band.
Later on, when promoters wanted to introduce a foreign act into the UK they would put them on with an established artist. "In spring 1967 I was part of a package tour with the Walker Brothers and Jimi and The Experience, though Cat Stevens and I were guesting more than being part of the billing. “I don’t know how many concerts we did together on that tour, but it was quite a thrill to be sharing the same stage as Jimi Hendrix.
Little did I know that I was walking in the path of genius. It was immediately obvious that he was special, and that tour was when he started smashing his guitars up on stage .