Wayne Newton: Difference between revisions

Newton was born Carson Wayne Newton<ref name="OhioBio">{{cite web| title=Carson Wayne Newton| url=http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Carson_W._Newton| website=Ohio History Central| access-date=26 December 2017| df=mdy-all}}</ref> born in [[Roanoke, Virginia|Roanoke]], [[Virginia]] to Patrick Newton (1915-1990), an auto mechanic, and his wife, Evelyn Marie Smith (1921–1985).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/69/Wayne-Newton.html |title=Wayne Newton Biography (1942–) |website=Filmreference.com |access-date=2011-02-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800112485/bio|title=Wayne Newton Biography|website=[[Yahoo! Movies]]|access-date=2010-05-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/living/91913494.html|title=An interview with Wayne Newton|date=2010-04-26|author=Schilling, Vincent|work=[[Indian Country Today]]|access-date=2010-05-05}}{{Dead link|date=February 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He is of English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and German ancestry. He believes he has some Native American ancestry (specifically, that his mother had some distant [[Cherokee]] and his father [[Powhatan]] heritage), but is not claimed or recognized by any tribe. His father served in the [[U.S. Navy]] during [[World War II]], Newton spent his early years in [[Fredericksburg, Virginia]], learning the piano, guitar, and steel guitar at age six.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/31/AR2006073101297.html|title=For Wayne Newton, It's Viva Virginia|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=2006-08-01|author=Quinlan, Adriane|access-date=2010-05-05}}</ref> He has [[perfect pitch]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYIBje0r7IA|title=Wayne Newton on Las Vegas residency, why he won't do karaoke|publisher=TODAY, via YouTube|date=29 August 2023|accessdate=21 November 2023}}</ref> He performed in a local music radio show, playing steel guitar and singing country music, before school.<ref name="AZCentral" /> On the weekends, he performed in a traveling road show of the ''[[Grand Ole Opry]]''.<ref name="Esquire" />

 

 

Newton attended [[North High School (Phoenix, Arizona)|North High School]] where he was the Sophomore Class President.<ref name="Esquire">{{cite web|title=Do You Know Vegas?|url=https://classic.esquire.com/article/1982/8/1/do-you-know-vegas|website=[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]|access-date=22 January 2023}}</ref> He was also a member of the [[Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps]].<ref name="Esquire" /> In the spring of 1958, near the end of his junior year of high school, a Las Vegas booking agent saw the two Newton brothers performing on their local TV show and took them back for an audition. Impressed with their audition, the booking agent signed Newton, then age 15, and his brother, as part of a two-week contract to perform in Las Vegas at the [[Flamingo Las Vegas|Flamingo]].<ref name="AZCentral" /> On closing night, Newton and his brother were offered a one-year contract to continue performing in Las Vegas. To pursue his music career, Newton left North High School just before finishing his junior year.<ref name="OhioBio"/><ref name="AZCentral">{{cite web| title=Before he was Mr. Las Vegas, Wayne Newton was a teen star at North Phoenix High School|url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2019/04/07/wayne-newton-mr-las-vegas-and-his-life-in-phoenix/3381483002/|website=[[The Arizona Republic]]| access-date=1 December 2022}}</ref>

[[Category:Singer-songwriters from Ohio]]

[[Category:Country musicians from Ohio]]

[[Category:North High School (Phoenix, Arizona) alumni]]

[[Category:20th-century American male singers]]