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STEVE LAWRENCE
 Born Sidney Liebowitz, he chose his professional name because they were the names of his two nephews; he gave away two of his biggest hit songs that became even bigger hits for the singers that did the cover version, and he was stationed at Ft. Bragg at the same time as Elvis Presley. He beat Elvis to achieve the title as male vocalist for the Army band.
With more than 50 years in show business, and still one of the most popular and respected male vocalist of his time, Steve Lawrence is completely animated when talking about music and performing.
“Times have changed and the opportunities and places to perform have dwindled,” Lawrence told VegasInsideTips from his Las Vegas home. “Live music has disappeared. Even artists are resorting to lip-synching. There’s no appreciation of the music.”
Lawrence’s love and feelings towards music will be in the forefront when he headlines The Orleans showroom Aug. 15-17 backed by a 27-piece orchestra.
Lawrence’s solo appearance won’t be his first. He played Reno and Atlantic City.
“I grew up in another time and space,” added Lawrence, who will play The Orleans without his wife and stage partner, Eydie Gorme, who is battling a couple of physical injuries. “Eydie and I were always spoiled because of the great musicians that backed us through the years. They offered us a comfort level that I wouldn’t want to be without.”
“It’s a bit awkward not the share the stage or have someone to play off of,” says Lawrence with a big of a laugh in his voice. She may not be on stage, but I’m willing to bet she’ll be there, some where.”
The Brooklyn-born, 73-year-old Lawrence says that with the exception of his wife’s injuries, that life is good. He proudly talks about his son, David’s, musical career (“he’s a composer”); his 12 year-old granddaughter (“she’s as smart as a whip”) and his working in the recording studio for the first time (“I’m a good engineer”).
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“Things have totally changed for us. We’re locked out of top 40 radio, but the internet has opened new avenues,” added Lawrence, who will appear on Benjamin Bratt’s new CBS series, “The Cleaner” on Aug. 12. “You Tube and the Great American Songbook are introducing our music to a younger audience and they’re responding so positively.
“So we’re doing what everyone else does today, making our own CDs and its working. We’re cutting new things and reengineering the older stuff. And, we’re finding audiences for both.”
But if they had gone cold as a recording act, Steve & Eydie remained headliners on the nightclub circuit and TV stars. Thanksgiving 1975 brought the television broadcast of “Our Love Is Here to Stay,” their tribute to George Gershwin, the soundtrack to which was released as a two-LP set. “Steve & Eydie Celebrate Irving Berlin,” broadcast on Aug. 22, 1978, won multiple Emmy Awards
As a solo artist and in a duo, Lawrence has enjoyed a successful singing career that has stretched well past half a century. He placed hits in the bestseller charts for more than 25 years and used that as the basis for becoming a nightclub and concert headliner.
Starting out in the post-swing, pre-rock n’ roll era of the early ‘50s, he maintained his support for traditional pop, which found him bucking popular musical trends for much of his career. But in his maturity he could claim to be the handpicked successor to Frank Sinatra as the music’s standard-bearer. Along the way, he also found time to write songs, act in films, star in Broadway musicals, and produce Emmy-winning television specials as well as hosting a few TV series.
Lawrence first demonstrated his talent for singing at synagogue as a child. In 1951 he successfully tried out for the amateur television series “Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts,” winning the show’s first prize.
He was still only 16 years-old when Dewey Bergman of King Records, hearing one of his demos, decided to sign him to a record contract in April 1952. King released eight Lawrence singles the next two years, and the second of them, a revival of the 1944 hit “Poinciana,” reached the charts in June 1952. King also released his first album, “Steve Lawrence,” in 1953. In July of that year, he was hired to sing on a local television talk show, “Tonight!,” hosted by Steve Allen.
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Lawrence was still a regular on the show when it moved to a national broadcast, giving him much broader exposure.
He had also begun to work with another singer on “Tonight!,” Eydie Gorme. In fact, his
second single for Coral, released in 1954, was the first of many duo efforts with Gorme.
Lawrence continued to appear on “Tonight!” in 1955 and 1956 while also continuing
to make solo records and duets with Gorme. Coral released his second LP, “About That Girl,” in 1955 and his third, “Songs by Steve Lawrence,” in 1956. But he didn’t get any chart action until he covered “The Banana Boat Song”on the heels of Harry Belafonte’s version in late 1956.
He quickly went the cover route again, cutting a version of the Buddy Knox record
“Party Doll.” These hits established him as a name for disc jockeys to remember, and though he did not repeat his success, he managed to place two more singles in the charts over the course of the year, and he branched out from “Tonight!” to other TV appearances.
Steve Allen had left “Tonight!” in January 1957 to concentrate on his prime-time program “The Steve Allen Show.” Lawrence and Gorme had also moved on. They married on Dec.29, 1957, in Las Vegas.
Lawrence continued to place singles in the lower reaches of the charts, and in June 1958 his fourth album, “Here’s Steve Lawrence,” also got into the charts, making the Top 20. He and Gorme were hired to host the summer replacement show for Allen, and for eight weeks in July and August, “Steve Allen Presents the Steve Lawrence-Eydie Gorme Show” ran on NBC on Sunday nights.
. In 1981, Lawrence briefly returned to the record racks with “Take It on Home,” his first solo LP in eight years. But he spent more of his time in the ‘80s branching out from singing into film acting “The Blues Brothers,” “The Lonely Guy” and television work, notably his co-hosting with Don Rickles of the 1984 series “Foul-Ups, Bleeps & Blunders.” In 1989, he launched the GL Music label with a new Steve & Eydie album, Alone Together, and over the years began to reissue the couple’s old albums on CD. (They can be ordered at www.steveandeydie.com.)
Steve & Eydie opened for Sinatra on his Diamond Jubilee tour of 1990-1991, marking Sinatra’s 75th birthday. It cemented Lawrence’s warm relationship with Sinatra, who gave Lawrence his book of arrangements upon his retirement. Lawrence used the charts to record “Steve Lawrence Sings Sinatra: A Musical Tribute to the Man and His Music.”
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