STEVE LAWRENCE RIP

[lj]

Growing up in the 1960s as a teenager, Steve Lawrence and wife Eydie Gorme were my favorite singers and remained so during my life. Whether as single performers or as a duo, they were fabulous singers backed by the very best arrangers. They had class--a rare quality in show business today. The cliche is true--we will never see their likes again.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/07/arts/music/steve-lawrence-dead.html

 

[Harry]

True. Any time either or both appeared on one of the many variety shows of that era, they added "class" to the proceedings.

One of the songs that Steve recorded that made it to the pop radio station I frequented was "The Drifter", the song written by Roger Nichols and Paul Williams.

I was totally unaware of who wrote it, but I liked the song and the record. The record soon faded off the charts and in my memory.

Years later, after hearing versions by the Sandpipers, Roger and his gang, and even Pisano and Ruff, I realized that there was one version that I liked even more, but had forgotten that it was Steve Lawrence.

Just a few years ago, I finally put two and two together and started looking for the Steve Lawrence version. I searched album after album on eBay until finally figuring out, with Discogs help, that it was a non-album single only. And just this past few months or so, I tracked one down in decent shape.

And there's even a little Eydie in there as well.


Rest in peace Mr. Lawrence.

 

[lj]

It's a rare gift for a pop singer to be equally gifted as a vocalist and as a comedian. The only singers that had that magic were Dean Martin and Steve Lawrence. Carol Burnett had kind words to say about Steve Lawrence who appeared an amazing 39 times on her show.

MSN

 

[jfiedler17]

It's a rare gift for a pop singer to be equally gifted as a vocalist and as a comedian. The only singers that had that magic were Dean Martin and Steve Lawrence.

Rare combination indeed! And Lawrence truly did have quite a gift for doing comedy. One of my favorite TV appearances of his was on Bob Newhart's sadly-short-lived early-'90s sitcom Bob (where Newhart played a comic-book writer), playing one of Bob's poker buddies, alongside Bill Daily, Tom Poston, and Dick Martin, in an episode where Poston's character has just separated from his wife earlier that day. It takes someone with truly sharp timing and delivery to hold your own in a cast as packed with comedic greats as that, but Lawrence surprisingly may have made me laugh the hardest of any of them in that episode. I was in tears by the end from laughing so much. He'll certainly be missed!