Steve March Tormé
Encyclopedia
Steve March Tormé is an American singer and songwriter who currently resides in Appleton, Wisconsin
. He is the son of the legendary Mel Tormé
and former model Candy Toxton (Tockstein). The two later divorced and Toxton married actor/comedian Hal March
who became Steve's stepfather.
Apart from his father, Steve's early musical influences include The Four Seasons, Nat King Cole
, The Temptations
, Ricky Nelson
, and Gene Pitney
. Later influences include Joni Mitchell
, James Taylor
, Todd Rundgren
, Steely Dan
, and especially The Beatles
.
Steve will be performing the holiday version of one of his two symphony shows in December of 2011 with the Charlotte Symphony in Punta Gorda, (Fl.), the New Bedford Symphony (MA.) and the Green Bay Symphony (WI.) The music is arranged for a full 70 piece orchestra and the orchestrations were written by his longtime musical director/pianist Steve Rawlins, with some help from Steve March Tormé.
to the multi-talented Mel Tormé
and the former model, Candy Toxton. They were divorced when Steve was two and a half years old. In 1956 Toxton married the actor/comedian Hal March
, who was the host of CBS-TV’s The $64,000 Question Show and subsequently starred in Neil Simon
’s Come Blow Your Horn
on Broadway. March was stepfather to Steve and his sister Melissa Tormé-March and went on to have three more children with Candy--Peter, Jeffrey, and Victoria.
Steve March Tormé spent much of his childhood listening to New York Yankees
games on the radio. After games he would turn to Top 40 music stations and find himself singing along with such artists as The Four Seasons, Nat King Cole
, The Temptations
, Ricky Nelson
, Gene Pitney
, and The Beatles
.
This accidental discovery for music led to Steve fronting his first band in 1966 at age 13.
After March and Toxton moved to Beverly Hills, Steve formed friendships with other second generation “show biz kids” like Desi Arnaz Jr., Dean Martin Jr.
, Miguel Ferrer
, Carrie Fisher
, and Liza Minnelli
while attending high school. During this time, he continued to develop as a musician and his influences grew to include Joni Mitchell
, James Taylor
, Todd Rundgren
and Steely Dan
, to whom Steve plays homage on 2009's Inside/Out.
After Hal March's death in 1970, Steve rekindled his relationship with his father Mel Tormé
, who occasionally recorded and appeared with Steve in concert until his death in 1999.
, Wilton Felder
of Jazz Crusaders, Jimmy Gordon
, Max Bennett
, Fred Tackett
and Paul Barrere
of Little Feat
, Chuck Findley
, Wayne Henderson
of Jazz Crusaders, Victor Feldman
, Plas Johnson
, and Pete Christlieb
. Upon returning to California, he produced and sang on Liza Minnelli
’s Columbia Records release Tropical Nights, which became a favorite of New York dance clubs.
Steve was the lead male singer on the syndicated game show The $100,000 Name That Tune
from 1978 to 1981. His audition consisted of singing Elton John
's "Daniel and Stevie Wonder
's "My Cherie Amor" for the producers, who hired Steve the next day. The new version of the show was more of a game show/variety musical hybrid, with two full bands playing the notes and/or songs the contestants would have to guess. One was a big band, led by Stan Worth and the second was the "rock" band, fronted by Steve and dubbed "Dan Sawyer and the Sound System". The bass player in the Sound System was Kerry Hatch, who joined the alternative rock band Oingo Boingo
after leaving Name That Tune
. The show was hosted by Tom Kennedy and Steve stayed with the show through 1981.
, Nik Kershaw
, Fishbone
, Spinal Tap
, Til Tuesday, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.
In 1982, Steve received a phone call from noted jazz critic Leonard Feather
, inquiring his interest in auditioning for a vocal group that Leonard's daughter Lorraine Feather
was starting up with her friend Charlotte Crossley (The Harlettes). When told that the recommendation had come from Quincy Jones
(who'd seen Steve perform at a tribute show to Henry Mancini
at the Hollywood Bowl
) and that the project would be produced by Richard Perry
, Steve went to the offices of Planet Records to sing "Serenade in Blue" and "Blue Suede Shoes" for Richard and his partner, movie producer Joel Silver
. He got the gig as the solo male voice in the trio Full Swing and after the debut album (entitled Full Swing) was recorded at Planet Records in Hollywood, it was followed up with tours of Brazil and Japan. The Full Swing LP featured some of the best studio musicians in L.A., including Paulinho Da Costa
, Paul Jackson Jr., Victor Feldman
, Chuck Findley
, Gary Grant
, Dick "Slide" Hyde (all of whom performed on Steve's Lucky LP in 1978), Tom Scott
, David Benoit
, Jerry Hey
, Conte Condoli, Lew McCreary
, Richard Tee
, Vinnie Colaiuta
, Russ Kunkel
, John Robinson
, and George Doering. Four other musicians from this recording (Gary Herbig, Ira Newborn
, Joel Peskin, and Peter Christlieb (of Steely Dan
fame)) would later work with Steve on future LPs. Steve sang with his father Mel Tormé
at the Kool Jazz Festival at Carnegie Hall
as a member of "Full Swing". Steve sang the lead part on Mel's arrangement of "What Is This Thing Called Love", previously performed by the Meltones. After Richard Perry
sold Planet Records in 1983, Steve left the group to pursue his solo career.
Steve played the male lead in the Italian TV musical-drama "Molly O" for RAI Television. It was released in 1986.
In 2009, Steve recorded his most recent album "inside/out" for the Go Daddy Music label. The project was recorded mostly in Los Angeles (with a couple of tracks in Wisconsin) and is the first "pop" album he's done since "Lucky." The entire album (music and lyrics) was written by Steve and also features him playing both keyboards and guitar for the first time since the "Lucky" LP.
For the last 12 years, he's worked with arranger/pianist Steve Rawlins, who, more often than not, accompanies him on stage and has played piano and arranged a number of songs on Steve March Tormé's recordings. They've also co-written many of the songs on Steve's jazz LPs.
, serving Green Bay, Appleton, and Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Steve will be performing the holiday version of one of his two symphony shows in December of 2011 with the Charlotte Symphony in Punta Gorda, (Fl.), the New Bedford Symphony (MA.) and the Green Bay Symphony (WI.) The music is arranged for a full 70 piece orchestra and the orchestrations were written by his longtime musical director/pianist Steve Rawlins, with some help from Steve March Tormé.
in 1985 and 1989 in fast pitch softball
. The Maccabiah Games are the Olympics for Jewish athletes worldwide. The games are held every four years in Tel Aviv, Israel and are staggered against the global Olympic Games so that they never fall on the same year. Steve was the starting center-fielder on the 1985 team and was one of two starting pitchers in the 1989 games, in which he shut out Panama 14-0 in his first outing and bested Venezuela 6-4 in the other. The U.S.A. fast-pitch team won gold medals both years, beating Canada in both title games. Other notable U.S.A. athletes who've participated in the Maccabiah Games include Mark Spitz, Mitch Gaylord, Brad Gilbert, Ernie Grunfeld and Danny Schayes.
Appleton, Wisconsin
Appleton is a city in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is situated on the Fox River, 30 miles southwest of Green Bay and 100 miles north of Milwaukee. Appleton is the county seat of Outagamie County. The population was 78,086 at the 2010 census...
. He is the son of the legendary Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
and former model Candy Toxton (Tockstein). The two later divorced and Toxton married actor/comedian Hal March
Hal March
Hal March was a Jewish-American comedian and actor.-Early career:March first came to note as part of a comedy team with Bob Sweeney. The duo had their own radio show for a time and performed, in the early 1950s, as "Sweeney & March." He also partnered with actor/comic Tom d'Andrea in the early...
who became Steve's stepfather.
Apart from his father, Steve's early musical influences include The Four Seasons, Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
, The Temptations
The Temptations
The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...
, Ricky Nelson
Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard Nelson , better known as Ricky Nelson or Rick Nelson, was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor...
, and Gene Pitney
Gene Pitney
Eugene Francis Alan Pitney, known as Gene Pitney , was an American singer-songwriter, musician and sound engineer. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic and was among the group of early 1960s American acts who continued to enjoy hits after the...
. Later influences include Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
, James Taylor
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
, Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
, Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
, and especially The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
.
Steve will be performing the holiday version of one of his two symphony shows in December of 2011 with the Charlotte Symphony in Punta Gorda, (Fl.), the New Bedford Symphony (MA.) and the Green Bay Symphony (WI.) The music is arranged for a full 70 piece orchestra and the orchestrations were written by his longtime musical director/pianist Steve Rawlins, with some help from Steve March Tormé.
Early life
Steve March Tormé was born on January 29, 1953 in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to the multi-talented Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
and the former model, Candy Toxton. They were divorced when Steve was two and a half years old. In 1956 Toxton married the actor/comedian Hal March
Hal March
Hal March was a Jewish-American comedian and actor.-Early career:March first came to note as part of a comedy team with Bob Sweeney. The duo had their own radio show for a time and performed, in the early 1950s, as "Sweeney & March." He also partnered with actor/comic Tom d'Andrea in the early...
, who was the host of CBS-TV’s The $64,000 Question Show and subsequently starred in Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
’s Come Blow Your Horn
Come Blow Your Horn
Come Blow Your Horn was Neil Simon's first play, which premiered in the United States in 1961 and had a London production in 1962 at the Prince of Wales Theatre.-Act Summaries:Time: The Present...
on Broadway. March was stepfather to Steve and his sister Melissa Tormé-March and went on to have three more children with Candy--Peter, Jeffrey, and Victoria.
Steve March Tormé spent much of his childhood listening to New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
games on the radio. After games he would turn to Top 40 music stations and find himself singing along with such artists as The Four Seasons, Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
, The Temptations
The Temptations
The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...
, Ricky Nelson
Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard Nelson , better known as Ricky Nelson or Rick Nelson, was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor...
, Gene Pitney
Gene Pitney
Eugene Francis Alan Pitney, known as Gene Pitney , was an American singer-songwriter, musician and sound engineer. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic and was among the group of early 1960s American acts who continued to enjoy hits after the...
, and The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
.
This accidental discovery for music led to Steve fronting his first band in 1966 at age 13.
After March and Toxton moved to Beverly Hills, Steve formed friendships with other second generation “show biz kids” like Desi Arnaz Jr., Dean Martin Jr.
Dean Paul Martin
Dean Paul Martin was an American entertainer, noted as a tennis player, a singer and actor, and a military pilot.-Early life and career:...
, Miguel Ferrer
Miguel Ferrer
Miguel José Ferrer is an American actor and voice actor who is often cast as a villain. His notable roles include Bob Morton, a supporting character in RoboCop , the short tempered FBI agent Albert Rosenfield in Twin Peaks, and Dr...
, Carrie Fisher
Carrie Fisher
Carrie Frances Fisher is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and lecturer. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay to the film of the same name, and her...
, and Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
while attending high school. During this time, he continued to develop as a musician and his influences grew to include Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
, James Taylor
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
, Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
and Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
, to whom Steve plays homage on 2009's Inside/Out.
After Hal March's death in 1970, Steve rekindled his relationship with his father Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
, who occasionally recorded and appeared with Steve in concert until his death in 1999.
The 1970s
In the late 1970s, Steve recorded his first LP, Lucky, for United Artists Records, supporting it with a well received 20 city, national concert tour. The album featured several noted musicians including Arthur AdamsArthur Adams (singer)
Arthur Adams is an American blues musician from Medon, Tennessee. Inspired by B.B. King and other 1950s artists, he played gospel music before attending college. He moved to Los Angeles, and during the 1960s and 1970s he released solo albums and worked as a session musician...
, Wilton Felder
Wilton Felder
Wilton Lewis Felder is both a saxophone and bass player, and is best known as a founding member of The Crusaders, initially called the Jazz Crusaders. Felder, Wayne Henderson, Joe Sample, and Stix Hooper founded the group while in high school in Houston...
of Jazz Crusaders, Jimmy Gordon
Jimmy Gordon
James "Jimmy" Eadie Gordon was a Scottish footballer who spent most of his career with Rangers. During the First World War he was a Sergeant in the Highland Light Infantry....
, Max Bennett
Max Bennett (musician)
Max Bennett is an American jazz bassist and session musician.Bennett grew up in Kansas City and Oskaloosa, Iowa, and went to college in Iowa. His first professional gig was with Herbie Fields in 1949, and following this he played with Georgie Auld, Terry Gibbs, and Charlie Ventura...
, Fred Tackett
Fred Tackett
Fred Tackett, an American native of Arkansas, is an accomplished songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Originally a session player on guitar, mandolin, and trumpet, he is best known for his longevity as a member of the band Little Feat....
and Paul Barrere
Paul Barrere
Paul Barrere is a current member of the band Little Feat, having joined the band in 1974...
of Little Feat
Little Feat
Little Feat is an American rock band formed by singer-songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles....
, Chuck Findley
Chuck Findley
Chuck Findley is an American session musician. Most widely-known as a trumpet player, he also plays other brass instruments such as flugelhorn and trombone...
, Wayne Henderson
Wayne Henderson (musician)
Wayne Henderson is a soul-jazz and hard bop trombonist and record producer. In 1961, he co-founded the soul jazz/hard bop group The Jazz Crusaders...
of Jazz Crusaders, Victor Feldman
Victor Feldman
Victor Stanley Feldman was a British jazz musician, best known as a pianist.-Early history:...
, Plas Johnson
Plas Johnson
Plas John Johnson Jr. is an American soul-jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist, probably most familiar as the lead on Henry Mancini’s "The Pink Panther Theme"....
, and Pete Christlieb
Pete Christlieb
Pete Christlieb is a jazz bebop, West Coast jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist.-Biography:Christlieb was born in Los Angeles, California and is the son of bassoonist Don Christlieb...
. Upon returning to California, he produced and sang on Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
’s Columbia Records release Tropical Nights, which became a favorite of New York dance clubs.
Steve was the lead male singer on the syndicated game show The $100,000 Name That Tune
Name That Tune
Name That Tune is a television game show that put two contestants against each other to test their knowledge of songs. Premiering in the United States on NBC Radio in 1952, the show was created and produced by Harry Salter and his wife Roberta....
from 1978 to 1981. His audition consisted of singing Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
's "Daniel and Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
's "My Cherie Amor" for the producers, who hired Steve the next day. The new version of the show was more of a game show/variety musical hybrid, with two full bands playing the notes and/or songs the contestants would have to guess. One was a big band, led by Stan Worth and the second was the "rock" band, fronted by Steve and dubbed "Dan Sawyer and the Sound System". The bass player in the Sound System was Kerry Hatch, who joined the alternative rock band Oingo Boingo
Oingo Boingo
Oingo Boingo was an American new wave band. They are best known for their influence on other musicians, their soundtrack contributions and their high energy Halloween concerts. The band was founded in 1972 as The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, a performance art group...
after leaving Name That Tune
Name That Tune
Name That Tune is a television game show that put two contestants against each other to test their knowledge of songs. Premiering in the United States on NBC Radio in 1952, the show was created and produced by Harry Salter and his wife Roberta....
. The show was hosted by Tom Kennedy and Steve stayed with the show through 1981.
The 1980s
Steve hosted the movie critics show "Cinemattractions" in 1989, which became "Box Office America" in 1990. He also hosted "Video 22" from 1985–1986, featuring Go WestGo West (band)
Go West is an English pop duo, formed in 1982 by lead vocalist and drummer Peter Cox ; and guitarist and vocalist Richard Drummie...
, Nik Kershaw
Nik Kershaw
Nik Kershaw is an English singer-songwriter. The one time jazz-funk guitarist was a mid-1980s teen idol. His 50 weeks on the UK Singles Chart in 1984 beat all other soloists...
, Fishbone
Fishbone
Fishbone is a U.S. alternative rock band formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California, which plays a fusion of ska, punk rock, funk, hard rock and soul. Critics have noted of the band: "Fishbone was one of the most distinctive and eclectic alternative rock bands of the late '80s...
, Spinal Tap
Spinal Tap (band)
Spinal Tap is a parody heavy metal band that first appeared on a failed 1979 ABC TV sketch comedy pilot called "The T.V. Show", starring Rob Reiner...
, Til Tuesday, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.
In 1982, Steve received a phone call from noted jazz critic Leonard Feather
Leonard Feather
Leonard Geoffrey Feather was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer who was best known for his music journalism and other writing.-Biography:...
, inquiring his interest in auditioning for a vocal group that Leonard's daughter Lorraine Feather
Lorraine Feather
-History:Lorraine Feather was born in Manhattan. Her father was jazz writer Leonard Feather; her mother Jane was a former big band singer and ex-roommate of singer Peggy Lee...
was starting up with her friend Charlotte Crossley (The Harlettes). When told that the recommendation had come from Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
(who'd seen Steve perform at a tribute show to Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
at the Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...
) and that the project would be produced by Richard Perry
Richard Perry
Richard Perry is an American music producer. Perry began as a performer in his adolescence, but shifted gears after graduating college and rose through the late 1960s and early 1970s to become a highly successful and popular record producer with over a dozen gold records to his credit by 1982...
, Steve went to the offices of Planet Records to sing "Serenade in Blue" and "Blue Suede Shoes" for Richard and his partner, movie producer Joel Silver
Joel Silver
Joel Silver is an American Hollywood film producer, co-creator of the sport of Ultimate, co-founder of Dark Castle Entertainment and owner of Silver Pictures.-Life and career:...
. He got the gig as the solo male voice in the trio Full Swing and after the debut album (entitled Full Swing) was recorded at Planet Records in Hollywood, it was followed up with tours of Brazil and Japan. The Full Swing LP featured some of the best studio musicians in L.A., including Paulinho Da Costa
Paulinho Da Costa
Paulinho da Costa is a Brazilian percussionist born in Rio de Janeiro, considered one of the most recorded musicians of modern times. Playing over two hundred percussion instruments, he has participated in thousands of recording sessions, Grammy Award-winning albums, hit songs, soundtracks, radio...
, Paul Jackson Jr., Victor Feldman
Victor Feldman
Victor Stanley Feldman was a British jazz musician, best known as a pianist.-Early history:...
, Chuck Findley
Chuck Findley
Chuck Findley is an American session musician. Most widely-known as a trumpet player, he also plays other brass instruments such as flugelhorn and trombone...
, Gary Grant
Gary Grant
Gary Grant is a retired American professional basketball player at the point guard position in the NBA.Gary "The General" Grant played for Canton McKinley High School and collegiately at the University of Michigan....
, Dick "Slide" Hyde (all of whom performed on Steve's Lucky LP in 1978), Tom Scott
Tom Scott
Tom Scott may refer to:*Tom Scott , New Zealand cartoonist*Tom Scott , member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame*Tom Scott , coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels basketball program...
, David Benoit
David Benoit
David Benoit, is an American jazz fusion/smooth jazz pianist, composer and producer from Los Angeles, California. He has been nominated for five Grammy Awards...
, Jerry Hey
Jerry Hey
Jerry Hey is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Thriller and the distinctive flugelhorn solo on Dan Fogelberg's hit Longer....
, Conte Condoli, Lew McCreary
Lew McCreary
Lew McCreary is an American author, editor, and speaker.McCreary was born on September 21, 1947. He is a Senior Editor for the Harvard Business Review and previously worked as editorial director of CXO Media Inc., founding the security publication CSO Magazine and frequently serving a source for...
, Richard Tee
Richard Tee
Richard Tee was a pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger.Tee graduated from the High School of Music and Art and attended the Manhattan School of Music. Though better known as a studio and session musician, Tee led a jazz ensemble, the Richard Tee Committee, and was a founding member of the...
, Vinnie Colaiuta
Vinnie Colaiuta
Vincent Colaiuta is an American drummer based in Los Angeles. Originally from Republic, Pennsylvania, he began playing drums as a child and received his first full drum kit from his parents at the age of 14...
, Russ Kunkel
Russ Kunkel
Russell Kunkel , also known as Russ Kunkel, is an American drummer and producer who has worked as a session musician with a number of well-known artists.Kunkel was born in Pittsburgh, PA...
, John Robinson
John Robinson
-Academics:*John Martin Robinson , English Officer of Arms and historian*John Alan Robinson , philosopher and mathematician*John Thomas Romney Robinson , Irish astronomer and physicist*John T. Robinson, paleontologist...
, and George Doering. Four other musicians from this recording (Gary Herbig, Ira Newborn
Ira Newborn
Ira Newborn is an American musician and composer, best known for his work composing motion picture soundtracks....
, Joel Peskin, and Peter Christlieb (of Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
fame)) would later work with Steve on future LPs. Steve sang with his father Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
at the Kool Jazz Festival at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
as a member of "Full Swing". Steve sang the lead part on Mel's arrangement of "What Is This Thing Called Love", previously performed by the Meltones. After Richard Perry
Richard Perry
Richard Perry is an American music producer. Perry began as a performer in his adolescence, but shifted gears after graduating college and rose through the late 1960s and early 1970s to become a highly successful and popular record producer with over a dozen gold records to his credit by 1982...
sold Planet Records in 1983, Steve left the group to pursue his solo career.
Steve played the male lead in the Italian TV musical-drama "Molly O" for RAI Television. It was released in 1986.
The 2000s
In 2006, Steve's "Tormé Sings Tormé," a four-sided, double disc DVD and CD on AIX Records, won Best Vocal Dual Disc at the EMX DVD Awards show in Los Angeles.In 2009, Steve recorded his most recent album "inside/out" for the Go Daddy Music label. The project was recorded mostly in Los Angeles (with a couple of tracks in Wisconsin) and is the first "pop" album he's done since "Lucky." The entire album (music and lyrics) was written by Steve and also features him playing both keyboards and guitar for the first time since the "Lucky" LP.
For the last 12 years, he's worked with arranger/pianist Steve Rawlins, who, more often than not, accompanies him on stage and has played piano and arranged a number of songs on Steve March Tormé's recordings. They've also co-written many of the songs on Steve's jazz LPs.
2010 to Present
Steve currently tours worldwide as a singer/entertainer, offering a variety of platforms: a jazz trio ensemble, a big band show, a dektette show entitled "Torme Sings Torme" that CAMI (Columbia Artists Management Inc.) sent out as a 32 city national tour in 2007, and a full 70 piece symphony show entitled "From Broadway to Bernstein, From Mercer to Mel". He's performed in 46 of the 50 states, in addition to concerts in Australia, Canada, Japan, Brazil, London and Italy. Steve also hosts his own show every Wednesday and Thursday on the Music of Your Life Radio Network and is the afternoon/drive time host five days a week at 91.1 FM "The Avenue"WOVM
WOVM is an American radio station licensed to Appleton, Wisconsin. The station is owned by Music That Matters, Inc and serves as the flagship station for the national Timeless Cool format....
, serving Green Bay, Appleton, and Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Steve will be performing the holiday version of one of his two symphony shows in December of 2011 with the Charlotte Symphony in Punta Gorda, (Fl.), the New Bedford Symphony (MA.) and the Green Bay Symphony (WI.) The music is arranged for a full 70 piece orchestra and the orchestrations were written by his longtime musical director/pianist Steve Rawlins, with some help from Steve March Tormé.
Maccabiah Games
Steve was a two-time participant in the Maccabiah GamesMaccabiah Games
The Maccabiah is an international Jewish athletic event similar to the Olympics held in Israel every four years under the auspices of the Maccabi Federation, affiliated with the Maccabi World Union. The Maccabiah Games is the third largest international sports competition in the world...
in 1985 and 1989 in fast pitch softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
. The Maccabiah Games are the Olympics for Jewish athletes worldwide. The games are held every four years in Tel Aviv, Israel and are staggered against the global Olympic Games so that they never fall on the same year. Steve was the starting center-fielder on the 1985 team and was one of two starting pitchers in the 1989 games, in which he shut out Panama 14-0 in his first outing and bested Venezuela 6-4 in the other. The U.S.A. fast-pitch team won gold medals both years, beating Canada in both title games. Other notable U.S.A. athletes who've participated in the Maccabiah Games include Mark Spitz, Mitch Gaylord, Brad Gilbert, Ernie Grunfeld and Danny Schayes.
Studio albums
- 1977 Tropical Nights by Liza MinnelliLiza MinnelliLiza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
(co-producer, vocals on "I Love Every Little Thing About You") - 1978 Lucky by Steve March Tormé (lead vocals, piano, co-producer)
- 1982 Full Swing by Steve March Tormé (lead vocals)
- 1993 Ceremony by Chastity BonoChastity BonoChaz Salvatore Bono is an American transgender advocate, writer, actor, and musician. Bono is the only child of American entertainers Sonny and Cher, though each had children from other relationships...
(backup vocals) - 2000 Swingin' at the Blue Moon Bar & Grille by Steve March Tormé (lead vocals, co-producer)
- 2000 The Night I Fell for You by Steve March Tormé (lead vocals, co-producer)
- 2003 The Essence of Love by Steve March Tormé (lead vocals, co-producer)
- 2007 So Far by Steve March Tormé (lead vocals, co-producer)
- 2009 Inside/Out by Steve March Tormé (lead vocals, piano, guitar, co-producer)
Live Recordings
- 2006 "Tormé Sings Tormé," a four-sided, double disc DVD and CD on AIX RecordsAIX RecordsAIX Records is an independent record and media label based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2001 by Dr Mark Waldrep, a professor of digital media arts at CSUDH, classically trained composer and audio engineer. The label was founded to take advantage of the new high definition, surround...
External links
- http://music.aol.com/artist/steve-march-torme/biography/1374920
- http://www.vindy.com/news/2008/nov/13/steve-march-torme-follows-in-footsteps-of-famous/
- http://www.stevemarchtorme.com/bio.htm
- http://musicofyourlife.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=36&Itemid=109