Who was that bad singer who had the commercials in the 70s/80s?

[Rabrrrrrr]

Who was that famously bad singer who was on a lot of commericals in the 70s and 80s, selling albums by mail? He did stuff that was kind of show-tunish, like what some of the Vegas guys - Tom Jones and ilk - would do, except he was awful. I seem to remember that he wore a gold suit in some of the photos of him that appeared in the commercial, but I could be totally mistaken on that.

He had a weird name.

It wasn't Boxcar Willie, and it wasn't Zamfir. He became a meme of bad singing.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Peter Lemongello

OR Engelbert Humperdink

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. No, neither of those,

though they are both bad.

[ObaMania]

3. Was it Jack Jones?

.. and didn't he do the Love Boat theme?

[Dookus]

4. Liam Gallagher?

[Kadie]

5. Slim Whitman?

[NightTrain]

6. Slim Whitman? Roger Whittaker, perhaps?

[Boswells_Johnson]

7. Maybe Engelbert Humperdinck?

[AlGore-08.com]

8. Are you thinking of Slim Whitman?

He did country, but it was during country's lame jumpsuit period...

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. Yes, Slim Whitman!! Thanks everyone!

I was wracking my brains on that one.

Man, he sucked.

[Kadie]

12. Slim sure had a unique sound.

[chicagojoe]

17. Truth or Urban Legend?

I've heard more than once that Slim Whitman is Chris Isaacs' father.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. Roger Whitaker?

I only heard of him on commercials.

[MnFats]

10. Since you brought it up, I...ME...I am the master of the Pan Flute.

Zamfir is just an imposter. A poseur.

[Blue_In_AK]

13. Ingelbert Humperdink?

[asthmaticeog]

14. Ingdybung Hinktydoink?

Slut Bunwalla?

[RadicalMom]

20. I want to know when Eddie Izzard and HBO will give us another great show.

I think he's the funniest and most educated comedian around. Victor Borge had that nailed in his time(just saw a special on Victor the other night). Both men make me laugh till I cry, and Eddie teaches us foreign languages, too.

[Oddly Stevenson]

15. As I recall.....

...the commercial said that he had sold more records in England than the Beatles.

And I would assume Oasis as well.

[Rabrrrrrr]

23. By golly, I think you're right!

I think the commercial did claim that!

But maybe in their script, the quote was actually like this:

"Has sold more records in England than...the beetles"

In which the original quote was:

"Has sold more records in England than the recordings of the sound of beetles."

[hfojvt]

16. you can clear the room, by playin' Debbie Boone

or crank your Abba records until dawn
or I could even hear, Slim Whitman or Zamfir
don't mind a Yoko Ono marathon
or play some Tiffany on 8 track or CD
or scrape your fingernails across the board
or tie me to a chair, and kick me down the stairs
just please don't play that stupid song no more

[Seabiscuit]

18. Barry Manilow

[Rhiannon12866]

19. I went to a Barry Manilow concert, once

My friends all made fun of me, but he put on a great show.:shrug:

[Seabiscuit]

21. He's a good singer/songwriter.

[Rhiannon12866]

22. I think so, too. And he puts on a hell of a show

My favorite is "I Write the Songs," but there are so many good ones.:shrug:

My parents met him in England, years ago. It was his first trip there, so he and his band could just wander around, because nobody there had heard of him yet. He was a little surprised that my mother recognized him, but he was really nice and he let her take pictures of him, with his band.:-)