After high school, Gormé worked as a Spanish interpreter, but on weekends she sang in a band led by
Ken Greengrass. She appeared on the Spanish-language radio program
Cita Con Eydie (
A Date with Eydie), changing her name from "Edith" to "Edie" and then "Eydie" because people mispronounced "Edie". She considered changing her last name, but her mother told her, "It's bad enough that you're in
show business. How will the neighbors know if you're ever a success?" Gormé sang with the Tommy Tucker band for two months in 1950, followed by a year with Tex Beneke's band. She signed as a solo act with Coral Records in 1952 and released her first single, "That Night of Heaven". She was hired by
The Tonight Show in its early days with
Steve Allen and formed a duo with another one of its staff singers, Steve Lawrence. As
The Tonight Show was beginning to broadcast across the country in 1954, the duo released their first single, "
Make Yourself Comfortable"/"I've Gotta Crow". The album
Blame It on the Bossa Nova entered the top 40 with four more hit singles during the same year. Two were recorded as the duo Steve and Eydie. She recorded the Spanish albums
Amor and
More Amor with the Trio
Los Panchos, then she turned to show tunes. "If He Walked into My Life" was an easy-listening hit in 1966 and earned her a
Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In 1964, Columbia released the album
Amor, which spent 22 weeks on the charts. The song "
Sabor a Mí" became one of Gormé's signature tunes. In 1965, a sequel appeared called
More Amor, later reissued as
Cuatro Vidas. Her last album with Los Panchos was
Navidad Means Christmas (1966), later reissued as
Blanca Navidad. She recorded other Spanish albums in her career, including the Grammy-nominated
La Gormé (1976). Steve and Eydie performed a tribute to
George Gershwin on their television special
Our Love Is Here to Stay, which won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Music or Comedy Special. Two years later they sang on
Steve and Eydie Celebrate Irving Berlin and again won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Music or Comedy Special. In 1989, they started the record label GL Music. They sang with Frank Sinatra on his 70th-birthday tour and on his album
Duets II (1994). They recorded a cover version of the song "
Black Hole Sun" by the rock band Soundgarden for the album
Lounge-A-Palooza (1997). ==Personal life==