Engelbert Humperdinck

“Release Me” is a song sung by Englebert Humperdinck, first released as a single in 1966. It was one of Humperdinck’s first big hits after changing his name.

Despite Humperdinck’s taking the song to the top of the pop charts, however, he was not the writer of “Release Me”. Rather it was written much earlier by Eddie Miller. He completed the song in 1946 but couldn’t find anybody willing to record it, and so after several years of looking he recorded it himself in 1953. From there it was adopted by several other artists.

Naturally the most popular of these artists was Humperdinck, and his rendition proved powerful enough that it kept The Beatles single “Penny Lane” from reaching the top of the charts. His version proved the highest selling single in the UK for 1967.

The song has since been redone several times, the latest in 2007 by George Canyon.