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Center for the Arts Presented “Tormé Sings Tormé”

Pepperdine University Center for the Arts presented "Tormé Sings Tormé: A Big Band Tribute to the Life and Music of Mel Tormé," starring vocalist Steve March Tormé, on Friday, Jan. 12, at Pepperdine University's Smothers Theatre.

The show featured some of Mel Tormé’s best-known songs mingled with family photos and video clips. Steve Rawlins led a 10-piece band through many original musical arrangements by Marty Paich and Mel himself.

Steve March Tormé was born in New York City to Candy Toxton and the multi-talented vocalist Mel Tormé. The couple divorced just after son Steve turned two-and-a-half years old. With his natural talent and famous father as role models, Steve knew at the age of 12 that he wanted to be a singer and performer. He started singing professionally at the age of 13, heading the first of his many pop/rock bands as a freshman in high school. The development of his songwriting talent soon followed.

Finally settling into the romantic jazz/pop genre that he’s most comfortable with, Steve has been performing throughout the United States, promoting his first two solo CDs, Swingin’ at the Blue Moon Bar & Grille and The Night I Fell For You, which he recorded for his own label, Frozen Rope Records.

In the past few years, Steve has appeared at a number of prestigious jazz venues across the country. These include the Cinegrill, the Jazz Bakery, Feinstein’s in New York, the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis, and others. In 2000 he was featured at the Hollywood Bowl in a tribute to his father, and the next year sold out five concerts with the Palm Beach Pops Orchestra.