Carson Wayne Newton (born April 3, 1942) is an American singer and entertainer. One of the best-known entertainers in Las Vegas, Nevada, he is known by the nicknames The Midnight Idol, Mr. Las Vegas and Mr. Entertainment. His well-known songs include 1972's "Daddy, Don't You Walk So Fast" (his biggest hit, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard chart), "Years" (1980),and his vocal version of "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" (1965). His signature song "Danke Schoen" (1963) was notably used in the score for Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986).
He was born Carson Wayne Newton in Norfolk, Virginia, to Patrick Newton, an auto mechanic, and his wife, Evelyn Marie "Smith" (née Plasters). He is of Irish, German, and Native American ancestry (his mother is half Cherokee and his father is half Powhatan).[6] When his father was serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Newton spent his early years in Roanoke, learning the piano, guitar, and steel guitar at age six.
While he was a child, his family moved to near Newark, Ohio. He began singing in local clubs, theaters, and fairs with his older brother, Jerry. Because of Newton's severe asthma, his family moved to Phoenix in 1952, where he left North High School just before finishing his junior year.[2][8][9] The brothers, as the Rascals in Rhythm, appeared with the Grand Ole Opry roadshows and on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee; and performed in front of then-president Dwight D. Eisenhower and auditioned unsuccessfully for Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour.
In the spring of 1958, near the end of his junior year of high school, a Las Vegas booking agent saw Newton on a local TV show, Lew King Rangers Show, on which the two Newton brothers were performing and took them back for an audition. Originally signed for two weeks, the brothers eventually performed for five years, doing six shows a day. On September 29, 1962, they first performed on The Jackie Gleason Show. Wayne would perform on Gleason's show 12 times over the following two years. In the early to mid-1960s, he also acted and sang as "Andy" the baby-faced Ponderosa ranch hand on the classic western TV series, Bonanza.
By 1963, Newton had been signed to Capitol Records and his first album was released on the label. He had a minor hit with “Danke Schoen” which featured his still-high prepubescent voice. It reached no. 13 on the Billboard Magazine Hot 100 chart.
Carson Wayne Newton (born April 3, 1942) is an American singer and entertainer. One of the best-known entertainers in Las Vegas, Nevada, he is known by the nicknames The Midnight Idol, Mr. Las Vegas and Mr. Entertainment. His well-known songs include 1972's "Daddy, Don't You Walk So Fast" (his biggest hit, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard chart), "Years" (1980),and his vocal version of "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" (1965). His signature song "Danke Schoen" (1963) was notably used in the score for Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986).
He was born Carson Wayne Newton in Norfolk, Virginia, to Patrick Newton, an auto mechanic, and his wife, Evelyn Marie "Smith" (née Plasters). He is of Irish, German, and Native American ancestry (his mother is half Cherokee and his father is half Powhatan).[6] When his father was serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Newton spent his early years in Roanoke, learning the piano, guitar, and steel guitar at age six.
While he was a child, his family moved to near Newark, Ohio. He began singing in local clubs, theaters, and fairs with his older brother, Jerry. Because of Newton's severe asthma, his family moved to Phoenix in 1952, where he left North High School just before finishing his junior year.[2][8][9] The brothers, as the Rascals in Rhythm, appeared with the Grand Ole Opry roadshows and on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee; and performed in front of then-president Dwight D. Eisenhower and auditioned unsuccessfully for Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour.
In the spring of 1958, near the end of his junior year of high school, a Las Vegas booking agent saw Newton on a local TV show, Lew King Rangers Show, on which the two Newton brothers were performing and took them back for an audition. Originally signed for two weeks, the brothers eventually performed for five years, doing six shows a day. On September 29, 1962, they first performed on The Jackie Gleason Show. Wayne would perform on Gleason's show 12 times over the following two years. In the early to mid-1960s, he also acted and sang as "Andy" the baby-faced Ponderosa ranch hand on the classic western TV series, Bonanza.
By 1963, Newton had been signed to Capitol Records and his first album was released on the label. He had a minor hit with “Danke Schoen” which featured his still-high prepubescent voice. It reached no. 13 on the Billboard Magazine Hot 100 chart.