Wayne Newton and his brobrother performed at The Flamingo for five years doing six shows for six days a week. Newton credits his ability to base his performances on what the crowd wanted to hear for his early success in Las Vegas.<ref name="AZCentral" /> In 1962, Newton performed the Irish folk song "[[Danny Boy]]" for [[Jackie Gleason]] in Phoenix.<ref name="AZCentral" /> Impressed by Newton's performance, Gleason told Newton "don't go on any other television show before you go on mine."<ref name="AZCentral" /> On September 29, 1962, the brothers first performed on ''[[The Jackie Gleason Show]]''.<ref name="AZCentral" /> Over the next two years, Newton would perform on Gleason's show 12 times, which was his first appearance on national television. In the early to mid-1960s, Newton also acted and sang as "Andy," the baby-faced Ponderosa ranchhand, on the classic western TV series ''[[Bonanza]]''. During the filming of ''Bonanza'', Newton first met [[Elvis Presley]] (who was filming another show on the same set) and they went on to become good friends.<ref name="Esquire" />
In 1962, Jackie Gleason organized an engagement between Newton and the [[Copacabana (nightclub)|Copacabana]]. There Newton first met [[Bobby Darin]].<ref name="AZCentral" /> Darin, who was impressed by Newton, agreed to produce Newton's records.<ref name="AZCentral" /> By 1963 Newton had been signed to [[Capitol Records]], and his first album was released on the label.<ref name="AZCentral" /> Newton's hit song "[[Danke Schoen]]" was originally written for Darin to sing,<ref name="AZCentral" /> however Darin was intent on Newton having a hit song of his own and gave it to him.<ref name="AZCentral" /> "Danke Schoen" went on to reach No. 13 on the Hot 100.
