EYDIE GORME GETS A TRIBUTE WITH ALBUM IN SPANISH

Recorded and performed by her son, David Lawrence, ‘Nosotros’ is a collection of hits by the late singer


CESAR ARREDONDO

The acclaimed romantic balladeer Eydie Gormé is the subject of tribute with a new album of boleros, the genre that made her a crossover star in the Spanish-speaking world.

“Nosotros,” recorded by Gormé’s award-winning musician son David Lawrence, consists of 10 classic hits by the late Grammy Award-winning artist. The album marks Lawrence’s debut as a singer. He has a long career as a composer of scores for films and television shows.

The first single is “Sabor a Mí,” Gormé’s signature song in Spanish, her biggest hit with Mexican Trío Los Panchos and which was written by the famed songwriter Alvaro Carrillo Alarcón. “My amazing mother was iconic for her boleros with Trío Los Panchos,” says Lawrence on his Facebook page.  The video for that “Sabor a Mí” recently competed at the Los Angeles Film Awards in the best music video category.

Other songs in the album are: “Luna Lunera,” “Hay Muy Pocos,” “Vereda Tropical,” “Nosotros,” “La Última Noche,” “Historia de un Amor,” “Noche de Ronda,” “De Corazón a Corazón,” and “Amor.”

Lawrence, right, with singer Janet Dacal and Israel Salazar, host and director of Latin music programming at SiriusXM.

The tribute record includes collaborations with talented Latino artists like Latin Grammy Award-winning producer, vocalist and trumpet player Linda Breceńo, singer Janet Dacal, and guitarist Ramon Stagnaro.

A PERSONAL REGRET
While a musician in his own right for most of his professional life in Hollywood, Lawrence never got to work with his mother in any of her many records–about 60 in her lifetime. This makes “Nosotros” a posthumous homage. “I will always be sad that I never got to make an album with her,” says Lawrence. “But I’m enormously proud and grateful that I made ‘Nosotros’ for her.”

Gormé died in 2013. She won two Grammys, one for “We Got Us” for her duo with her husband Steve Lawrence and another for “If He Walked Into My Life” for best female pop vocal performance.

IT BEGAN WITH A CALL
After his mother’s passing, Lawrence received a phone call from W Radio in Miami. They wanted to interview him about his mother and the contributions she made to Latin music. The interviewer described Gormé as one of the very first crossover artists, which left a lasting impression on Lawrence.

A few months after the interview, Lawrence mentioned to his wife and songwriting partner Faye Greenberg that he wanted to find a way to musically honor his mother, a way to connect with her. He did not want to revisit her biggest hits from the “Great American Songbook”, so Greenberg suggested taking a look at her Spanish-language recordings, especially the ones with the acclaimed trio Los Panchos. As soon as she said it, he knew that was it.

ALBUMS WITH LOS PANCHOS
Gormé made five albums with Los Panchos in the 1960s and 1970s: “Amor,” “More Amor,”  “Navidad Means Christmas,” “Canta en Español” and “Cuatro Vidas.” She also recorded other Spanish albums in her career, including “Otra Vez,” the “La Gormé” and “Muy Amigos/Close Friends” with Puerto Rican singer Danny Rivera–the latter two receiving Grammy nominations.

David Lawrence as a child with his mom Eydie Gormé.

“It’s been an honor to take a deep dive into her music and reimagine it into ‘Nosotros,'” says Lawrence on his Facebook page along with a photo of Gormé with Los Panchos at a concert at the Hollywood Palace in 1964.

LAWRENCE’S BACKGROUND
Born in New York and raised in Los Angeles,  Lawrence says that music has been an essential part of his life since he was a child, surrounded by and learning from performers, songwriters and orchestrators like Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Oscar Castro Neves, Carol Burnett, Oscar Peterson, Lucho Gatica, Henry Mancini, Don Costa and others. After graduating from New York’s Mannes Conservatory of Music, he moved back to Los Angeles to begin what became a successful and eclectic career in music.

Lawrence was nominated for an Emmy for his work on Disney’s “Descendants” and twice won the ASCAP Award for Most Performed Film Score. His music and songs can be heard in movies like “Freaky Friday,” the “High School Musical” trilogy, the “American Pie” franchise, and series like “Jericho” and “Harper’s Island,” both on CBS. For director Kenny Ortega, he composed the music for “The Lake of Dreams” show at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas.

Check out below an interview with Lawrence about his musical tribute to his mother Eydie Gormé.