While often lumped into the categories easy listening and light entertainment, crooner Steve Lawrence turned his singing talents and vivacious personality into a decades long career that included pop hit singles, Broadway performances, numerous television appearances, and several memorable acting roles in television and film. However, he’s best remembered for his performances and recordings with his wife Eydie Gormé, an act that began in 1957 and continued until Eydie retired in 2009. Born Sidney Liebowitz on July 8, 1935, in New York City, his musical career began at the age of 16 when he entered and won the top prize on an episode of the popular TV variety show Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts in 1952. Two years later, he was hired as a singer on Steve Allen’s variety show, which would eventually become the Tonight Show. Other singers on the show included Eydie Gormé and Andy Williams. The singers stayed with the show until 1957, the same year that Steve Lawrence married Eydie and began their career as a singing duo. Although they became a popular couple, they also pursued separate solo careers at the same time. After scoring Top 10 hits with “Party Doll,” “Pretty Blue Eyes,” “Footsteps,” and “Portrait of My Love,” Steve Lawrence scored his first number 1 hit with 1962’s “Go Away Little Girl.” Steve Lawrence continued to record solo albums – including Here’s Steve Lawrence (1958), All About Love (1959), The Steve Lawrence Sound (1960), Portrait of My Love (1961), and Swinging West (1963) - and singles, but the ‘British Invasion’ hindered the commercial success of easy listening / pop vocalists. Thankfully, his appearances on TV – with and without Eydie – kept him in the public eye throughout the 1960s and 1970s including appearances on The Carol Burnett Show, The Julie Andrews Hour, The Judy Garland Show, and many others. He also acted on shows like Night Gallery, Police Story, CSI, Murder She Wrote, and more. After years of performing songs from Broadway shows together, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé starred in their own Broadway musical in 1968. Titled Golden Rainbow, the show featured the first appearance of the song “I’ve Gotta Be Me” (sung by Steve Lawrence), which later became a song closely associated with Sammy Davis, Jr. More TV appearances and albums rounded out the rest of the ‘70s, but Steve Lawrence’s appearance in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers introduced him to a new audience unaware of his decades long career as a pop crooner. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme’s recording career slowed down, but they remained a popular live act until Eydie retired in 2009. Eydie Gormé died on August 10, 2013, at the age of 84. Several years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, Steve Lawrence died on March 7, 2024, at the age of 88.
