Frank Sinatra. Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin. Don Rickles. All names from the heyday of Las Vegas, names that are now only vague memories on YouTube.
And yet there is one Las Vegas icon who can still be seen performing live on the legendary Strip: Wayne Newton.
Newton, 81, recently announced that he will continue his ongoing residency at the Flamingo Hotel through next summer, with 62 dates spanning Jan. 13 through June 12, 2024. Tickets start at $82 (excluding fees) at caesars.com/shows.
“The residency is what I’ve done my whole life in Vegas,” Newton told the TODAY hosts on Tuesday. “I live there, so why would I leave, because I’ve got to find a job somewhere.”
Newton’s career in Las Vegas began in 1959, when a talent scout offered the then 15-year-old high school student from the Phoenix area an audition. Newton’s older brother Jerry performed at first. But after his first big hit, “Danke Schoen” in 1963, he finally went into business for himself.
Since that promising start, Newton, who performs under the nickname “Mr. Las Vegas,” has performed 50,000 shows in front of over 40 million people.
When the TODAY hosts asked him about his favorite Vegas memory, Newton recalled a performance at the opening of the city’s T-Mobile Arena in 2016.
“I was one of the acts in that show and I thought, ‘What kind of show am I doing?’ So I decided to pay tribute to all those people, Frank and Dean and Sam and Bobby Darin,” he said. “I sang songs by each of those people, they were all my friends. I ended it with (Sinatra’s classic) ‘My Way.’ As I was singing, everyone in the audience turned on their cell phone lights and the lighting guy turned the lights off. I cried.”
Newton’s current performances usually involve him pulling out one of the 13 instruments he plays, including the violin. But one thing you’d never catch Newton doing is going to a karaoke bar.
“I’m blessed and cursed with perfect pitch,” he told TODAY. “So if someone around me doesn’t sing right, it hurts me. I don’t do karaoke because I wouldn’t be able to keep it up.”
In his show, Newton often pauses to tell stories from his 60-plus year career and the friends he has met, mostly deceased. Videos of Newton with legends such as comedians Jack Benny and Jackie Gleason, Elvis, Sinatra and his Rat Pack, and show host Ed Sullivan are shown. There is also a medley with the late Glen Campbell.
Newton told Las Vegas Review-Journal entertainment columnist John Katsilometes that his show is considered a “bucket list experience” for anyone who wants to travel back in time.
“There are a lot more young people, especially a lot more young men, coming to the show lately,” Newton said. “They want to experience what Las Vegas used to be like.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Wayne Newton, Mr. Las Vegas, extends his residency at the Flamingo
