Eydie Gormé

Sep 14

Eydie Gormé was an award winning American Pop singer who later on became famous for her contributions to the Latin music genre. Her career began in the 1950’s and spanned decades. As a New York native of the Bronx, her musical influences were abundant. She had many influences from jazz to street band. Her distinctive personal and versatile style emanates romantic music at its finest.

From pop songs, to swings, and the traditional bolero with contrasting and harmonious duets and bold compositions, she had much to offer. Eydie explains, “I don't want to appeal to everybody. [After all] everybody doesn't appeal to me.” She sang styles and songs that spoke to her. Eydie rose to the top and her music appealed to audiences worldwide.

**Eydie and son David performing at the Copa Room in Las Vegas**

Eydie began her career in the early 1950’s touring as lead singer for several bands. In 1952, she signed as a solo act and had her first chart single "That Night of Heaven" in 1956. Eydie Gormé experienced show business at its best and quickly became a sensation after appearing regularly on Steve Allen’s original Tonight show and recording with both Paramount and Columbia Records. She is the recipient of two Grammy Awards; one for Best Female Pop Vocal Artist and one for Best Vocal Performance By A Group. Eydie met her husband, Steve Lawrence, while working on Tonight. They married in 1957 and became a duo act who quickly accomplished many things together throughout the years. They released many hits and even found success on Broadway. Later in their careers they won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Variety Music or Comedy Special.

Eydie Gormé was internationally known for her innate talent and one of the highlights of her career was when she recorded with Trio Los Panchos. During the 1960’s and 1970’s she became extremely popular in the Latin music scene and found herself selling 250,000 copies of her song "Blame it on Bossa Nova", it was sold both in Spanish and English. She played many stages and performed with many of the best, but the musical memories she shared with Steve were by far her favorite. Eydie did one last tour alongside her husband in 2002 entitled “One More For The Road”. Gormé died on August 10, 2013, six days before her 85th birthday and many describe her life beautifully lived doing what she loved. May the greatest pop crossover vocalist of all time be remembered for the timeless classics she gave to the world for many to enjoy.

Our director, Diana Olivares, sat down and had a conversation via Zoom video call with Eydie’s son, David Lawrence. The son of two famous parents, David has lead a varied and successful music career as a composer and arranger for television and film. As composer credits include the High School Musical movies, Disney’s Descendants. the American Pie films, and producing Earth Wind and Fire, among many more projects. Diana and David discuss how the collaboration between Eydie and Los Panchos came to be, what made Eydie’s voice so special, and David’s first solo album released in 2019 Nosotros in tribute to his mom. Diana would like to thank David for his generosity, time, and engaging conversation. Please enjoy!