Steve Lawrence Just Sang. For 66 Years.
If you were not looking for the best pop singer of the 20th century — Ella, Frank, Bing, Billie, etc. — but the quintessential pop singer of the 20th century, you could easily and feasibly end up with Steve Lawrence.
Lawrence, who died Thursday at the age of 88 from complications of Alzheimer’s, sang quality popular standards in a soothing baritone that pleased audiences for something like 66 years. That’s a long run in a business known for short runs or more often no run at all.
Lawrence didn’t have a distinctive voice as much as he had a welcoming voice. If you loved the song, you could be confident he would deliver it. No gimmicks, no side paths, no soaring crescendos. Just the song.
His hit songs had shadows behind them. “Pretty Blue Eyes” is about longing. “Footsteps” is about regret. “Go Away Little Girl” is about weakness in the face of danger. Sung by Steve Lawrence, they all come off as hummable and melodic.
It didn’t hurt that Lawrence was married to and performed with Eydie Gorme for most of his career. She enhanced his relaxed and engaging stage presence by adding sharper edges.
It also didn’t hurt that he was pals with fellow singers like Frank Sinatra, who gave his arrangements to Lawrence when he retired and whose style Lawrence — like so many others — went to school on.
And just to complete the “quintessential” package, “Steve Lawrence” was born in Brooklyn as a cantor’s son named Sidney Liebowitz. He changed his name for an easier sale to the masses, and he died in L.A. That alone sometimes feels like half the story of 20th century pop culture.
The phrase “Vegas Act” often has a dismissive undertone, as if that’s where artists are exiled when they can’t get traction for a real career. But the truth is, playing Vegas, and all the casino rooms that sprung up after people noticed the success and appeal of Vegas, was widely considered a choice gig in the music world.
Vocal groups in the 1950s may have enjoyed multi-act bus tours, but the group they all envied was the Platters, who had a long-term run in Vegas. It’s guaranteed work, you sleep in your own bed every night and while your audience that may be distracted by their dinner, they’re appreciative that you’re part of their pleasant experience.
Steve and Eydie played all kinds of venues, large and small, but they were, in the most successful sense, a Vegas act. They sang familiar songs and their show, enlivened by the banter between songs, had a classic mix of good humor and enough grownup innuendo to make the audience wink and nod.
When they opened for Sinatra at Madison Square Garden in 1991, Lawrence dedicated one of the songs in their set to Max Liebowitz, his father, who had recently turned 95. Max Liebowitz in his youth had painted houses to supplement his income as a rabbi and cantor. That 16,000 people would applaud his name at Madison Square Garden speaks to how far Max’s son had come.
Steve Lawrence didn’t only succeed as a singer. He starred on Broadway in What Makes Sammy Run?, which ran more than 500 performances and earned Lawrence a Tony nomination. He and Gorme got their media start as regulars on The Steve Allen Show, and later had their own TV show, late in the variety era. He acted in dozens of TV shows and movies, from CSI to The Blues Brothers.
Lawrence and Gorme were never the kind of act that was going to win awards. They were just there, dependable and reliable. When Sinatra needed pals to join him on stage and give him a little vocal support, he rang Steve and Eydie. If you were going to Vegas or Foxwoods for a weekend and you saw Steve and Eydie were playing, you wanted to see the show.
Steve Lawrence didn’t have a star career like Sinatra or Tony Bennett or Streisand. But over six and a half decades, he built a career that almost any other pop singer would have taken and savored.
