I live in Bel Air luxury but I'll always call Leicester home

As he prepares to return to the UK this autumn, Engelbert Humperdinck sits down with LA correspondent PETER SHERIDAN to talk about the grief of losing his soulmate, why he's a young 89 and how Tom Jones and The Beatles stole his look!

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ANNED dark like antique oak, bejewelled as a Las Vegas cardsharp and still sporting his trademark bushy mutton-chop sideburns, Engelbert Humperdinck sips at his martini “gin with a splash of dry vermouth, no ice, shaken, with a twist” and gives the waiter a nod of approval. “I wanted to be James Bond,” says the singer who, in addition to his penchant for martinis, has enjoyed a life that 007 might envy - jet-setting around the world with beautiful women throwing themselves at him.

“Sadly, I’m too old to think of acting now,” says the 89-year-old. “It’s a regret. But I wanted to be an actor. A singer acts on stage, changing emotions on the spot. I received scripts from Hollywood, but my manager dumped them all in the trash.

“He didn’t want me spending six months making a movie when I could be on the road performing and selling merchandise. I had no say in it.”

Yet Englebert isn’t complaining about the success he enjoyed, selling more than 150 million records, with 63 gold and 24 platinum albums, a Golden Globe and four Grammy nominations. His hits include The Last Waltz, There Goes My Everything, and 1967 smash Release Me, which stayed on the charts for 56 consecutive weeks and deprived The Beatles of their 13th consecutive number one with doubleheader Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields.

Even today, his music videos attract more than 17 million views on social media and his hit A Man Without Love has 167 million streams.

Engelbert is returning to England for a concert tour in September before a 30-date European tour stretching into December. He is also finishing up a new album of 1980s rock classics, with the original musicians from bands including Aerosmith, Journey, Kiss and The Cars.

“I don’t need the money, I’m doing it because it’s what I love,” he says, though he no longer has his fleet of 14 Rolls-Royces.