Legendary British balladeer Engelbert Humperdinck has shed his longtime home in the upper reaches of L.A.’s swanky Bel Air neighborhood in multiple offers for wee bit over $4 million. The sale price is well below the $6.2 million originally asked, but still a nicely profitable amount over the roughly $3 million the “Quando, Quando, Quando” singer paid for the stone-quoined 1980s Mediterranean home back in 2005.
Set behind gates and high walls, on about one-third of an acre just below the Stone Canyon Reservoir, the peachy-pink colored villa has a total of five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms between the main house and a one-bedroom/one-bathroom guest apartment that offers its own entrance, living room and kitchen.
Though it’s likely the new owner will make significant improvements and updates to the dated décor, interior spaces offer plenty of space and grandeur with a marble-floored double-height foyer, a combination living and dining room that opens to a huge terrace, and a spacious kitchen under a gigantic lighted stained-glass ceiling. Other highlights include a home theater, a fitness area with sauna, a massive game room, and a wine cellar.
The vast terrace at the back hovers over the canyon, with sweeping mountain and sky views, while the simple rectangular swimming pool and in-ground spa are placed at the front of the house where they’re hemmed in by tall, carefully clipped hedges.
Humperdinck plans to keep a residential base in Los Angeles and he’s long maintained a grand estate in Leicester, England that includes its own pub called The Red Fox Inn.
Humperdinck was represented in the deal by David T. Kessler of Coldwell Banker Realty, while the buyer, a local businessman drawn to the location, privacy, and views, was handled by Brett Miller at Nourmand & Associates.
Born in India and brought to the U.K. by his parents at ten, Humperdinck’s many achievements and accolades during his seven decades in show business include dozens of gold- and platinum-selling albums, hundreds of Las Vegas shows, and four performances for the late Queen of England. Now 86, the crooner was heard singing the effervescent ditty “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” in Brad Pitt’s film “Bullet Train” and is still packing venues and entertaining audiences around the world.
Photos: Noel Kleinman
