Wayne Newton Brings It Vegas-Style, Baby

By Marijke Rowland, The Modesto Bee, Calif.

Feb. 29–When your nickname is Mr. Las Vegas, certain things are naturally expected of you.

First, you need to own a tux.

Second, you need to know how to work a room.

Third, you need perfect hair.

Just take one look at Wayne Newton and you know why the name has stuck for 40 years.

With his perfectly pressed tux, ever-smiling swagger and raven-slick pompadour, the 66-year-old performer is the epitome of Vegas.

Newton will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Bob Hope Theatre. The show is presented by the Jackson Rancheria Casino & Hotel.

Still, Newton’s career began on the other side of the country. A Virginia native, young Wayne grew up in a Navy family. By age 6, he had learned how to play the piano, guitar and steel guitar and was performing for crowds. By age 10, the family had moved west to Arizona because of his severe asthma.

But Wayne didn’t let his health problems stop him from forming a rockabilly duo with his older brother, Jerry. Together, they appeared on the Grand Ole Opry roadshows and performed for President Harry S Truman. When Wayne was 17, the Newton Brothers started their own Vegas act, which lasted five years.

Within a couple of years, they had gained national recognition through their more than a dozen performances on “The Jackie Gleason Show.”

But all along, Newton also was looking into a solo career. In 1963, he recorded what has become his signature song, “Danke Schoen.” The single was produced by fellow crooner Bobby Darin. The song was Newton’s highest-charting hit, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts.

“Danke Schoen” gained a new audience when Matthew Broderick lip-synced to the song during a parade scene in the 1986 teen hit comedy “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

In 2006, Newton told the Australian newspaper the Sunday Age that his nonstop work ethic started young.

“I had been working since I was 4, I had a local radio show when I was 6, and when I was in school in Phoenix, I had a local television show, so I was never truly a kid,” Newton said. “But between that and coming here at the age of 15, going to work in the lounges, doing six shows a night, six nights a week, I’m probably still naive to a lot of things. I was never much of a drinker, and I couldn’t smoke because I had bronchial asthma. So I stuck to work.”

Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, Newton was a Vegas staple. He had headlining stints at the Flamingo Hotel, Stardust and Aladdin. In the early ’80s, he became part owner of the Aladdin.

He has won the Vegas Entertainer of the Year award more than any other entertainer, performed more than 30,000 shows and — at the height of his fame — grossed $1 million a month.

“I’m still doing the kind of shows I’ve always done,” Newton said in his official biography, “and I can tell you one thing: People may leave one of my shows disliking Wayne Newton, but they’ve never walked out saying, ‘He didn’t work hard for us’ or ‘He didn’t give us our money’s worth.’ I know what it means to save your money to go see someone perform, and I’ll work as hard as I have to, to try and make sure they enjoy it.”

While he is best known for his stage show, Newton’s other chart successes include “Red Roses For A Blue Lady,”"Dreams of the Everyday Housewife,”"Daddy, Don’t You Walk So Fast,” and “She Believes in Me.”

His success has allowed him to buy a 50-acre ranch outside of Vegas, called Casa Shenandoah, where he indulges his other passion — breeding Arabian horses.

Newton also has appeared in television and film, with roles in movies including “The Adventures of Ford Fairlane,”"Vegas Vacation” and “Ocean’s Eleven” and guest spots on TV shows from “L.A. Law” to “Ally McBeal.”

When not performing for Vegas crowds, Newton performs for the armed forces as a longtime USO supporter. In 2001, Newton succeeded Bob Hope as chairman of the USO Celebrity Circle.

Last fall, he appeared on the hit ABC reality competition “Dancing With the Stars.” While he and his partner, Cheryl Burke, were the third couple eliminated from the contest, Newton said he lost 20 pounds because of the show’s demanding training schedule.

After his series appearance, Newton was sidelined for a while with cardiomyopathy, a viral infection of the heart muscle. But his doctors cleared him over the winter to appear on some of the live “Dancing With the Stars” tour dates.

For the past year, Newton has been touring the country playing casinos and other venues with his full band.

He told the Sunday Age that he has no plans to retire soon.

“I would leave it before it left me, but I truly believe that everybody needs a reason to wake up in the morning,” he said. “And for me, if I wasn’t doing this, I’d probably have to get a job.”

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Copyright (c) 2008, The Modesto Bee, Calif.

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