When Wayne Newton’s close friend Elvis Presley played his last show at the Las Vegas Hilton (now Westgate) in 1976, he wrote the message “kind of to God and himself,” according to Newton, on a notepad by his bed. When Newton heard what the note said he obtained it, and eventually co-wrote a song to address the many requests for copies of the contents. That song, “The Letter,” became a No. 1 country hit, with the circumstances behind it becoming the kind of Vegas story that Newton tells so well at his residency, Wayne: Up Close and Personal.
No living entertainer embodies the history and spirit of Vegas more than Newton. He earned the sobriquet “Mr. Las Vegas” the hard way, starting out by performing six shows a night six days a week with older brother Jerry at downtown’s Fremont Hotel. He knew he was destined to entertain by age 4, when his parents took him to a Grand Ole Opry touring show and he saw the effect Hank Williams had on the crowd.
He proceeded to familiarize himself with guitar, piano and steel guitar before he began singing at a daily radio show. By 16, he was in Vegas, where Bobby Darin took the tall, baby-faced singer under his wing and groomed him for future success. The “Mack the Knife” crooner passed “Danke Schoen” to his protégé, giving Newton his signature song and his first hit in 1963 at age 21. That November, he was booked at the Flamingo for his first headlining gig.
Other entertainers helped raise Newton’s profile in main showrooms and on television, including Jack Benny and Jackie Gleason. He was embraced by mainstream America for his outgoing showmanship, clear voice and musicianship. He had learned to play multiple instruments in his early days to preserve his vocals during six-show dates, and he had evolved into an all-around performer. The same year of Presley’s ’68 Comeback Special, Newton hosted a prime-time program that featured many of the entertainment figures that had supported him on the way up.
It was in the ’70s that he became Mr. Las Vegas. He dropped 60 pounds, grew a moustache and sideburns, and began singing an octave lower than fans heard on his 1972 song “Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast.” After Presley passed, there was no one who rivaled his popularity on The Strip, and he continues to pay homage to the King of Rock ’n’ Roll with Elvis covers to this day.
Newton lives to perform live. The intimate layout of Bugsy’s Cabaret not only brings him full circle back to the Flamingo but allows him to emphasize storytelling in a personal way and easily field questions from the audience during ask-Wayne-anything segments. His up-tempo versions of “See See Rider” and “Viva Las Vegas” are delivered with the help of a live band and he is as adept a musician as ever. Mr. Las Vegas can’t stop, won’t stop.
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