AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Eydie Gorme

Artist:Eydie Gorme

Song:Blame It on the Bossa Nova

Album:The Stereo Singles Collection

Eydie Gorme is probably best known for her many years performing with her husband Steve Lawrence. But she also had a long solo recording career starting in the 50s. The 1963 single Blame It on the Bossa Nova was her biggest hit. She was born Edith Gormezano Aug. 16, 1928 in Bronx, NY. Her parents were Turkish Jews of Spanish descent. He dad shortened the family name to Gorme. Eydie was fluent in Spanish. Neil Sedaka is her first cousin. After graduating from high school, she worked as a Spanish interpreter but sang on weekends in a band led by Ken Greengrass who would become her manager. After singing in Tex Beneke's band, Eydie signed with Coral Records in 1952. Her big break came when she was hired to be a regular on The Tonight Show Starring Steve Allen in 1954. Steve Lawrence was already there and they started singing together. They married in 1957. After moving to ABC-Paramount Records, Eydie charted with the 1955 single Too Close for Comfort and her albums charted. After Steve and Eydie married, they hosted their own TV variety show. They started performing in clubs and recording together. After a couple of albums for United Artists, Steve & Eydie signed with Columbia and producer Al Kasha. He is probably best known for co-writing the 1972 Oscar winning song The Morning After. But at the time, he was a producer for Columbia in New York. He produced Lawrence's 1962 #1 hit Go Away Little Girl. Then he produced Blame It on the Bossa Nova for Eydie. It reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the biggest hit in Eydie's career. The song was written by Brill Building husband and wife songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. They wrote many hits. Of course Blame It on the Bossa Nova was a humorous take on the popularity of Brazilian music in the US at the time. Eydie hated the song but Kasha insisted that she record it. Eydie thought if she gave a poor performance, Columbia wouldn't release it. Instead it was the biggest hit of her career. Columbia house arranger Marion Evans arranged and conducted and played the harpsichord solo. The Cookies sang the background vocals. You can get Blame It on the Bossa Nova on this comp from the French reissue label Classics. Of course the British Invasion soon followed and Steve & Eydie concentrated on performing live. Eydie had a lot of success recording in Spanish for the Latin market. She left Columbia in 1968 and recorded for RCA and MGM. She usually recorded in Spanish in the 80s. Steve & Eydie now owns the rights to all their recordings and they have reissued them. Eydie retired in 2009 and died on Aug. 10, 2013 at age 84. Here's a video for Blame It on the Bossa Nova by Eydie Gorme. There is no performance video so I guess Eydie really hated the song.