Wayne Newton explains why he’s ‘the happiest I’ve ever been’

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Wayne Newton recalls friendships with Elvis and the Rat Pack

Fox411: Las Vegas icon Wayne Newton opens up about learning how to navigate fame from the Rat Pack, his friendship with Elvis and explains his closeness to his fans

At age 76, Wayne Newton is loving life.

The “Danke Schoen” singer recently told Closer Weekly that despite a non-stop schedule touring across the country, as well as raising horses during his spare time, he really wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’ve pretty much done whatever I wanted to do — whether or not it turned out well is a different question!” he told the magazine.

But the entertainer stressed he’s “the happiest I've ever been." One thing he’s looking forward to is celebrating his 25th anniversary with wife Kathleen McCrone.

Wayne Newton with wife Kathleen McCrone. (Getty)

“We’re going to renew our vows,” he shared. “We’re either going to do it in Hawaii or in Rome at the Vatican.”

But for now, the couple prefers spending quality time at home.

“The reason we stay home on date nights is that otherwise, I would be sitting there while he took pictures or signed autographs for people because he never says no,” said McCrone. “He feels they’re the people who have given us the life we’ve been able to live.”

Newton added the reason he’s been so successful over the years, aside from working nonstop, is quite simple.

“My advice is ‘be able to adjust to what life brings you,’” he said.

Back in 2017, Newton told Fox News that the biggest accomplishment of his decades-long career has been performing for the American troops.

“I think that if I’ve been given any talent at all in this lifetime, it has been to bring a moment of home to our men and women of the armed forces,” he explained at the time. “It’s really been the most gratifying thing I’ve done in my life.”

Newton even has a special tradition for the men and women who serve our country when he performs.

“It started in Vietnam,” he said. “I would tell the audience, ‘If there’s anybody you want me to call when I get home and tell them that I saw you, write down your name and give me a message that’s personal to them so they will know it’s not some idiot trying to make this stuff up.’”

(Getty)

Newton has made more than 50,000 phone calls to families and loved ones. And when it comes to those messages, he’s heard them all. But he will never forget when one soldier in Iraq asked Newton to propose on his behalf to an unsuspecting girlfriend.

“She said, ‘This is really Wayne Newton?’” he recalled. “I was afraid she was going to ask me to sing ‘Danke Schoen’… There was silence. And I said, ‘Well, you gotta tell me something because I gotta call him back.’ She said ‘The answer is yes Mr. Newton, but I want you to know that I’ve been waiting 25 years for that ‘bleep’ to ask me to marry him and now he chickens out and has you do it!’”