Singer Eydie Gorme dies; she starred with husband
LOS ANGELES — Eydie Gorme, a nightclub and television singer as a solo act and as a team with her husband, Steve Lawrence, has died. She was 84.
Gore had a huge solo hit in 1963 with “Blame it on the Bossa Nova.”
Gore was a successful band singer and nightclub entertainer when she was invited to join the cast of Steve Allen’s local New York TV show in 1953.
She sang solos and also did duets and comedy skits with Lawrence, a rising young singer who had joined the show a year earlier. When the program became NBC’s “Tonight Show” in 1954, the young couple went with it.
They married in Las Vegas in 1957 and later performed for audiences there. Lawrence, the couple’s son David and other loved ones were by her side when she died.
“Eydie has been my partner on stage and in life for more than 55 years,” Lawrence said in a statement. Although usually recognized for her musical partnership with Lawrence, Gorme broke through on her own with the Grammy-nominated “Blame it on the Bossa Nova.” It was a bouncy tune about a dance craze of the time.
Her husband had an equally huge solo hit in 1962 with “Go Away Little Girl.”
Gorme, who was born in New York City to Sephardic Jewish parents, grew up speaking both English and Spanish. When she and her husband were at the height of their career as a team in 1964, Columbia Records President Goddard Lieberson suggested she put that Spanish to use in the recording studio.
The result was “Amor” The song became a hit throughout Latin America.
They also had their own musical variety TV show.
