Steve's extraordinary voice has electrified audiences in venues from the Detroit Jazz Festival to the McCallum Performing Arts Center in Palm Desert, CA, to the Smith Center in Las Vegas, and worldwide from London to Japan, Australia to Brazil and Canada. It might seem an obvious choice that Steve would enter the family business, but he discovered his love for music almost by accident. Steve was born in New York City to the multi-talented Mel Tormé and the former model/actress, Candy Tockstein. They were divorced when Steve was young, and Candy married Hal March, an actor/comedian best known as the host of NBC-TV’s The $64,000 Question Show, but who also starred on Broadway in Neil Simon’s Come Blow Your Horn. An avid baseball player and fan growing up in Westchester County, N.Y., Steve's dream was to play for the Yankees. He was a devoted fan who listened to games on the radio in the basement of his family home. Following every game, he’d switch to the Top 40 music stations and sing along with such artists as The Four Seasons, Nat King Cole, The Temptations, Ricky Nelson, and Gene Pitney. With his natural ear for harmonies, his favorite quickly became and remains The Beatles. By the age of 12, he knew that he wanted to be a performer, and at 13 he earned his first paycheck fronting his own band. After his family moved to Beverly Hills, he continued to develop as a musician and his influences grew to include Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Todd Rundgren, and Steely Dan.
Steve recorded his first LP, Lucky, for United Artists Records, supporting it with a 20-city, national concert tour. Upon returning to California, he produced and sang on Liza Minnelli’s Columbia Records release Tropical Nights, which became a favorite of the New York dance clubs.
Following Lucky, 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 of The Harlettes. The recommendation came from Quincy Jones, who'd seen Steve perform at a tribute to Henry Mancini at the Hollywood Bowl. Steve went to the Planet Records offices to sing "Serenade in Blue" and "Blue Suede Shoes" for producer Richard Perry and his partner, movie producer Joel Silver, and got the gig as the solo male voice in the trio Full Swing. After the debut album (entitled Full Swing) was recorded, it was followed with tours of Brazil and Japan. Another Full Swing highlight: singing with his father, Mel, at the Kool Jazz Festival at Carnegie Hall. 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, Steve left the group to pursue his solo career.
Honing his craft as a performer, Steve worked as an actor, playing the male lead in a mini-series for RAI (Italian) Television, and appeared on a number of variety television shows back home. He spent three years as the featured vocalist on ABC-TV’s $100,000 Name That Tune and also hosted two Los Angeles-based television shows, Video 22 (a precursor to MTV) and Box Office America.
Steve’s first solo project after Full Swing was his CD Swingin’ at the Blue Moon Bar & Grille, recorded with a crackerjack big band. It also features a duet between Steve and Mel (“Straighten Up and Fly Right”) and showcases an improvised scat lesson between father and son. That disc was followed up by The Night I Fell For You, featuring an alluring arrangement of the Lerner & Loewe classic “On the Street Where You Live,” and a number of Steve’s original tunes, many penned with longtime collaborator, pianist and musical conductor Steve Rawlins. In reviews of both CDs, critics singled out these new songs as “contemporary yet timeless,” and “combining a wry sense of humor and a natural feel for romance, with classic melodies.” Those two releases were followed up by The Essence of Love, a collection of some of the most romantic, well-crafted standards ever written, including “Blue Skies,” “Stardust,” “Every Time We Say Goodbye,” and a playful duet with jazz icon Diane Schuur on “The One I Love Belongs To Somebody Else.” His current jazz CD, So Far (on iTunes, cdbaby.com, and amazon.com), combines the most popular material from his first three CDs into one “best of” recording.
Steve’s latest CD, inside/out, goes back to his roots as a singer/songwriter, words and music written by Steve, on which he not only sings but also plays keyboards and guitar. Inside/out was written and recorded in the pop vein that Steve was weaned on as a teenager and young adult and includes cleverly penned homages to Steely Dan, Todd Rundgren and Joni Mitchell. (Available on itunes, amazon.com, and cdbaby.com.)
Steve performs shows backed by configurations ranging from trio to symphony orchestra in venues around the world, from intimate jazz clubs to performing arts centers to festivals. Because a natural interest exists in hearing Steve sing the songs his dad was known for, he did a 28-city cross-country tour for Columbia Artists Mgt. Inc. (CAMI) entitled Tormé Sings Tormé. Steve is proud to have had the opportunity to pay tribute to his father in a show featuring a ten-piece band (dektette) playing the extraordinary arrangements penned by Marty Paich exclusively for Mel, and a multimedia presentation of photos and video clips. A Hi-Def, 5.1 Surround Sound version of Tormé Sings Tormé was released on AIX Records, and won Best Music Dual Disc at the EMX DVD Awards Show in Los Angeles.
In addition to his performing and recording career, Steve hosts his own radio show on the Music of Your Life network every Wed. and Thurs. afternoon. And, he is the weekday afternoon host on 91.1 FM The Avenue in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and KVYL-FM Vinyl in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. He can also be heard every Monday morning on KVYL-FM at 9 a.m. Mountain Time for a sports segment called “Mondays with March-Tormé.”
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