Steve Ffrench Death – Craig Birch pays tribute to a beloved friend. “Sad news received, but I want to mark the memory of a friend, Steve Ffrench, who I’m told has passed away. He’s the chap directly behind me.
I believe he’d drove me to the pub before this picture was taken. Had some laughs with Ffrenchy, when I lived in Wolverhampton, and I always looked him up when I was back visiting. RIP Steve my old mucker, you were a good lad for a Derby fan lol.”
Since he was 15 years old, Steve has been performing professionally as a singer. His first two attempts at auditioning for the television show “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” were unsuccessful; however, he was finally admitted on his third attempt. He went on to win the competition and the opportunity to appear on Godfrey’s famed daytime radio show for twenty-four hours.
After being blown away by the powerful, two-octave voice of the young man, King Records decided to sign him to a recording contract. More than one hundred thousand copies of his debut album, “Poinciana,” were sold, and his high school gave him permission to skip classes in order to promote the album by performing on out-of-town singing engagements.
Following a number of appearances as a guest on Steve Allen’s television show, Lawrence was eventually recruited on as a permanent cast member. During the year 1954, when the program was renamed “Tonight” on NBC, he continued to participate in it, singing and trading jabs with Allen. The series served as a model for the long-running television program “The Tonight Show.”
According to Lawrence, who remained with the host of the show for five years, he was able to hone his humorous skills and draw a large audience with his singing. “I think Steve Allen was the biggest thing that happened to me,” said Lawrence. “Each and every night, I was required to perform a different task.
One could say that it was superior to vaudeville in its own way. Early on in the span of the series, a young vocalist by the name of Eydie Gorme became a member of the cast. Her marriage to Lawrence took place in 1957, after they had been singing together for a period of four years.
