Wayne Newton
Carson Wayne Newton (born
April 3,
1942) is an
American singer and entertainer based in
Las Vegas, Nevada. He performed over 25,000 concerts in Las Vegas over a period of over 40 years, earning him the nickname
Mr. Las Vegas. Most recently, he performed at the
Stardust resort in Las Vegas for 40 weeks out of the year until
2001, in a showroom that was named after him in
1999.
Newton was born in
Roanoke, Virginia, the half-Indian son of an auto mechanic. (His father was Irish-Powhatan and his mother German-Cherokee.) Newton was active in show business at an early age. He learned the piano, guitar, and steel guitar at the age of six. Along with his older brother Jerry Newton, he appeared with the
Grand Ole Opry roadshows, performed for President
Harry S. Truman, and auditioned unsuccessfully for Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour.
Wayne's severe
asthma forced the family to move to
Phoenix, Arizona in
1952. In the spring of
1958, toward the end of Wayne's junior year in high school, a Las Vegas booking agent saw a local TV show on which the two Newton brothers were performing and took them back with him for an audition. Originally signed for two weeks, the two brothers eventually performed for five years, doing six shows a day.
Newton achieved nationwide recognition on
September 29,
1962 when he and his brother performed on
The Jackie Gleason Show. He would perform on Gleason's show 12 times over the following two years.
Many other entertainment icons such as
Lucille Ball,
Bobby Darin,
Danny Thomas,
George Burns, and
Jack Benny lent Newton their support. In particular, Benny hired Newton as an opening act for his show.
After his job with Benny ended, Newton was offered a job to open for another comic at the
Flamingo Hotel, but Newton asked for, and was given, a headline act.
From
1980 to
1982 Newton was part owner of the
Aladdin Hotel, in a partnership that lead to a number of lawsuits and a failed attempt by Newton to purchase the entire hotel in 1983.[
1]
In
1994, Newton performed his 25,000th solo show in Las Vegas.
In
1999, Newton signed a 10-year deal with the Stardust, calling for him to perform there 40 weeks out of the year for six shows a week in a showroom named after him. In
2005 the deal was, from all reports, amicably terminated and Newton began a 30-show stint that summer at the
Hilton.
In
October 2001, Newton succeeded
Bob Hope as "Chairman of the USO Celebrity Circle."
In
January 2005, Newton started a
reality television show on
E! called
The Entertainer. The show featured ten contestants. The winner got a spot in his act, plus a headlining act of their own for a year.
Wayne Newton is currently performing at the
Flamingo Hotel, where he is scheduled to remain through June 2006. Lingering vocal problems could hamper Newton's future (source: Las Vegas Review Journal, 15 July 2005).
80 Steps to Jonah (
1969)
Licence to Kill (
1989)
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (
1990)
The Dark Backward (
1991)
Best of the Best 2 (
1993)
Night of the Running Man (
1994)
National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation (
1997)
Elvis Is Alive! I Swear I Saw Him Eating Ding Dongs Outside the Piggly Wiggly's (
1998) (Cameo)
Ocean's Eleven (
2001) (Cameo)
Elvis Has Left the Building (
2004) (Cameo)
In
1968, Newton married Elaine Okamura; they had one daughter. The couple divorced in 1985.
Newton's brother Jerry was best man at the marriage in 1969; within a year, the two were estranged, a situation that continued for more than three decades. Jerry did a prison term for bank fraud.
In
1994, Newton married again, to the former Kathleen McCrone, a lawyer from Rocky River, Ohio. The couple have one daughter, born in 2002.
In 1992, Newton filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy to reorganize an estimated $20 million in debts, including a $341,000
Internal Revenue Service lien for back taxes. By 1999, he was financially well-off again.[
2]
In August 2005, the IRS filed a lawsuit against Newton, saying that he and his wife owed more than $1.8 million in taxes and penalties. One of Newton's tax lawyers disputed that Newton owes the government, saying "We believe the IRS owes him money."[
3]
The road serving the main terminal of
McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas is named Wayne Newton Boulevard.
*
Official website*
*
Jeff Brandt's Wayne Newton Website*
Newton rolling in dough,
October 31,
1999
