Steve Lawrence

Genres:	Comedy • Drama • Holiday & Seasonal • Holiday & Seasonal • Kids & Family • Soundtracks • Television • Vocals
Descriptive "tags":	easy listening • jazz • 60s • vocal • american • lounge • oldies • 50s
Decades Active:	1950s • 1960s • 1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s
Links online:	Wikipedia

Biography

Stephen Leibowitz, 8 July 1935, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. The son of a cantor in a Brooklyn synagogue, Lawrence was in the Glee club at Thomas Jefferson High School, where he began studying piano, saxophone, composition and arranging. He made his recording debut for King Records at the age of 16. The record, ‘Mine And Mine Alone’, based on ‘Softly Awakes My Heart’ from Samson & Delilah, revealed an remarkably mature voice and style. Influenced by Frank Sinatra, but never merely a copyist, Lawrence’s great range and warmth earned him a break on Steve Allen’s Tonight television show, where he met, sang with and later married Eydie Gorme. He recorded for Coral Records and had his first hit in 1957 with ‘The Banana Boat Song’. It was the infectious ‘Party Doll’ which gave him a Top 5 hit in 1957 and he followed that same year with four further, although lesser successes, namely ‘Pum-Pa-Lum’,...

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