Dorcas Speer Interviews Wayne Newton (WOI News Clip 451)

if there is any question about the popularity of Wayne Newton all you have to do is just look around us here you can't see but you may be able to hear them from time to time the girls basketball from Nevada and Wayne Newton happens to be very much as far as his thinking is concerned a person that the older people enjoy - when you don't just sing for the young people do you well no man we have kind of been accused of being an anachronism and if that be true I would guess it would come from the fact that we do primarily do songs that maybe the older people might enjoy in a new way and with new arrangements that maybe the younger people can enjoy so we try to walk that very thin line between the adults and the younger people and have enjoyed a modicum of success at it would you be a bit more specific as far as some of your back I was concerned that is the type of song and the type of musical background or the instrument background as far as formal education in music I've had none except for a year of taking still guitar lessons when I was six years old otherwise we have had a lot of practical education and experience in the in the respect that I started at the age of six years old in country and western music and we stayed in country in western music and they invariably use the editorial way because it also refers to my brother and my manager we stayed in country music up until the Elvis Presley period then there was no demand for country singers and we went into for a very short time in a period of doing rock and roll music and then we opened in in Las Vegas in 1959 I was 16 years old and we had to do a variety of music because what happened is from doing one or two shows a week in Phoenix Arizona we were thrown into a schedule of doing six shows a night six nights a week that one five years so consequently we had to develop different kinds of music and different techniques so we did Lulu country a little rock and roll a few standards bordered on maybe light classical and Broadway tunes so we had a bit of Education in all of those fields and I think probably that's pretty much what we do now is a wide variety of music rather than one particular type two questions the first one you can answer real quickly I think where are you from originally originally Roanoke Virginia and secondly what do you want to specialize in as you become older well look around I kind of feel old right now as I get older I think the I don't think that's a quick answer to that so if I may elaborate I think the time has come and gone that a singer can just stand and sing as the time has come and gone that a performer can just be a star in the United States you have to do more things than just saying you have to be a performer for instance and you have to strive to be an international star now what this means is to embellish your career and try to take in possibly acting if you're able to do it maybe a weekly television show or specials Records night clubs concerts fair dates and rodeos if you can do all those kind of things then of course it's a little easier to achieve some kind of longevity now what in your background have you done or are you doing now because now you have a special coming out yes well and this is part of the entire background as as far as preparation for where you're going in the future we have very definitely planned rather than having it be accident what we want to do in the future and take in country steps in hopes that when the future comes and when those things are there that we have constantly hoped for that we will be able to do it such as motion pictures I have done three or four or five dramatic television shows which i've enjoyed immensely and and I hope to do more our specialist certainly a prime example of what I'm talking about in the respect that the concept is called one more time and if I may mention the guest stars briefly yes I'll take a deep breath we have Trinity Arnie Ford Count Basie case star the Mills Brothers Johnny ray Frankie laine Louie Bellson Louie Jordan Charlie Barnet and Lester Brown and Paul Weston now and I might add that this is ABC right and the whole premise of the show is to go back and recreate we hopefully have some of the greatest moments in music was the people who made them great mm-hmm so it was quite a quite a kick for me I love it now you're all you're doing records now it's pretty yes mm-hmm now does this how long have you been doing big seller records the first one was a tune called heart that got into the top 20 across the nation and then along came danke Schoen and then red roses and then apple blossom time and summer wind and so on down the line but we have got into an area of recording or so it's kind of unique in the respect that we probably sell more album records than single records usually what happens is you record a single if it becomes a hit then the album it comes right out of the single do you record the single and the album at the same time not necessarily and as a matter of fact when you're proving yourself as we had through our many occasions you record a single record first because it's a lot cheaper for the record company to produce a single record than an album and then once the single record becomes a hit they will request that you're going into an album then do you have to re-do it to record for the album no ma'am what they'd do is take the master off of the single and usually title that thrusters walking on new grass is the title of my brand-new MGM however there is a tune in there called walking on new grass so what you do is record probably 11 songs in an album and you take what do you think could possibly come out as a single or has been a single and title the album after that and so then you and include in different albums some of depending upon the title and the composition different songs and it may be a repeat sometime so run from before first since we we've done danke Schoen I think in three different albums one being the title album from the tomb secondly I did a Wayne Newton in person all of them at the crescendo a few years back and naturally we do danke Schoen in our act so it was repeated again same with red roses in those two well Wayne I want time for people to be able to put the voice with the name this is Wayne Newton and let's listen to a record from the new album walking on new grass by MGM great