Let it SNOW

I was working it another direction for a blog and allowed myself to make it so complicated I have sidelined it for another time.  Since it is winter, and SNOW is the topic of the times - yes, Portland, Maine got a record 39.1" (but they knew exactly what needed to be done, and did it!), I am looking at CLARENCE EUGENE SNOW, aka: Hank, born in Brooklynn, NS, Canada in May of 1914.

Hank was the 5th of 6 children in the family.   The first two babies died while still in infancy.  These were hard times for the Snow family.  Father George was a lumber mill worker, frequently absent from the home.   Mother,  Marie Alice took in laundry and did cleaning for wealthier families.

She was an accomplished piano player and singer who performed in local theaters during silent films and at minstrel shows.   The Snow family was separated when the parents divorced.  The Overseer of the Poor in his or her wisdom deemed the children should be taken from Marie.  One of the girls moved in with an aunt, the two other girls were sent to separate foster homes, and Clarence went to live with his father's mother, where he was admonished to "never speak his mother's name again."

Grandma was an abusive woman both physically and psychologically, and attempted to have him sent to reform school.   Maria was living in Liverpool (Canada not England) so Clarence began to sneak visits with her and eventually moved in with her.

Now, Marie remarried a local fisherman.  He was jealous of Clarence and thus began the beatings and abuse again.  Clarence was now known as Jack, a frail, 80- pound 12-year old whose bully step-father once raged at him, "Why in hell don't you get out and find a job somewhere?"  

Jack's mother ordered a Hawaiian steel guitar which she saw in a magazine,  which came with 12 free lessons and some 78rpm gramophone records.  This was HER prized possession, and Jack was not allowed to touch it.  But when the time came that she finally allowed him to use it, she was awed by the way he took to it, and mastered it.  She even allowed him to play for her to sing along.  Once word got around about his music, he was busy nearly every night playing somewhere. 

Going on 13, Jack ran away from home and joined a fishing schooner crew as a flunky. No wages, just living aboard and serving.  He was allowed to cut cod tongues, and fish from the deck.  Those fish and tongues he could sell on shore for himself.  He earned $58 with which he purchased a guitar and a chord book and began to practice.  He had heard Veron Dalhart and Carson Robinson on the radio while on shipboard and recalled later, "These songs gave me a great lift."  He admitted trying to sound just like them.  

In August of 1930 the schooner he was sailing on encountered a "ferocious" storm and got blown off course toward the Sable Island - "Graveyard of the Atlantic".   Snow wrote "....the Good Lord reached out His Hand and changed the wind.  Saved by the Grace of God!"  Snow later learned six other ships had been lost that day and 132 men had drowned.   Thus ended his seafaring career.

Snow went back to live with his mother and stepfather, contributing to the family expenses by peddling fish and taking work as available driving a horse and buggy to and  from the train station, unloading ships of coal and ice, raking scallops, hauling loads of dried cod into a warehouse for processing and shipping.  And reuniting with his father, he cut pulpwood and firewood on his farm in the town of Pleasantville NS.

Snow saw a catalog guitar for $12.95 which he longed to buy, but figured he could only get about $5 for his old one, which left him $7.95 short of the price.  Along came a storeowner with a brand new car.  He offered Snow $2 per wheel to paint yellow pinstripes on the wooden spokes of the wheels. (Pretty fancy!)  Now Snow ordered the new guitar and with Jimmie Rodgers chord progressions for his goal, he began playing and singing in an old fish house where fishermen stored their gear.

From there to a charity minstrel show in Bridgewater where he appeared with his face blackened with polish, eyes and mouth ringed with white, he played and sang "I Went To See My Gal Last

Night" which was such a hit he got a standing ovation.   

In 1935 he married Minnie Blanch Aalders and together they had one son,  Jimmy Rodgers Snow*.   In 1936 after appearing on Halifax radio station CHNS, he signed with RCA Victor in Montreal, and was with them for 45 years.  While doing a weekly CBC program, he became known as Hank, the Yodeling Ranger.  He toured Canada until the late '40s when American radio stations began to play his recordings on country music shows.  In 1945 Nashville called and the Snows moved.  Hank began performing as "Hank Snow, the Singing Ranger and was invited to perform at Grand Ole Opry in 1950.  Seven songs hit the country charts, the first in 1950 was "I'm Moving On",  followed by "The Golden Rocket" and The Rhumba Boogie".   Then came "I've Been Everywhere" which became a signature song.  (that song was originally written by Austaian Geoff Mack, rewritten with American place names.)

In 1954 Hank Snow persuaded  Grand Ole Opry officials to allow young Elvis Presley be his opening act, and introduced Presley to Tom Parker.   Snow and Parker formed a management team called Hank Snow Attractions and Presley was signed on.   Later, many years after the partnership broke up, Hank Snow said, "I have worked with several managers over the years and have had respect for them all except one.   Tom Parker was the most egotistical, obnoxious human being
I've ever had dealings with."    Snow refused to accord Parker the title Colonel.

Hank Snow performed in glitzy suits studded with sequins, in all sorts of places, and became a naturalized American Citizen in 1958, but he never forgot his Canadian beginning.  In 1968 he recorded an album, "My Nova Scotia Home".  And that same year he performed for George Wallace's political campaign.   

An unschooled but talented song writer, Hank Snow was elected to Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.  He was voted Canada's top music performer ten times. In 1979 he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame,  the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, The Nova Scotia Music Hall of Fame, and   also the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985.  

He  published his autobiography in 1994 and later opened The Hank Snow Country Music Centre next to his ancestral home in Liverpool NS.  A victim of child abuse, he established the Hank Snow International Foundation for Prevention of Child Abuse.

In one of my several searches for information I found a small picture of the schooner Bluenose, which says Snow painted it on cardboard and won 1st prize at the Lunenberg Fisheries Exhibition.   I couldn't find any other reference to his artistic ability.

Hank Snow died of heart failure in December 1999 at his Rainbow ranch in Madison TN, and is buried at Spring Hill Cemetery in Nashville, TN.  Minnie died in May of 2003 in Madison, and is also buried at Spring Hill.

Hank Snow's song "Hello Love" was sung by Garrison Keillor to open each broadcast of his Prairie Home Companion radio show.  It was Snow's seventh and final #1 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles in 1974.  At nearly 60 years of age, Snow was the oldest artist at that time, to have a top song on the chart.   That record was broken by Kenny Rogers after 26 years with "Buy Me A 
Rose".  

Hank Snow is an example of making a good life from a difficult beginning.  It must have seemed to him at times in his early years that nothing would ever be right.  He claims his mother was his constant support and encouraged him in his music, but a mother who allows a step-father to abuse her son doesn't seem very supportive to me.  Among his other attributes he was obviously a forgiving and charitable man.    

*Jimmie Snow, who preached in a Nashville church to the country stars, resigned as pastor of the church and went on the road to preach in 2000.    He has done an album of gospel music with Grand Ole Opry members.

Janice.major@iCloud.com
Comments and corrections welcomed.



Ref: Wikipedia
         The Encyclopedia of Country Music (Charles)

GUY HOVIS," Ralna's Ex"

It's a little hard for me to not take sides in a divorce.  Try as I will not to, I often find myself assigning guilt.  In the case of Ralna English an GUY HOVIS, they really did a great job keeping their personal life out of the public domain.  They each chose not to speak ill of the other, to their credit, whether for the sake of their only daughter, or for their public personnae, or their job as the ideal couple on Lawrence Welk's Show I couldn't decide.    It doesn't really matter and it's none of my business.

Guy was born in Tupelo Mississippi in September of 1941.  His father was one of the original Mississippi State Highway Patrol members and his mother was a secretary, mom, and according to Guy, "the best cook in the world."   That's a nice tribute to be sure.  He began, like so many successful musicians, singing in church at age five.  And from then on he was asked to sing at weddings, parties, clubs and school productions.   After high school he enrolled at Mississippi State University, choosing accounting for his career path.  He also became a member of the R.O.T.C., making a commitment to serve a "hitch" eventually.    But, with a degree in hand he went to work for a prestigious accounting firm until duty called.

With a rank of Lieutenant he served as an instructor in the Artillery Officer Candidate School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.  The Viet Nam war was heating up and Hovis was sent to paratrooper school at Fort Benning Georgia.   At some point he entered a talent show and won, and as a result became a performer and officer in charge of a six-week tour of U.S. Army bases, an assignment he really enjoyed.

But, on mustering out, he re-entered college to study for his CPA exam.  After one semester he left to reconsider his choice of career and headed for Hollywood.   A friend told him to try to get into the nightclub "The Horn" where young aspiring musicians were known to get started.  Guy got a real break when he was asked to appear on Art Linkletter's House Party.   Although the time line is a little unclear to me, it was during this period that Guy and Ralna English met and married, and also that Guy and David Blaylock formed a duo called - not much imagination here - Guy and David.

Ralna became a regular on the Lawrence Welk Show and when Guy and David parted ways, she was instrumental in getting Guy into the Welk stable of vocalists.    As a husband and wife team, I believe they became the darlings of the Welk fans.  We all love a good romance.

WE ARE NOW UP TO THE '70s.   In 1977 Julia Hovis was born to everyone's delight.  In 1982 the
Welk Show was cancelled, but the cast continued to do live performances until 1988.  I read the Hovis couple was in trouble, but Lawrence was against couple breaking up, so they continued  together until 1984 when they officially divorced.

In 1989 Guy returned to Mississippi to work for his long time friend, Trent Lott as State Office Director.  He remained in that post until 2007.  In 2005 Guy sang "Let the Eagle Soar", for George W. Bush's second inaugural.   The song was written by John Ashcroft, U. S,. Attorney General,

Guy  married Sarah Lundy and they have three children and three grandchildren.   They reside in Mississippi.  He still performs at the Welk Resort in Branson, and he and Ralna still do live performances (recently at the University of New Hampshire).

Guy Hovis starred in "Mississippi Rising" a fund raising effort after hurricane Katrina. He has earned many awards for his charitable works for the American Cancer Society, March of Dimes and Childhelp, USA.  His work with the veterans and their families in Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom have been widely acknowledged.

Ever the romantic I am among those who believe in forever after.  But divorce happens.  Much of America will always think of Guy when they hear Ralna; and Ralna when Guy's name comes up.
This blogger wishes all  long and musical lives.


janice.major@iCloud.com

ref: Wikipedia
      Offiicial Hovis website
      Mississippi Musicians

Ralna English, Going Single

It's been a really long time since I posted a blog on any musician.  A new computer has kept me struggling to find things, and it seems to me the format has changed. 

The Lawrence Welk Show produced a lot of good musicians.  Maybe they would have been good musicians without Lawrence, but he certainly provided a broad showcase.  The upside of that sort of opportunity is name face recognition and lot's of exposure.  The downside, so says Ralna English, is that once you are a Welk performer, you are always a Welk performer. Not a direct quote, but close.

Ralna English was born In Texas in 1942.  As a youngster of five she sang "Daddy's Little Girl" at Spur Texas High School.   She said she remembered it clearly in a short dress with a sash, knees shaking and thinking, "Can they see my knees?"    She formed her first band in junior high school called Ralna and The Ad-Libs and entertained around Texas.  In a "Battle of the Bands" competion, she beat out Buddy Holly, who was also from Lubbock.  She sang backup for  a Waylon Jennings recording.  After high school Ralna went to Texas Tech University, and participated in the Campus Revue at Six Flags Over Texas .  Her career also included singing jingles for television ads. Clearly she was talented and headed for a career in vocal performance.

Ralna moved to California  in the late 1960's and became a club vocalist around the Lake Tahoe area.   One biography says it was there that Welk's son saw her and suggested to his father that she get an audition.  At that time she was singing at The Horn* in Santa Monica.  It was there that she met her future husband Guy Hovis.  (I'll do a separate blog on Guy.   Ralna deserves one of her own.)

In 1969 certainly was a life-changing year for Ralna.  She and Guy Hovis got married.   She was contacted by the Welk company, auditioned and was hired as a solo performer doing Christian standards, and other Welk styles.  She persuaded Welk to bring her husband, Guy into the troupe and everyone fell in love with the beautiful couple who were so much in love there was no hiding it. 
Ralna was drawn to jazz ala Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and Morgana King, but that was not the Welk sound, nor was it Guy's.

Ralna was married to Hovis for about fourteen years.   They have one daughter Julie.  Neither discussed their differences in public.  The most Ralna said was that they were totally compatible on stage, but in life they just couldn't handle being together.   (Again, not a direct quote but close.)
During the hard times, in 1980, Ralna was hospitalized for two weeks. Welk had her placed on a quiet floor where only a few doctors knew who she was.  She was in a mental ward, it was night, and she she said that night changed her life.  She said she prayed, and felt the comforting hand of Jesus and a love and assurance she could not describe.   

She had an opportunity to do some recording for Capitol Records, but when her manager went to the Welk people, the opportunity was lost.   Ralna accepts that God has a plan for her and is guiding her.   She considers herself very fortunate to have had a steady career in a fairly unsteady business. She does not live in the past, nor does she fret about what might have been.  She and Guy, who remarried, have a compatible working relationship and have raised their daughter with equal responsibility.   They continue to perform as a duo, traveling to clubs, colleges and theaters.  

Larry Welk has said the Welk program did not do Ralna justice, that she was capable of doing a lot of songs that would not have been acceptable on the program.   

Ralna says,  "I have a feeling in five or ten years,  I'll be sitting on a barstool in Phoenix some place with a trio, just singing jazz."  (Will the Welk fans accept that?) "Some will," she says, "some won't."

Good luck, Ralna, may 2013 find you doing just that if that's what you want.


*The Horn was also a launch pad for such stars as Jack Jones, Vikki Carr and Steve Martin


Thanks to Wikipedia; 
and other internet biographical sites for musicians

janice.major@iCloud.com
Comments and corrections welcomed

This is the first blog I have done in a while and it is a little different in that it is more personal, not about a well known band or person.   It is about what comes after a door closes.

For about fourteen years (I should be playing a lot better than I am after all that time!) a group of "senior hobby organists" have met every week.   We had in the past, several different teachers with different methods and ideas about technique ranging from the Lowrey EZ-Play method to straight piano method.   From all of this, the program evolved into a short lesson each week from a really proficient mentor.  We were meeting all this time in the Lowrey dealer's store.   Recently,  changes were brought about at the store and we really had no "home" there.   So although the store is still in business,  it without with rancor or ill will,  that a business decision has been made to concentrate on piano sales primarily, and they will no longer support the Lowrey organ program.   At a gathering of the people involved, by consensus it was decided to try meeting weekly and the only place we could consistently be is here at my home.  SO, hereon for as long as it works, the fourteen or so members of the organ group will meet here at ten a.m. on Thursdays.  We don't have a teacher,but we will work on our skills and help each other improve.  There are a few who feel they are satisfied with where they are, but most would like  step up their tempo, find chords more easily, sight read and read the base clef.   

We decided to choose a song from music arranged by a former teacher who wrote in a lot of double right hand notes, and some interesting left and right hand fills.   A Foggy Day is a well recognized piece that doesn't have move very fast.  It has a lot of minor chords and Mr. Miller wrote several passages with double notes.   He wrote in all the chords, and identified them as in fake music giving us the opportunity to play either way.   

A little more about what we will be doing on Thursdays.  We will decide on a song, as we did today, and go over it briefly to see if there are any cords or passages that will give us a problem.  Someone will run through it by sight reading it, and then we will have it to work on for a week.   Next week we will go over it, anyone who wants to will play it, tell us what they chose for sounds and rhythms, and anything else they want to say about it; i.e., they found it boring or beautiful, etc.   The learning part of the meeting should take no more than an hour.   Following that, we will have a "performance for friends" time during which people who choose to can play something they chose from their music stash, telling us what they are playing, and any other thing they want us to know like did they change sounds from the ones found built in the organs.

I think this is a good way to go, and hope it will work as people get used to it.   It's a little more organized than we have been used to, so if it doesn't appeal to people involved they will have a chance to express that opinion as time goes on.   The important thing is, we don't want anyone to drop out because they are unhappy with the way things are going.   

One of the things we did today was explore "upper and lower drawbars" which change the sounds with almost limitless possibilities.  It created a lot of interest so next time we will explore it a little more and I will have some information available from our good friend Dennis.

Check back now and then to see what happens with our organ friends.   Next blog will be about a personality.  Which one?  Well, I am not sure.  I have several in mind.  

jmajor2@maine.rr.com
Janice.Major@iCloud.com

Thanksgiving and Giving Thanks

We Gather Together to Ask The Lord's Blessing ~

Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not HIs own.

In my old hymnal it is listed as a Folk Song from the Netherlands.   Perhaps the early Dutch immigrants sang it on THEIR first Thanksgiving in this country.  It is one of the most popular Christian songs for this season.  But not the only one -

COME, YE THANKFUL PEOPLE, COME
...raise the song of harvest-time; all is safely gathered in, Ere theWinter storms begin, God, our Maker, doth provide.
And there is another one: SING TO THE LORD OF HARVEST
"....sing songs of love and praise; with joyful heart and voices, Your hallelujahs raise."

Clearly these early hymns of Thanksgiving were inspired by the bountiful harvests and safe keeping of seamen and those who came to America via ships.   

O GOD, BENEATH THY GUIDING HAND 
"...our exiled fathers crossed the sea; and when they trod the wintry strand, with prayer and psalm they worshipped Thee."

I wonder as I randomly compose this not very well thought out blog, if today's immigrants are composing psalms and verse of their thankfulness for having made it to this country, by sea or land,  which  gives them the chances make a new life - with GOD'S BLESSING.

Thanksgiving is an American Celebration.   Have a happy one and say a .little prayer of thanks for your blessings, and another for the less fortunate to be provided for BENEATH GOD'S GUIDING HAND.

jmajor

Dennis and Jim do it again

I have just spent a couple of days at the Falcetti Music Company's annual Fall Extravaganza.   Falcetti Music is a family  business in it's second generation of ownership.  The elder Falcetti's came to the event as honored guests, and I am thinking as long as they live they will always do that.   Sam shared with me that in his retirement  he is now working with Roland Accordian students and has 60 of them.  Sam is a small man (shorter than my 5'3") sharp and tidy, and he played his accordian for us during a social hour.
Mrs. Falcetti (senioritis has caught me and I can't bring her first name to mind) is just as sharp and even shorter than Sam.    With her carefully coiffed snow what hair and cheerful smile, she thanked everyone for coming and for supporting the company and told us she has nothing to do with the extravaganza anymore, that her boys, Tony and Michael do it all.  But as I went to sign up for next year's event, there she was driving Michael crazy with directions to put the registrations in order and be sure the checks were attached to them, and that everyone had put in all the information.   Michael looked at me and rolled his eyes and said patiently, "Yes, Mom.  I  have it all."   She turned to me and said, "I've trained him well."  and I agreed.

After dinner Friday night, Jim Weider entertained us with a few stories and an hour or so of wonderful music.   He opened with a tribute to Glenn Campbell which included about twelve of Campbell's best known songs.    I guess I should have written down what  he played because the only  specific ones I can remember are  Rhinestone Cowboy and Witchitaw Lineman   He played the Carpenters' Sing, Sing a Song and invited everyone to joing in the "la-la  la  la-la chorus",   and closed with one of his inspiring patriotic medleys. 

Saturday morning we had breakfast, of course, and then a workshop with Dennis.    He was supposed to give us a lesson in playing the Addams Family and Munster theme songs, but chose instead to talk to us about styling, expression and ways to make our music "bounce" .    Dennis told us about his heart surgery last year and shared some of his usual humor about an event that was not at all funny and very nearly took his life.  HE credits the skill of a doctor from Massachusetts, one of only six in the country who perform the surgery, for "super gluing" his heart back together after a post-op set back.   It's not my place to give details, but I will tell you,  it is a medical miracle,and maybe more than a little bit of the Hand of God, that we still have this remarkable performer with us.

After lunch on Saturday we had a second workshop with Jim Weider.   I have been to Jim's workshops a few times and always find them to be worthwhile.   He is organized and knows the organ inside out, in fact, he is now part of the "product development team" for Lowrey.    And yes, they are still thinking up things to put in future "virtual orchestras."   (Dennis says "It still looks like an organ to me!)   Jim's workshop was on modifying pre-arranged rhythms to represent other band sounds.  For instance, by modifying a Gospel rhythm and using piano sounds, you can get a great "bar room rinky-tink".   Jim makes playing fun and interesting. Jim explains that "the little lady who played the hymns in church on Sunday spent Saturday night entertaining  in the local saloon." 

Saturday night dinner was some of the best roast beef I have ever eaten, at least since I left home.   Of course, we don't go for the food, but there's no doubt, it doesn't discourage us to have such great meals.   All through the meals and social times, student players provided background music.   It was interesting to hear what others people were doing with their music.   There were two organs on stage, the newest "Sterling" and the older Stardust, still a great organ.   I got to play the Sterling and think I could get used to it, but another organ is not in my future.  Dennis, a Falcetti salesman and I got together early Sunday morning for a personal, very detailed demonstration by Dennis, and a pretty aggressive pitch by Ron the salesman.   Yes, if I had the money, I would have succumbed.    Then Tony Falcetti, a handsome second generation family member, spent about ten minutes telling me how I could work it with a credit company which deals only in music sales.  He also told me I could change my mind and buy at any time and the price he  quoted would still be good, and he would send Ritchie Mitnick to my home to teach me to play, and Dennis would also come to my home to spend a day with me.  Now, let me tell you, a day with Dennis almost sold me!  But I kept seeing my kids looking at each other with disbelief, which kept me strong.

Saturday night Dennis did a concert for us with a medley of familiar oldies for us.    Going from beautiful waltzes to clever two-steps, polkas and fox-trots, his favorite Hawaiian melodies and some Latin pieces with smooth transitions that you hardly notice until you realize you are hearing a different song.    He played for more than 45 minutes.  He told a few little side stories about his personal connections to the performers of yesteryear like Connie Francis, (he played for her first recording),  Harry James, the Dorseys, Bert Kempfert and Lenny Dee.   And a nice story about being with Rosa Rio just before her death.   He also told us that shortly after his heart surgery, to fulfill  a contract he had made before the event, he got the doctor to medicate him sufficiently to perform the organ music for a Phantom of The Opera DVD.  He said he was so drugged, he had no pain, felt like a youngster, and all his music came back so that he was mentally "one note ahead at all times."    And then he went home and crashed.

Following Dennis' concert Sam Falcetti, Ritchie Mitnick and a guitarist whose name I did not get, but I know he is from the Falcetti Music Company, played dance music.

Sunday a.m. Dennis was on again.    He is amazing in his energy.  He told me someone said he is a relic and the last thing he wants is to be performing past his time.  To me and to others who love the music we grew up listening to, and are playing as amatuers, he is not a relic but a treasure.  He confided in me that he fears looking old and not performing well and not realizing it.    He has an amazing memory and no matter what is going on in his life, when he is on he "is on" all the way.   He played Big Band music, beginning with Harry James sounds and going on with The Three Sons, The Dorseys, and such tunes as Sunrise Serenade, You Made Me Love You (which he told me last year is his favorite song), Twilight Time, and on and on.   The Sterling "Virtual Orchestra" does sound amazingly like the solo instruments of those bands.    And, of course, the talented Lowrey artists do get the best out of them.    There are things I really like about the new organ (ooops! VO) that I think I would enjoy.   Some new rhythms  like a really lovely waltz with less "thump";  the piano and guitar rhythms which are far beyond what is in the Prestige; and a greater variety of solo instrument choices.  But getting a bigger, newer fancier organ does not make one a better player.   So .........

Ron and I both signed up for next year's event.   God willing and barring any unforseen incidences, we will be there and so will Dennis and Jim.   And my friends Joyce and Corliss, and The Falcetti's elder and younger, the couple celebrating their 54th anniversary and all the rest of the wonderful organ-izers.

If you have a chance to attend a music store event with Lowrey organ artists, please do take advantage of it.

Keep music in your life, share it with others, and encourage the young to find a place for it in their lives.   IF I were younger and could take on a new challenge, it would be to get more kids into music.  Instrumental, vocal, or appreciation - it lasts a lifetime.

jmajor2@maine.rr.com

The "Rest of the Story"

As promised,  ~ the rest of the story.   Steve Lawrence.
I noticed it has been more than two weeks since I posted the bit about Eydie Gorme.   There is something about age and time - the days go by much more quickly the older I get.   As they say "...so little time, so much to do."

Sidney Liebowitz, who will be referred to as Steve Lawrence from here on, was born in 1935 in Brooklyn to Max,  a Jewish cantor who also was a house painter, and  Anna Gelb Liebowitz.  He and his brother both sang in synagogue with their father.    Steve once commented, "My parents were so poor they were thinking of moving in with Eydie's parents!" 

When Steve's voice began to change he stopped singing for several years, but continued in music to play piano for his brother, Bernie.  Early in the '50's Bernie was drafted which prompted Steve to take up singing again.
After several auditions for Godfrey's Talent Scouts (TV Show) he finally made it, and won.  He prize was a weeks of appearances on Godfrey's show.  Borrowing suits from friends, he performed and got the attention he was seeking form Syd Nathan of King Records (known mostly for its "race" recordings, R&B and "hillbilly" music).   He recorded a very emotional "Poinciana" which became an instant hit.   Steve still had high school to finish, so balancing it with scheduling gigs recording for Decca Records was a challenge.  

According to some accounts, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme were introduced Bob Manning, who was a Dick Haymes sound-alike.  Their paths crossed randomly for awhile, and they both made short music videos for the same company.  One reference states Steve looked so young in these he could be singing at his own bar mitzvah. 

Then, as I wrote in my previous blog on Eydie, they were booked as individuals for the Steve Allen Tonight Show, and later as summer replacements for Steve Allen's own show.   There are conflicting accounts of their ages, but all place Eydie at least five years Steve's senior.   Yup, he married an older woman.  And lucky for him because they became a great team. 

I probably should have done this duo as a double entry, but there seemed to be so much written about both I was a little stumped how to do them both justice.   Now I am stumped again because from here on their lives are intertwined and I don't want to repeat what I have already written. 

The Lawrence/Gorme team charmed their audiences with an easy chatter between them, often becoming personal and sharp witted, but always affectionate, even if a bit bawdy.   Their success as entertainers did not isolate them from tragedy.  They had two sons, David (who is a composer) and Michael, who died suddenly in 1986 at the age of 23.   Michael had a history of a slight arrhythmia but his ventricular fibrillation had not been caught.   He was an assistant editor of a television show at the time.  (A side note:  they had performed and were in Atlanta at time their son's death.   Frank Sinatra, hearing of it, sent his private plane to pick them so they could get to their other son who was in school.)   

Following their son's death, Steve and Eydie took a year off with no professional public appearances.   

In the early 2000's they announced they would be cutting back on appearances,   and began their "One More For The Road" tour in 2002.   Eydie retired in 2009, but Steve (remember? he's still "just a kid")
is still touring as a single. 


In 1980 Lawrence appeared in The Blues Brothers as Maury Sline. ANd in He played Mark McCormick's father Sonny Daye in two episodes of Hardcastle and McCormick; and in 1999 was Morty Fine in The Nanny.
He won awards for his performance of Sammy Glick in What Makes Sammy Run, and two Emmys  for his contributions to Steve & Eydie celebrate Irving Berlin. 

As a couple, Steve and Eydie took the Las Vegas Entertainment Award for Musical Variety four times; and honored with life time achievement awards from the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Ella Lifetime Axhievement Award from the Society of Singers, a non-profit which aids and counsels professional singers.

Ihave to say, this is just a thumbnail of information on this very well known  couple.   They have been devoted to each other; they have experienced the ups and downs of  life just like the rest of us and they have done it gracefully. 

I am  leaving tomorrow to spend a bit of time with other music lovers and I am going to go right now and practice  "What DId I Have That I Don't Have?" on my Lowrey Prestige organ.  No, I won't kill it by singing along.    

SO, until Terpsichore (muse of song and dance) visits me again, keep a song in your heart, and share it with others. 

jmajor2@maine.rr.com

Ref: A Biographical Gide to the Great Jazxz and Pop SIngers , Fiedwald
       Wikipedia 
       The Big Band Almac