The Young Steve Lawrence - His First Recordings

Something of a prodigy, Steve was signed by Dewey Bergman of Cincinnati's King Records while the young man was still in high school, this on the strength of Steve's winning on the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts television program.

Bergman, who had made his first record with Ted Weems in 1924, was experienced and prescient. From the moment Steve started to sing in the New York studio on that April day in 1952, Bergman must have known he had a winner. Lawrence was that good - at 16.

"Steve Lawrence" was born Sidney Liebowitz in Brooklyn in 1935, adopting his stage name from the given names of two nephews. Bergman not only contracted with Steve, he had him bring brother Bernie along to form a duo called the Leslie Brothers, who issued a few King records concurrently with those released under Steve's name. Three of the four Leslie Brothers sides are in this set, along with all the numbers released by Steve - 21 songs in all.

For this post, we'll first review the songs that King later compiled for its only Lawrence LP, then go back over the non-LP tracks. These are remastered from my collection and Internet Archive holdings.

King did not get around to issuing its album until 1958 - about five years after Lawrence had left the label for Coral, and possibly to capitalize on Steve's hit cover of Buddy Knox's "Party Doll."

The Cincinnati label led off its LP with Lawrence's only semi-hit for that outfit - the first song he ever recorded, "Poinciana." It was an odd choice for a debut number - a bolero from Cuba that had been adapted into an instrumental by Manuel Lliso in 1936, then readapted by Nat Simon with English lyrics by Buddy Bernier. Eventually bandleader Jerry Wald and others took it up, with the first vocal version by Bing Crosby in 1943. Thereafter, it seemed to pop up again every few years, including versions by Frank Sinatra and Alan Dale in 1947.

Steve has often been linked with Sinatra, but vocally his version is much closer to that of Alan Dale, a somewhat more declamatory singer than the Voice, who was then in his hyper-romantic stage. (Let me add that I think Sinatra's record is brilliant.) What is most surprising is that the 16-year-old from Brooklyn can be credibly compared to Frank. His control and technique are well advanced, even if he did not have a unique profile as yet.

The second song on the album was issued on a single by the Leslie Brothers, but the LP does not bother to differentiate between the numbers recorded by Steve and the Steve/Bernie duo. The tune is "Say It Isn't True," an easy-going semi-R&B number that the brothers handle smoothly. The pair could have been successful had they continued.

Dewey Bergman

"Never Leave Me" is a solo effort on an overwrought "who can I turn to without you" song. (This is not the Gordon Jenkins song from Manhattan Tower.) It's good of its type, with a lovely, swooning chart by Bergman. Steve is entirely convincing - an amazing performance by a teenager with a beautiful voice.

Romantic is also the key word for "Tomorrow" - where young Steve faces an existential crisis: "Days one by one pass in loneliness / What have you done with my happiness?" he pleas. I would call him an angst-stricken adolescent, but he doesn't sound like a teen.

The Leslie Brothers return with "My Shawl," the theme song of bandleader Xavier Cugat, which again must have been a Bergman choice. The boys give it a calypso treatment, which works well. This is another song recorded by Sinatra, in a much more dreamy vein.

"King for a Day" is a galloping, heroic number that presumably was designed to show off Lawrence's range. It's the sort of thing best left to Mario Lanza, but Steve pulls it off.

Steve was to become the biggest star - but not on King's horizon

The second side starts with a generic ballad - "Fill me with sweet desire / Hold me 'til I'm afire," Steve declaims in "Mine and Mine Alone," accompanied by an impassioned chorus. He does it nicely, but again, it's not strong material.

The more restrained "With Every Breath I Take" is better, but then it's a more substantial composition. The song, by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger, is from 1934. This is one of the best, if not the best readings on the LP.

"I Need" is a pleasant waltz that Steve dispatches efficiently. It's another yearning song; he had the ability to project such emotions without seeming artificial - quite a feat for a singer in high school.

King promoted both Steve and the Leslies

There was some discrepancy about the title of the next song - the single release had it as "Magdalena (Last Night)" while the LP says it is "This Night (Madalena)." The latter is probably the closest to being correct. It's a 1950 Brazilian song by Ary Macedo and Ayrton Amorim released as both "Magdalena" and "Madalena," and given English lyrics ("This Night") by singer-songwriter Sunny Skylar. It's another vehicle for the Leslie Brothers in R&B mode, and one of the best things on the LP.

Steve is solo for the smooth number, "How Many Stars Have to Shine," by Jack Edwards, Leo Corday and Bert Mann, later recorded by Carmen McRae. This was another number that helped make a name for Lawrence, deservedly so. In this period he is sometimes compared to such big voice emoters like Frankie Laine and Eddie Fisher, but his vocal approach is more like that of Don Cornell with overtones of Billy Eckstine. Steve had a more personal quality than Cornell, though.

"Tango of Roses (Love Me)" is another one of those foreign-language songs that had the American songwriters competing to produce an English version. "Tango delle rose" was written by the Italians Aldo Bottero and Filippo Schreier. One English version was "More Than Love," recorded by Ralph Flanagan and Guy Lombardo. Another was the one that Steve did for his King record. The effect is a little overbearing - but he is certainly to be preferred to the anemic Kenny Martin with Lombardo.

Adequate production is by no means a given with King LPs, particularly reissues, but the sound from this album is surprisingly good, similar to that of the 78s reviewed below, with a tad more reverb. 

We'll discuss the rest of Steve's King recordings in the order of their release.

Bergman went back a few years in King's catalogue for our first number, "All My Love Belongs to You," a 1948 hit for Bull Moose Jackson and His Buffalo Bearcats, written by King producer Henry Glover with Sally Nix. Glover was an important figure in the 40s and 50s music scene. Steve does the Moose proud with this excellent reading that overcomes the prefab lyrics. He's in gorgeous voice here. I also enjoyed the chart, presumably by Bergman.

Next, Lawrence had the task of recording a theme song - "Sudden Fear" from a Joan Crawford film noir with Jack Palance as the heavy. Irving Taylor ("Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb") and Arthur Altman ("Play, Fiddle, Play") were the authors. The film only used an instrumental of the tune, but Steve's vocal version is worth a spin.

"Always Love Me" is another of the moonstruck numbers that dominated the market, just the sort of material that demonstrated Lawrence's considerable gifts.

King often put bio details on its promotional labels (click to enlarge)

"If Not for You" is more of the same, with a lush backing and an obbligato that was possibly by Henry Glover, a trumpeter as well as songwriter and executive.

Steve switches genres easily with "To the Birds," an R&B number with a hybrid background, part big beat, part big band. "You took my heart and fed it to the birds," the singer complains. His vocal production here is at times reminiscent of Sammy Davis, Jr., who had started recording for Capitol just a few years earlier.

With "You Can't Hold a Memory in Your Arms," Lawrence is squarely in the swinger arena, pulling it off superbly.

A slightly later arcade card

"Too Little Time" is easily one of the best items in this set. It was the theme song for The Glenn Miller Story, written by Henry Mancini and Don Raye. Suitably, it receives one of Steve's most passionate performances. The first-rate backing is by Glenn Osser, who did much work for Vic Damone and other top vocalists. Osser also arranged "With Every Breath I Take" and the final two songs below.

"Remember Me (You Taught Me to Love)" is a Latin-tinged piece by Billy Reid, presumably the British bandleader-songwriter. It's a good song, skillfully performed. 

The final song is "Liebchen," also recorded by Bing Crosby, a towering figure who nonetheless had little apparent influence on Lawrence's singing. The song is by Sid Wayne, later a writer for Elvis, and Joe Sherman. As usual, Steve's vocals are right on point.

That was all from Steve at King. He was off to his next label - a step up to Coral, a subsidiary of Decca, which issued its first Lawrence single in fall 1954. By then, comedian and television personality Steve Allen had added Lawrence to his New York TV program, which later was to become a network effort called The Tonight Show. There, Steve met the brilliantly talented Eydie Gormé, one of the other Allen vocalists. They would marry a few years later and go on to achieve remarkable success individually and as a team.