Please repay me... Hump tour's £250,000 debts after company goes bust
By RICHARD KAY
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Who could fail to feel sympathy for Eurovision flop Engelbert Humperdinck after he finished a dismal second to last in the song contest?
However, his miserable score — a mere 12 points — elicits few tears from former business associates who claim the crooner failed to pay them tens of thousands of pounds in a previous showbiz disaster.
Almost 20 suppliers who provided services from sound systems to transport for a nationwide tour say California-based Humperdinck did not pay up.
Flop: Englebert Humperdinck finished second last at Eurovision, but former business associates won't be shedding a tear after he failed to pay them thousands for a UK tour
This week, it emerged that a company set up to bankroll a nationwide tour for the singer was placed into voluntary liquidation with debts of more than £250,000.
The suppliers claim pleas to the multi-millionaire, whose fortune is put at £65 million, for payment of their bills fell on deaf ears and letters sent to his California home went unanswered.
Crooner: Humpedinck sings during a performance for the BBC in 2000
Says one supplier who lost £10,000 on tour programmes: ‘I was disgusted when I learned he was going to represent us in the Eurovision Song Contest. Surely we are not so hard-up?’
Gary Marks, who provided sound, lighting and transport, says: ‘We were all sickened.’
Official documents show the company — Engelbert Humperdinck Tours 2001 Ltd — was set up in May of that year to promote the concerts. But Engelbert, under his real name Arnold Dorsey, resigned as a director just 29 days after the company was incorporated.
The company went into voluntary liquidation the following February with estimated assets of £10,738, liabilities of £262,679 and many creditors unpaid.
Humperdinck, who signed the liquidation papers, later wrote to the creditors telling them the tour had been a flop. ‘Unfortunately, ticket sales did not reach expected levels,’ they were told.
He promised liquidators a video of the tour would hopefully provide ‘significant income’, but nothing was forthcoming.
Says Paul Ward, boss of tour bus specialist Silvergray: ‘It is a scandal he was chosen to represent the UK. I would have thought he wouldn’t have dared show his face on this side of the Atlantic again.’
A spokesman for the singer declined to comment.
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