Legendary Singer and Performer Eydie Gormé Dies at 84
Eydie Gormé, an iconic pop vocalist whose career took off in the 1950s and ’60s, passed away on Saturday, August 10, only six days shy of her 85th birthday. According to her spokesman, Howard Bragman, she died peacefully at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas following a brief illness. He said, “She was surrounded by her husband, son and other loved ones at the time of her death.”
Gormé got her start as a performer on Steve Allen’s Tonight Show in 1953 where she became a regular for five years, alongside her future husband, Steve Lawrence. The pair married in 1958, and in 1960 they became the permanent pop duo “Steve and Eydie,” marked by their Grammy Award-winning album, “We Got Us.”
Gormé also enjoyed a number of solo successes, recording several hit songs including her Grammy Award-winning rendition of “If He Walked Into My Life” from Mame, “What Did I Have That I Don’t Have?” from On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, and her biggest-selling single, “Blame It on the Bossa Nova,” which sold over one million copies and launched her career as a Spanish-singing artist.
In 1968, Gormé and Lawrence costarred on Broadway in the Walter Marks/Ernest Kinoy musical Golden Rainbow, which ran for 383 performances. The couple also made several television appearances together on The Carol Burnett Show as well as The Nanny. Gormé toured with her husband for the last time in 2002 on their “One More for the Road” tour, after which she retired and became a regular blogger on her official website. Over the course of their careers, Gormé and Lawrence produced 93 albums and were awarded 12 Emmys and two Grammys.
Gormé is survived by her husband, their son David Lawrence, and a granddaughter. The couple had a second son, Michael, who passed away in 1986 at the age of 23 from an undiagnosed heart condition. Bragman reported that “services are pending and will be private.”
