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She’s hoping for another kiss from Engelbert Humperdinck
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
CANFIELD
Engelbert Humperdinck burst onto the pop music scene in 1967 with “Release Me,” and Virginia Thompson has stuck with him ever since.
The Canfield Township woman, now 72, has seen the English singer in concert more than a dozen times over the years.
But it was a July 1972 concert at Musicarnival in Cleveland that she’ll never forget.
“It was my birthday and I went with my family,” she said. “[Humperdinck] brought me on stage and kissed me twice.”
Thompson has amassed a good bit of memorabilia about her singing idol over the years, which she showed off during a recent interview.
Among the items, neatly folded and stored in a zip-top plastic bag, is a handkerchief that Humperdinck gave her at that 1972 concert. “I have never washed it,” said Thompson.
The Vindicator ran a small item about her moment on stage with the singer, and Thompson still has the brittle, yellowed clipping.
She is hoping to repeat the moment on Nov. 8 when Humperdinck performs at Packard Music Hall in Warren. Humperdinck likes to pick a fan out of the front row and bring her onstage and serenade her, and Thompson will be there with tickets courtesy of concert promoter Ken Haidaris.
Thompson’s obsession with Humperdinck, who is now 77, began when she was a young woman but she still perks up when his name is mentioned.
“My sister liked Tom Jones, but I loved Engelbert,” she said. “He was so romantic.”
The last Humperdinck concert she attended was in Wheeling, W.Va., in 2003. She and some family members drove down in a snowstorm, and as always, waited afterward at the stage door to greet him. “He loves his fans and always stops to talk,” said Thompson.
She also recalls seeing her idol at Powers Auditorium in Youngstown years ago — with tickets she won from a radio station giveaway — and also at the Canfield Fair in 1983. The ticket stubs are still in her collection.
Humperdinck’s hits include “After the Lovin’,” “The Last Waltz,” “Quando, Quando, Quando,” “A Man Without Love,” “There Goes My Everything” and “Spanish Eyes.”
But out of them all, the one that speaks most to Thompson might be “My Wife, the Dancer.”
Thompson, you see, was a professional dancer in her younger days. She and her brother performed throughout the region for more than a dozen years with an act they called Mickey and Ginger.
“We danced with Johnny Ray, Helen O’Connell, Ted Mack ...,” she said, citing popular performers of the day.
Thompson was born Virginia Antonoff in Youngstown and is a graduate of Chaney High School. She married the late Edward Thompson in 1959 and the couple had two children.
The Humperdinck concert is part of the new Back at the Pack concert series promoted by Haidaris, who also stages the River Rock at the Amp tribute concert series at the Warren Amphitheatre every summer with business partner Marty Cohen.
Haidaris said he has more national entertainment acts lined up to play Packard. He couldn’t reveal names just yet but said to expect stars of country music, Broadway, Vegas-style acts, classic rock and comedy to show up in the future.