Eydie Gorme - The Wonderful Eydie Gorme (2011)

With her husband Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, who has died aged 84, was one of the last survivors of an American show-business tradition that dated back to the big-band era and the golden age of lounge entertainment. Their stock-in-trade was their mastery of the classic American popular song, coupled with a comic act they had been developing since they first met in the early 1950s. Outside the duo Steve and Eydie, they both enjoyed successful solo careers. Gorme reached No 10 in Britain in 1962 with Yes, My Darling Daughter, and had a US top 10 hit the following year with Blame It on the Bossa Nova. The latter earned her a Grammy nomination for best female vocal performance and became something of a trademark song.

She was born Edith Gormezano in the Bronx, New York City. Her mother was Turkish, her father, a tailor, was Sicilian, and both were Sephardic Jews. The youngest of three children, brought up speaking English and Spanish, Gorme worked as a Spanish interpreter with the UN after graduating from William Howard Taft high school in 1946. But having sung in a band at school, she was determined to make a career in the entertainment business. By 1950 she was singing with Tommy Tucker's band, then moved on to Tex Beneke's ensemble before striking out on a solo career in 1952.