BLAME IT ON THE BOSSA NOVA

Singer Eydie Gorme Dies

Famed as nightclub and television singer.

Nightclub and television singer Eydie Gorme, famed for her hit “Blame It on the Bossa Nova” among others, died Saturday in Las Vegas. She was 84. The cause of death was a brief, undisclosed illness, her publicist said. Born in New York City, Gorme was a successful band and nightclub singer when she was asked to join the Steve Allen television show in 1953. She sung solos and did duets with Stephen Lawrence, who she would marry in Las Vegas in 1957. The pair soon got their own television show, and soon they toured together. Lawrence issued a statement calling Gorme his “partner in stage and in life for more than 55 years. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her and even more the first time I heard her sing.”