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December 29: Steve and Eydie
lawrencebush
December 29, 2013
Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé married each other in Las Vegas on this date in 1957. Lawrence, born Sidney Leibowitz in Brooklyn in 1935, had a huge solo hit in 1962 with “Go Away, Little Girl,” written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, which sold more than a million records; Gormé, born Edith Garmezano to Sephardic parents in the Bronx in 1928, was a big-band singer and had a huge hit in 1963 with “Blame It on the Bossa Nova,” written by Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, which also sold more than a million records. Gormé was fluent in Spanish and Ladino, and worked for a while as a UN translator. She met Steve Lawrence when they were both booked on The Tonight Show, hosted by Steve Allen. As a duo, they appeared regularly on the Carol Burnett Show, and as a bawdy, quarrelsome, and adorable night club act. Gormé died on August 10th of this year, just six days before her 85th birthday. To see their wedding newsreel, look below. To see them singing a tribute to Gershwin, look below that.
“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.”—Steve Lawrence