Eydie Gormé
Encyclopedia
Eydie Gormé is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 singer, specializing, with her husband, Steve Lawrence
Steve Lawrence
Steve Lawrence is an American singer and actor, perhaps best known as a member of a duo with his wife Eydie Gormé, billed as "Steve and Eydie"...

, in traditional pop music
Traditional pop music
Traditional pop or classic pop or standards music denotes, in general, Western popular music that either wholly predates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s, or to any popular music which exists concurrently to rock and roll but originated in a time before the appearance of rock and roll,...

, in the form of ballads and breezy swing
Swing (genre)
Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...

. She has earned numerous awards, including the Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 and the Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

. She retired as of 2009; husband and musical partner Steve Lawrence continues to perform as a solo act.

Early years

Gormé was born as Edith Garmezano in Bronx, New York in 1928, the daughter of Fortuna and Nessim Garmezano. Her father was a tailor. She is a cousin of singer/songwriter Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...

. Her parents were Sephardic Jewish immigrants, her father from Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

 and her mother from Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

.

She graduated from William Howard Taft High School
William Howard Taft High School (New York City)
William Howard Taft High School was a high school in Southwest section of the Bronx, New York City.The school was operated by the New York City Department of Education....

 in 1946 (film director Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...

, also born in 1928, attended the school at the same time), and worked for the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 as an interpreter, using her fluency in the Ladino
Judaeo-Spanish
Judaeo-Spanish , in Israel commonly referred to as Ladino, and known locally as Judezmo, Djudeo-Espanyol, Djudezmo, Djudeo-Kasteyano, Spaniolit and other names, is a Romance language derived from Old Spanish...

 and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 languages. She made her recording debut in 1950 with the Tommy Tucker Orchestra and Don Brown. She made a second recording which featured Dick Noel. MGM issued these two recordings on 78rpm vinyl.

Early releases

Powder And Paint

Original Issue: On 78 rpm vinyl only on MGM 10758
Cherry Stones

Original Issue: On 78 rpm vinyl only on MGM 10767

Big Band Years

She first worked in Tex Beneke
Tex Beneke
Gordon Lee Beneke , professionally known as Tex Beneke, was an American saxophonist, singer, and bandleader. His career is a history of associations with bandleader Glenn Miller and former musicians and singers who worked with Miller. His band is also associated with the careers of Eydie Gorme...

's band. In 1951 she made several radio recordings that have been re-issued on vinyl LP and recently on CD, in 1952 Gormé went on to record solo and her first recordings were issued on the Coral label.

Tonight Show start

Gormé caught both her big break, and her future, life-long husband, when she and singer Steve Lawrence were booked to the original The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...

, then hosted by Steve Allen
Steve Allen (comedian)
Stephen Valentine Patrick William "Steve" Allen was an American television personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best known for his television career. He first gained national attention as a guest host on Arthur Godfrey's Talent...

.

Marriage

Gormé and Lawrence were married in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

 on December 29, 1957. They became famous on stage for their banter, which usually involved tart, yet affectionate, and sometimes bawdy, references to their married life, which remained a feature of their live act. In 1995, Gormé and Lawrence were honored for their lifetime contribution to music by the Songwriters Hall of Fame
Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...

.

Solo/duo

Gormé enjoyed hit singles of her own, none selling bigger than 1963's "Blame It on the Bossa Nova
Blame It on the Bossa Nova
"Blame it on the Bossa Nova" is the title of a song written by Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann which was a 1963 hit single for Eydie Gormé, reaching #7 on the Hot 100 in Billboard in March 1963.-Background:...

", which was also her final foray into the Top 40 pop charts. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

. In the UK, "Yes, My Darling Daughter" reached #10. She won a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 for Best Female Vocal Performance in 1967, for her version of "If He Walked Into My Life", from the hit musical Mame. The latter made #5 on the Billboard magazine Easy Listening chart
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...

 in 1966, despite failing to make the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

. Indeed, most of Gormé's singles chart success from 1963 onward were on the Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary charts, where she placed 27 singles (both solo and with her husband) from 1963 to 1979 (of which "If He Walked Into My Life" was the most successful). As a soloist, her other biggest hits during that period included "What Did I Have That I Don't Have?" from On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever is a musical with music by Burton Lane and a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner based loosely on Berkeley Square, written in 1929 by John L. Balderston. It concerns a woman who has ESP and has been reincarnated...

(#17 Easy Listening, 1966) and "Tonight I'll Say a Prayer" (#45 Pop and #8 Easy Listening, 1969, also her last Hot 100 entry as a solo artist).

She gained crossover success in the Latin music market through a series of albums she made in Spanish with the famed Trio Los Panchos. In 1964, the two acts joined forces for a collection of Spanish-language standards called Amor. "Sabor a Mí" became closely identified with Gormé and emerged as one of her signature tunes. The disc was later reissued as "Canta en Español". In 1965, a sequel appeared called More Amor (later reissued as "Cuatro Vidas"). Her last album with Los Panchos was a 1966 Christmas collection, "Navidad Means Christmas", later reissued as "Blanca Navidad". Gormé also recorded other Spanish albums in her career, including the Grammy-nominated La Gormé (1976), a contemporary outing. The 1977 release Muy Amigos/Close Friends, a duet collection with Puerto Rican singer Danny Rivera
Danny Rivera
Danny Rivera is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter who was born in San Juan whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is well-known in Puerto Rico for his political activism.-Musical career:...

, also received a Grammy nomination.

As a duo with her husband, the act was billed as Steve and Eydie
Steve and Eydie
Steve and Eydie is the name of an American pop vocal duet, consisting of Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé. They have been a husband and wife team since they wed in 1957. Both have also had separate careers as solo singers. The performer name on their duet releases was denoted as "Steve and Eydie",...

. In 1960, Steve and Eydie were awarded the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 for Best Performance by a Vocal Group
Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group
The Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group was awarded from 1961 to 1968. In its first year, the award specified that a "vocal group" contains two to six artists. This award was presented alongside the award for Best Performance by a Chorus...

 for the album, "We Got Us". Their biggest hit single as a duo, "I Want to Stay Here", was written by Gerry Goffin
Gerry Goffin
Gerry Goffin is an American lyricist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 with former songwriting partner and first wife, Carole King. he has co-written six Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers.-Career:Goffin enlisted with the Marine Corps Reserve after graduating from...

 and Carole King
Carole King
Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...

 and reached #28 in 1963. Under the pseudonym "Parker and Penny", Lawrence and Gormé achieved their last chart single (#46 on the Adult Contemporary
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...

 chart) with a cover of the 1979 Eurovision song contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

 winner, "Hallelujah". The song most closely identified with the duo, the Steve Allen
Steve Allen
Steve Allen may refer to:*Steve Allen , American musician, comedian, and writer*Steve Allen , presenter on the London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3...

 composition "This Could Be the Start of Something", never reached the charts, though it remains a staple in their live act.

Gormé and Lawrence have appeared on TV, including countless appearances on The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...

, as well as The Nanny
The Nanny (TV series)
The Nanny is an American television sitcom co-produced by Sternin & Fraser Ink, Inc., and Fran Drescher in association with TriStar Television for the CBS network...

. She and Lawrence appeared together on Broadway in the short-lived musical, Golden Rainbow
Golden Rainbow
Golden Rainbow is the title of a Broadway musical that opened in 1968. It starred Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé for its entire run until it closed in early 1969....

.

Since the 1970s, the couple have focused strictly on the American pop repertoire, recording several albums themed around individual American pop composers. As the 21st Century arrived, the couple announced their plans to cut back on their touring, launching a "One More For The Road" tour in 2002. In 2006, Gormé became a blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

ger, posting occasional messages on her official website. In November 2009, after his wife retired, Lawrence embarked on a solo musical tour.

Children

Gormé and Lawrence had two sons, David Nessim Lawrence
David Nessim Lawrence
David N. Lawrence is an American musical composer known primarily for his work on television and movie scores. In 2002, he won an ASCAP Award for his work on American Pie 2...

, who is a composer, and Michael, who died suddenly from ventricular fibrillation
Ventricular fibrillation
Ventricular fibrillation is a condition in which there is uncoordinated contraction of the cardiac muscle of the ventricles in the heart, making them quiver rather than contract properly. Ventricular fibrillation is a medical emergency and most commonly identified arrythmia in cardiac arrest...

 resulting from an undiagnosed heart condition in 1986, at the age of 23. Michael was an assistant editor for a television show at the time of his death and was apparently healthy despite a previous diagnosis of slight arrhythmia. Gormé and Lawrence were in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

 at the time of his death, having performed at the Fox Theater the night before. Upon learning of the tragedy, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

, a friend, sent his private plane to pick up the couple so that they could fly to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 to meet their other son, David, who was attending school at the time. Following their son's death, the couple took a year off before touring again.

Singles

Note:
[1] : Steve & Eydie (Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme)
[2] : Parker & Penny (Steve & Eydie)
Year Single Chart positions
US
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

US
AC
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...

US
R&B
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

US Country
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

UK
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

1954 "Fini" 19 -
1956 "Too Close For Comfort" 39 -
"Mama, Teach Me To Dance" 34 -
1957 "I'll Take Romance" 65 -
"Your Kisses Kill Me" 53 -
"Love Me Forever" 24 - 21
1958 "You Need Hands" 11 -
"Gotta Have Hands" 63 -
"The Voice In My Heart" 88 -
1962 "Yes, My Darling Daughter" - - - 10
1963 "Blame It on the Bossa Nova
Blame It on the Bossa Nova
"Blame it on the Bossa Nova" is the title of a song written by Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann which was a 1963 hit single for Eydie Gormé, reaching #7 on the Hot 100 in Billboard in March 1963.-Background:...

"
7 16 - 32
"Don't Try To Fight It, Baby" 53 18 -
"I Want To Stay Here" [1] 28 8 - 3
"Everybody Go Home" 80 -
"I Can't Stop Talking About You" [1] 35 14 -
1964 "The Friendliest Thing" 133 -
"I Want You To Meet My Baby" 43 -
"Can't Get Over (the Bossa Nova)" 87 20 -
1965 "Do I Hear a Waltz?" 122 -
"Just Dance On By" 124 39 -
"Don't Go To Strangers" - 36 -
1966 "What Did I Have That I Don't Have?" - 17 -
"If He Walked Into My Life" 120 5 -
"What Is a Woman?" - 34 -
1967 "The Honeymoon Is Over" [1] - 14 -
"Softly, As I Leave You" 117 30 -
"How Could I Be So Wrong" - 22 -
1968 "Life Is But a Moment (Canta Ragazzina)" 115 35 -
"The Two of Us" [1] - 33 -
"This Girl's In Love With You" - 22 -
1969 "Real True Lovin'" [1] 119 20 -
"Tonight I'll Say a Prayer" 45 8 -
1970 "(You're My) Soul & Inspiration" [1] - 21 -
"My World Keeps Getting Smaller Every Day" [1] - 24 -
1971 "Love is Blue/Autumn Leaves" [1] - 37 -
"It Was a Good Time" - 23 -
1972 "We Can Make It Together (featuring the Osmonds)" [1] 68 7 -
1973 "Feelin'" [1] - 31 -
"Take One Step" - 47 94
"Touch the Wind (Eres Tu)" - 41 -
1976 "What I Did For Love" - 23 -
1979 "Hallelujah" [2] - 46 -

Albums

  • 1951 Tex Beneke & The Glenn Miller Orchestra (Radio transmission recordings: features Gormé on vocals)
  • 1956 Delight
  • 1957 Eydie Gormé
  • 1957 Eydie Swings the Blues
  • 1958 Eydie Gormé Vamps the Roaring 20's
  • 1958 Eydie in Love
  • 1958 Gormé Sings Showstoppers
  • 1958 Love is a Season
  • 1959 Eydie Gormé On Stage
  • 1959 Eydie in Dixieland
  • 1960 We Got Us (with Steve Lawrence)
  • 1960 Sing The Golden Hits (with Steve Lawrence)
  • 1961 Come Sing with Me
  • 1961 I Feel So Spanish
  • 1962 Two On The Aisle (with Steve Lawrence)
  • 1962 It's Us Again (with Steve Lawrence)
  • 1963 Blame It on the Bossa Nova
  • 1963 Let the Good Times Roll'
  • 1963 Steve & Eydie At The Movies (with Steve Lawrence)
  • 1964 Gormé Country Style
  • 1964 That Holiday Feeling (with Steve Lawrence)
  • 1964 Amor (with Trio Los Panchos)
  • 1965 Eydie Gormé sings Great Songs from The Sound of Music And Other Broadway Hits
  • 1965 More Amor (with Trio Los Panchos)
  • 1966 Don't Go to Strangers
  • 1966 If He Walked Into My Life
  • 1966 Navidad Means Christmas (with Trio Los Panchos)
  • 1967 Bonfá & Brazil (with Luis Bonfá and Steve Lawrence)
  • 1967 Softly, As I Leave You
  • 1968 The Look of Love
  • 1968 Eydie
  • 1969 Otra Vez
  • 1970 Tonight I'll Say a Prayer
  • 1970 Canta en Español (with Trio Los Panchos)
  • 1970 Cuatro Vidas (with Trio Los Panchos)
  • 1971 It Was a Good Time
  • 1976 La Gormé
  • 1977 Muy Amigos/Close Friends (with Danny Rivera)
  • 1981 Since I Fell for You
  • 1982 Tomame O Dejame
  • 1988 De Corazon A Corazon
  • 1992 Eso Es El Amor
  • 1996 Silver Screen

Music samples

External links

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