Wayne Newton Biography
Wayne Newton is a singer and actor from the United States. He is known as The Midnight Idol, Mr. Las Vegas, and Mr. Entertainment, and is one of the most well-known entertainers in Las Vegas. “Daddy, Don’t You Walk So Fast” (his biggest hit, peaking at No. 4 on the Hot 100 in 1972), “Years,” and his vocal version of “Red Roses for a Blue Lady” are among his best-known songs. His signature song, “Danke Schoen,” was prominently featured in the soundtrack to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
How old is Wayne Newton? – Age
He is 80 years old as of 3 April 2022. He was born in 1942 in Norfolk, Virginia, United States. His real name is Carson Wayne Newton.
Wayne Newton Family
He was born to Patrick Newton, an auto mechanic, and his wife, Evelyn Marie “Smith” (née Plasters). He is descended from English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and German ancestors. He claims to be of Native American descent (specifically, that his mother had Cherokee and his father’s Powhatan heritage). Newton spent his early years in Roanoke while his father was serving in the United States Navy during World War II, learning the piano, guitar, and steel guitar at the age of six.
His family relocated to Newark, Ohio, when he was a child. With his older brother, Jerry, he began singing in local clubs, theaters, and fairs. Newton’s family relocated to Phoenix in 1952 due to his severe asthma, and he dropped out of North High School just before the end of his junior year.
Wayne Newton Wife
Newton married Elaine Okamura on June 1, 1968. They divorced in 1985 after having one child, Erin Newton, born on July 25, 1976. Newton married Kathleen McCrone, a lawyer from North Olmsted, Ohio, on April 9, 1994. Lauren Ashley Newton, the couple’s only child, was born on April 29, 2002.
Wayne Newton Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of $50 Million.
Wayne Newton Danke Schoen
“Danke Schoen” is a pop song of German origin. Bert Kaempfert, the composer, recorded the melody as an instrumental in 1959 and again in 1962 under the title “Candlelight Cafe.” Kurt Schwabach wrote the lyrics in German. The song gained international fame in 1963 when singer Wayne Newton recorded an American version, with English lyrics by Milt Gabler. The song gained new popularity when it was lip-synced by the main character, Ferris Bueller, in the 1986 American comedy film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (Matthew Broderick).
When Newton was 21, he released his first version. In the spring of 1963, the song was intended for singer Bobby Darin as a follow-up to his hit single “18 Yellow Roses,” but after seeing Newton perform at the Copacabana, Darin decided to give the song to Newton and transposed the recording’s key to fit Newton’s voice. Over the years, the song has appeared in numerous films and television commercials, including a trailer for the video game Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. The Newton version reached No. 13 on Billboard’s pop chart and No. 3 on its easy listening chart in 2016. It was also featured in a series of advertisements for the Australian insurer AAMI.
Wayne Newton International
In late 2009, officials at Oakland County International Airport in Waterford, Michigan, claimed Newton owed them more than $60,000 in unpaid parking fees after abandoning a $2 million Fokker F28 plane there more than three years before. The plane was first flown in for repairs in 2005. When they were finished in 2007, the plane was relocated to an outside parking area. Parking fees were $5,000 per month. To maintain its airworthiness, an aircraft of this type must run its engines at least once a month. The interior of the craft was discovered to be rotting and infested with mold in 2009. The plane was disassembled, transported, and reassembled on his estate grounds since then.
Wayne Newton House
He owns a $30 million mansion called Casa de Shenandoah. In 2022, the 39-acre ranch was listed for $24.99 million on the Nevada real estate market. Newton spent over a decade hand designing and building the 57,000-square-foot estate piece by piece.
Hundreds of Newton’s personal belongings were once housed in Casa de Shenandoah. We’re looking at not just how the property looks now, but how it looked in its heyday. Newton transformed the mansion into a tourist attraction in 2015, five years after he and his wife, Kathleen, sold the majority of the estate to CSD LLC. Newton was in financial trouble, so he sold a large portion of his estate for $19.5 million. Newton kept a 20% stake in the property, but lawsuits and other issues delayed the opening of Casa de Shenandoah. In 2013, the estate was even put up for sale for $70 million, but it did not sell.
Wayne Newton Bonanza
On the classic western TV series Bonanza, he also acted and sang as “Andy,” the baby-faced Ponderosa ranch hand.