Eydie Gorme

At 84 years old, Eydie Gorme has this physical status:

Eydie Gormé (born Edith Gormezano; August 16, 1928 to August 10, 2013) was an American singer who had hit songs on the pop and Latin pop charts.

On albums, television, Broadway, and Las Vegas, she performed solo and with her partner, Steve Lawrence.

Gormé was the first cousin of the well-known singer-songwriter-pianist Neil Sedaka.

Early years

Gormé was born in the Bronx to Sephardic Jewish parents Nessim Hasdai Gormezano and Fortuna "Fortunee" Gormezano. Both her mother and father were born in Turkey. At home, the Gormezanos spoke several languages, including Ladino (also known as Judaeo-Spanish). Gormé was able to talk and sing in Spanish due to its close association with Castilian Spanish. She was vaguely related (by marriage) to Neil Sedaka. Gormé, who studied with Stanley Kubrick, found a job as a translator after graduating from William Howard Taft High School. She took classes at City College at night. On weekends, she appeared in a Ken Greengrass-led band.

Personal life

Gormé and Lawrence's two sons were born. David Nessim Lawrence (b.) (1996) is an ASCAP Award-winning composer who created the score for High School Musical. Michael Robert Lawrence (1962-1986) died of ventricular fibrillation as a result of an undiagnosed heart disease at the age of 23.

Gormé and Lawrence were in Atlanta, Georgia, at the time of their son's death, having appeared at the Fox Theater the night before. Frank Sinatra, a family friend, took the couple to New York, where David was attending class. Gormé and Lawrence have been touring for a year after their son's death.

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Career

She starred on the Spanish-language radio show Cita Con Eydie (A Date with Eydie), transitioning her name from "Edith" to "Edie" and then "Eydie" because people mispronounced "Edie" in the Spanish-language radio program. She considered changing her last name, but her mother told her, "It's bad enough that you're in show business." How will the neighbors know if you're ever a success?"

In 1950, Gormé performed with the Tommy Tucker band for two months, followed by a year with Tex Beneke's band. In 1952, she joined Coral Records as a solo artist and released her first single, "That Night of Heaven." She appeared on The Tonight Show early in its beginnings with Steve Allen and formed a duo with Steve Lawrence, one of the company's employees. The pair's first single, "Make Yourself Comfortable/I've Gotta Crow," debuted across the country in 1954.

After moving from Coral to ABC-Paramount Records, Gormé's first chart hit, "Too Close for Comfort," appeared in 1956. Two more hits came after. "Mama, Teach Me to Dance" and "Love Me Forever" reached the top 40 singles chart, while her albums Eydie Gorme and Eydie Swings the Blues reached the Top 20 albums chart.

Gormé and Lawrence were married in 1957, and after Allen retired from The Tonight Show, Steve Allen Presents the Steve Allen Presents the Steve Lawrence-Eydie Gormé Show. Gormé's three more singles as well as two others' albums became chart hits. They appeared in pubs and released We Got Us, their first album as a pair in 1960. They were given a Grammy Award for Best Achievement by a Vocal Group for the album's title track. "Yes My Darling Daughter" by Gormé on Columbia Records debuted in the UK, and it reached the top ten.

With "Blame It on the Bossa Nova," she made it to the Top Ten in the United States in 1963. Since selling one million copies, the artist was awarded a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Vocal Performance and was named gold. Blame It On the Bossa Nova has four more hit singles in the same year. As the duo Steve & Eydie, two members were filmed. Amor and More Amor are her Spanish albums by the Trio Los Panchos. Then she returned to show tunes. "If He Walked Into My Life" was an Easy Listening hit in 1966 and earned her the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Steve and Eydie departed to Broadway, where they appeared in the musical Golden Rainbow based on the play A Hole in the Head. Gormé's "How Could I Be So Wrong," a musical number, was a hit on the Easy Listening charts. The musical had a fruitful one-year run. Steve and Eydie were signed to RCA Victor and released two albums, but Gormé had another hit with the title track and album "Today I'll Say a Prayer" in 1970. The band's single hit on the pop charts in 1973 was "We Can Make It Together," which was released in 1973.

Gormé made a name for herself in Latin music and internationally through her albums with the Trio Los Panchos in Spanish. Los Panchos' debut came after the popular group of Mexico and Puerto Rico, made up of Alfredo Gil, Chucho Navarro, and Johnny Albino, saw her perform at Manhattan's Club Copacabana late in 1963. Gormé's success came from the song "Blame It on the Bossa Nova," which sold 250,000 copies in Spanish in comparison to English-language sales. Los Panchos were Latin America's best bolero musicians, so when they suggested a recording Columbia accepted, they accepted.

Columbia unveiled the album Amor, which spent 22 weeks on the charts, in 1964. "Sabor a M" became one of Gormé's most popular songs. More Amor, a sequel that was later reissued as Cuatro Vidas, appeared in 1965. Navidad Means Christmas (1966), which was later reissued as Blanca Navidad, she was her last album with Los Panchos. She released other Spanish albums in her career, including the Grammy-nominated La Gormé (1976). A Grammy Award for Muy Amigos/Close Friends (1977), a duet collection with Puerto Rican singer Danny Rivera, has also been given a Grammy nomination.

On their television special Our Love Is Here to Stay, Steve and Eydie paid tribute to George Gershwin, which received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Music or Comedy Special. They appeared on Steve and Eydie's Celebration Irving Berlin and then received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Music or Comedy Special. GL Music, the 1990s, was the first band to record a song. On his seventieth-birthday tour and on his album Duets II (1994), they performed with Frank Sinatra. They recorded a cover version of the rock band Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" on their album Lounge-A-Palooza (1997).

As the twentieth century approached, the couple announced plans to minimize their touring, beginning with a One More for the Road Tour in 2002. Gormé became a blogger in 2006. Lawrence embarked on a solo music tour in November 2009, after his wife died.

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Awards and honors

• Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group, We Got Us with Steve Lawrence, 1960
• Grammy Award for Best Female Vocal Performance, "If He Walked Into My Life", 1966
• Society of Singers Lifetime Achievement Award, 1995
• Inducted with Steve Lawrence into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, winning the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award, 1995
• Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Music or Comedy Special, Our Love Is Here to Stay with Steve Lawrence, 1976
• Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Music or Comedy Special, Steve and Eydie Celebrate Irving Berlin with Steve Lawrence, 1979