HOLA Legends: EYDIE GORMÉ

Eydie Gormé (born Edith Garmezano on August 16, 1928 and died August 10, 2013) was a singer-comedienne who performed solo as well as with her husband, Steve Lawrence, in popular ballads and swing. She earned numerous awards, including a Grammy and an Emmy. She retired in 2009 and is survived by Lawrence who continues to perform as a solo act.

She was born in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA the daughter of Fortuna and Nessim Garmezano. Her father was a tailor. She is a cousin of singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka. Her parents were Sephardic Jewish immigrants, her father from Sicily (by way of Spain) and her mother from Turkey.

She graduated from William Howard Taft High School in 1946 (a classmate was film director Stanley Kubrick), and worked for the United Nations as an interpreter, using her fluency in the Ladino and Spanish languages (which she spoke at home growing up). She made her recording debut in 1950 with the Tommy Tucker Orchestra and Don Brown. She made a second recording which featured Dick Noel. Both of these recording were issued by MGM.

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



In 1953, she caught both her big break, and her future husband, when she and singer Steve Lawrence were booked on Steve Allen's local television show. When Allen was asked to host "The Tonight Show", he took them with him.

Gormé and Lawrence were married in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA 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. They had two sons. In 1995, Gormé and Lawrence were honored for their lifetime contribution to music by the Songwriters Hall of Fame.



Gormé enjoyed hit singles of her own, none selling bigger than 1963's "Blame It on the Bossa Nova", which was also her final foray into the Top 40 pop charts. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. In the UK, "Yes, My Darling Daughter" reached #10 on the charts. She won a Grammy Award for Best Female Vocal Performance in 1967, for her version of "If He Walked Into My Life", from Mame. The latter made #5 on the Billboard magazine Easy Listening chart in 1966. 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 (#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).



After a record executive suggested she use her Spanish fluency towards making some records in Spanish, she gained crossover success in the Latin music market through a series of albums she made in Spanish with the famed Trío 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, also received a Grammy nomination.



As a duo with her husband, the act was billed as Steve and Eydie. In 1960, Steve and Eydie were awarded the Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group for the album We Got Us. Their biggest hit single as a duo, "I Want to Stay Here", was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and reached #28 in 1963. Under the pseudonym "Parker and Penny", Lawrence and Gormé achieved their last chart single (#46 on the Adult Contemporary chart chart) with a cover of the 1979 Eurovision song contest winner, "Hallelujah". The song most closely identified with the duo, the Steve Allen composition "This Could Be the Start of Something", never reached the charts, though it remained a staple in their live act.



Gormé and Lawrence appeared on TV, including 13 appearances on "The Carol Burnett Show", as well as "The Nanny". She and Lawrence appeared together on Broadway in the musical, Golden Rainbow.

After the 1970s, the couple 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 blogger, posting occasional messages on her official website. In November 2009, after his wife retired, Lawrence embarked on a solo musical tour.Gormé and Lawrence had two sons, David, a composer, and Michael, who died suddenly from ventricular fibrillation 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, USA at the time of his death, having performed at the Fox Theater the night before. Upon learning of the tragedy, Frank Sinatra, a friend, sent his private plane to pick up the couple so that they could fly to New York 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.

Gormé died on August 10, 2013, six days shy of her 85th birthday, at Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center in Las Vegas following a brief, undisclosed illness. Her husband, Steve Lawrence, was at her bedside, along with their surviving son, David.



Steve Lawrence, shortly after her death, he made a statement through his representative. “Eydie has been my partner onstage 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. While my personal loss is unimaginable, the world has lost one of the greatest pop vocalists of all time.”

QEPD/ RIP Eydie Gormé