Steve Lawrence And Eydie Gorme: A Bygone Las Vegas Era
Steve and Eydie. If you lived in Las Vegas, or visited, or watched The Tonight Show, or Mike Douglas, or Merv Griffin, or The Carol Burnett Show, or Sonny and Cher any of those hugely popular variety shows, you knew Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme.
The End Of And Era
Steve Lawrence passed away at the age of 88, from complications due to Alzheimer’s.
My dad’s bad, The Gaylord’s, were of that same era, and he used to work the same clubs as Steve and Eydie. He said they were just as wonderful as they seemed. We had an album in the album rack that I used to listen to: Steve & Eydie – Real True Lovin’. And I would sing along with “Happy Together” and “With A Little Help From My Friends” – Steve and Eydie style.
Then I got to actually see them from backstage, at a club dad was working. As a 5 year old, I though Steve Lawrence was so ‘handsome.” Whatever that really meant at 5 years old. And I wondered why Steve And Eydie had two different last names, if they were married? My strong, independent mother, and father, both explained to me that not every woman changes her name. And that entertainers often had stage names. Fair enough.
Steve And Eydie Could Have Been Rockers
In interviews over the years, Steve Lawrence talked about how music changed after Elvis Presley, and other rockers, started blazing the trail for rock and roll. He and Eydie even discussed changing their style at one point. Rock was the wave of the future, maybe it was time. Maybe rock and roll is the way to go? But he told NPR, that he wanted to be SInatra, not Rick Nelson.
Lawrence said that their audience even knew, that they weren’t going to load up on electric, or metal. Or get a drummer to set fire to ‘Cheek To Cheek.’ Thought if you want to have some fun, they DID record a song for the Lounge-A-Palooza album in 1997. Listen to Black Hole Sun. So very tragically hip!
Although Steve and Eydie were best known as a team, they also had some huge solo hits in the 60’s. They worked together until Eydie died in 2013.
Steve Lawrence Tributes
Some very nice tributes to Steve Lawrence are popping up on social media. Seth MacFarlane said that when he was lucky enough to meet him, he was “as nice and humble a guy as ever there was.”
Carol Burnett loved him. She said he was one of her favorite guests, and also a dear friend, who she considered “family.”
TV, Movies And nightclubs
As a kid and an adult, I remember seeing Seve Lawrence in so many things. The Nanny, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Gilmore Girls, to name a few. And he and Eydie did “The Steve Lawrence-Eydie Gorme Show” in the late 50’s and Steve Lawrence had his own series, “The Steve Lawrence Show.” in the 60’s. He was also in the Blues Brothers movie!
Steve Lawrence. A talented performer from a very special era. I just thought he was handsome.