The series set the pattern for the long-running "The Tonight Show." When the program became NBC's "Tonight" in 1954, he went with it, singing and exchanging quips with Allen. His first record, "Poinciana," sold more than 100,000 copies, and his high school allowed him to skip classes to promote it with out-of-town singing dates.Īfter several guest appearances on Steve Allen's television show, Lawrence was hired as a regular. King Records, impressed by the teenager's strong, two-octave voice, signed him to a contract. After two failed auditions for "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts" TV show, he was accepted on the third try, going on to win the competition and the prize of appearing on Godfrey's popular daytime radio show for a week. Lawrence launched his professional singing career at age 15. They buy a certain cereal and they know what to expect from that package." A career that spanned TV, Broadway and nightclubs "People come with a general idea of what they're going to get with us," Lawrence said in 1989.
I am so lucky to have had him as a father and so proud to be his son.In the 1980s, when Vegas cut down on headline acts and nightclubs became scarcer, the pair switched to auditoriums and drew large audiences. Sometimes alone and sometimes with his insanely talented wife.
“But, to me, he was just this charming, handsome, hysterically funny guy who sang a lot. “My dad was an inspiration to so many people,” his son David said in a statement. Long troubled with heart problems, Michael died of heart failure in 1986 at age 23. He and Gorme had two sons, David, a composer, and Michael. He took his name from the first names of two nephews. He began singing in his father’s synagogue choir at 8, moving on to bars and clubs by his mid-teens. When the center of TV entertainment shifted to Hollywood, they moved to Beverly Hills.īorn Sidney Liebowitz in New York City’s borough of Brooklyn, Lawrence was the son of a Jewish cantor who worked as a house painter. Native-born New Yorkers, Lawrence and Gorme lived in a Manhattan apartment during their early years together. The series set the pattern for the long-running “The Tonight Show.” When the program became NBC’s “Tonight” in 1954, he went with it, singing and exchanging quips with Allen. His first record, “Poinciana,” sold more than 100,000 copies, and his high school allowed him to skip classes to promote it with out-of-town singing dates.Īfter several guest appearances on Steve Allen’s television show, Lawrence was hired as a regular. King Records, impressed by the teenager’s strong, two-octave voice, signed him to a contract. After two failed auditions for “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” TV show, he was accepted on the third try, going on to win the competition and the prize of appearing on Godfrey’s popular daytime radio show for a week. They buy a certain cereal and they know what to expect from that package.” “People come with a general idea of what they’re going to get with us,” Lawrence said in 1989. In the 1980s, when Vegas cut down on headline acts and nightclubs became scarcer, the pair switched to auditoriums and drew large audiences. They also appeared regularly on television, making specials and guesting on various shows.
By the 1970s, Lawrence and his wife were a top draw in Las Vegas casinos and nightclubs across the country.