Singer Wayne Newton renews famous Vegas residency – and records one for the Gipper

LAS VEGAS – Veteran singer Wayne Newton’s latest “Danke Schoen” for his longtime friend. President Ronald Reagan It took shape over a short night at a regional recording studio.

There, amid an array of electronics and under the watch of a producer, an engineer, and Newton’s wife, attorney Kathleen McCrone, the 82-year-old man known as Mister Las Vegas provided the vocals for “This Is America.” Song The hit biopic “Reagan” starring Dennis Quaid.Inspired.

“Ronald Reagan was a dear friend of mine,” Newton told The Post in an exclusive interview. “I loved her very much. He was a dear friend. I walked across the street when he was running to do shows for governor and both times he ran for president as well.

He added, “I personally found him to be one of the nicest, most genuine people I’ve ever met, even while in politics and the rest of it.”

Watching a rough cut of the film — which topped streaming sales charts upon its release last month — the man who has spent more than six decades performing on the Las Vegas Strip was deeply moved.

Newton said, “When they brought the movie here – they showed it to us before it was even finished – I found myself sitting there with tears streaming down my face.” “Because he meant so much to me and what he stood for meant so much to me, I decided that any way I could be a part of this project, I would get paid to do it. “

Newton said, “Reagan was really a very nice person, and he believed what he said, and he didn’t let himself get caught up in calling other people names or calling everyone else out.”

He said Reagan, who left the office of California governor in 1975, ran for president five years later because “he wanted to see joy in people’s faces again.”

Mark Joseph, founder and CEO of MJM Entertainment Group, creator of “Reagan,” said “This Is America” ​​has its roots in Ronald Reagan’s own words.

“He took a lot of the phrases that Reagan said and incorporated them into the song,” Joseph told The Post. “It’s like a bit of nostalgia, and Wayne is from that era, and so he was the perfect person to connect the dots and bring that era up to today.”

The producer, who also created the companion compilation to the 2004 hit “The Passion of the Christ”, said that Curb Records would release two albums: one featuring songs used in the film and the other “a collection of songs inspired by the film.”

The album will be released soon, he said, as Newton’s contribution is “our second-to-last track” for the “Inspired” collection.

And Newton isn’t stopping with this song. He told The Post that he has signed on for another year’s residency at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino.

“I started in Vegas when I was 15,” he said. “I just celebrated 65 years of appearing in Vegas. He is about to turn 66. I have no plans to retire. If my voice gets ruined and I can’t give people the kind of show they deserve, I’ll call it quits. But I’m having a lot of fun.”