independent and unofficial
Prince fan community
Welcome! Sign up or enter username and password to remember me
Forum jump
Forums > Music: Non-Prince > Eydie Gorme is Dead.
« Previous topic  Next topic »
  New topic   Printable     (Log in to 'subscribe' to this topic)
Author

Tweet     Share

Message
Thread started 08/10/13 4:54pm

lazycrockett

avatar

Eydie Gorme is Dead.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20724795,00.html

Concert and recording superstar Eydie Gormé, who – performing everything from ballads to bossa nova with singing partner and husband Steve Lawrence – made an indelible impression on American audiences during the swingin' '60s, died Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas, her spokesman, Howard Bragman, tells PEOPLE. She was 84.

"Legendary singer and performer Eydie Gorme passed away peacefully today at Sunrise Hospital following a brief illness," Bragman said in a statement. "She was surrounded by her husband, son and other loved ones at the time of her death."

In his own statement, Steve Lawrence said: "Eydie has been my partner on stage and in life for more than 55 years. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her and even more the first time I heard her sing."

He added: "While my personal loss is unimaginable, the world has lost one of the greatest pop vocalists of all time."

A favorite on The Ed Sullivan Show, in showrooms in the Catskills and in Las Vegas – where they married on Dec. 29, 1957, and later took up permanent residence – as well as on stages, including Carnegie Hall, Steve and Eydie, as they were known, sang popular hits of the day, including Broadway standards, and exchanged pointed personal banter – all of which their audiences ate up.

A Gift for Languages and for Singing

Born in the Bronx to a tailor originally from Sicily and a mother from Turkey, Gormé was a Sephardic Jew whose real name was Edith Garmezano. Spanish was spoken in the home, while at William Howard Taft High School she became the Taft Swing Band's lead female vocalist.

Her gift for languages helped land her a job as a translator at the United Nations shortly after high-school graduation, and her mellifluous voice soon got her an audition with Tex Beneke's Big Band. A year's tour followed, as did a contract with Coral Records.

She met Lawrence, a cantor's son (his original surname was Leibowitz), in September 1953 on Steve Allen's Tonight show. Booked for two weeks as the program's vocalist, she ended up staying five years. Lawrence was also a regular on the show, and the two were often paired in musical numbers and comic sketches.

Eydie Gormé Dies, Singing Legend Was 84| Couples, Death, Tributes, Eydie Gorme, Steve Lawrence

Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé

Everett

Once married, in 1958 they had their own summer TV show, which was canceled after the one season because Lawrence was drafted into the Army. Gormé then performed in nightclubs around Washington, D.C., where he was stationed, and after his discharge in 1960, the "Steve and Eydie" act was born, as was their legend.

So accustomed were the two to appearing together, that when Lawrence did a show by himself in 2009 – Gormé had retired and took up blogging on her and her husband's website – he told Newsday that it was strange. "It's also about the first time in 50 years I'll be able to finish a sentence without being interrupted."

Not that they didn't have successes on their own. In 1962, Lawrence had his great hit, "Go Away Little Girl." A year later, Gormé scored on the Billboard charts with "Blame It on the Bossa Nova." The bouncy number made her an international star, and she became a Latin crossover artist when she began singing in Spanish the following year.

A Son Who Predeceased Her

Gormé and Lawrence had two sons: David, and composer, and Michael, who died in 1986, at 23, from an undiagnosed heart condition. Steve and David Lawrence survive her, as does a granddaughter and generations of fans. "Services are pending and will be private," said Bragman.

"A prolific 93 albums, 12 Emmys, 2 Grammys and innumerable national tours later, they're still singing together," The New York Times reported in 2004, when the two headliners performed to an appreciative crowd in Westbury, Long Island.

The newspaper added: "At the end of a show that lasted nearly three hours, Ms. Gormé's sign-off, 'God bless us all,' prompted a standing ovation."

Her and Stevie sang one of my all time favorite christmas songs.

[Edited 8/10/13 16:56pm]

The Most Important Thing In Life Is Sincerity....Once You Can Fake That, You Can Fake Anything.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #1 posted 08/10/13 8:22pm

HatrinaHaterwi
tz

avatar

I've always admired Steve and Eydie's relationship from what I've seen via television. They just tickled me. My condolences to Steve, their family, friends and fans. rose

I knew from the start that I loved you with all my heart.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #2 posted 08/10/13 11:32pm

JoeBala

RIP. sad

Just Music-No Categories-Enjoy It!
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #3 posted 08/11/13 12:26pm

babynoz

sad

Prince, in you I found a kindred spirit...Rest In Paradise.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #4 posted 08/11/13 2:47pm

MickyDolenz

avatar

You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #5 posted 08/11/13 2:56pm

HuMpThAnG

awww.....rose

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #6 posted 08/11/13 3:17pm

lazycrockett

avatar

The Most Important Thing In Life Is Sincerity....Once You Can Fake That, You Can Fake Anything.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #7 posted 08/12/13 1:22am

Dancelot

avatar

awwwhhhh... sad she had such a great pure and uplifting voice


RIP rose

Vanglorious... this is protected by the red, the black, and the green. With a key... sissy!
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #8 posted 08/14/13 12:04am

MadamGoodnight

Rest In Peace dove

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #9 posted 08/14/13 8:54am

2freaky4church
1

avatar

Don't worry, Sinatra has her back.

All you others say Hell Yea!! woot!
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #10 posted 08/16/13 11:25am

MickyDolenz

avatar

You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #11 posted 08/16/13 11:33am

MickyDolenz

avatar

1974 Carol Burnett Show

You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
  New topic   Printable     (Log in to 'subscribe' to this topic)
« Previous topic  Next topic »
Forums > Music: Non-Prince > Eydie Gorme is Dead.