2/25 Steve Lawrence

Born Stephen Leibowitz, 8 July 1935, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. The son of a cantor in a Brooklyn synagogue, Lawrence was in the Glee club at Thomas Jefferson High School, where he began studying piano, saxophone, composition and arranging. He made his recording debut for King Records at the age of 16. The record, "Mine And Mine Alone", based on "Softly Awakes My Heart" from Samson & Delilah, revealed an remarkably mature voice and style. Influenced by Frank Sinatra, but never merely a copyist, Lawrence's great range and warmth earned him a break on Steve Allen's Tonight television show, where he met, sang with and later married Eydie Gorme. He recorded for Coral Records and had his first hit in 1957 with "The Banana Boat Song". It was the infectious "Party Doll" which gave him a Top 5 hit in 1957 and he followed that same year with four further, although lesser successes, namely "Pum-Pa-Lum", "Can't Wait For Summer", "Fabulous" and "Fraulein". During his US Army service (1958-60) he sang with military bands on recruiting drives and bond rallies.

Back home he and Eydie embarked on a double act, their most memorable hit being "I Want To Stay Here" in 1963. As Steve And Eydie they made albums for CBS Records, ABC Records and United Artists Records, including Steve And Eydie At The Movies, Together On Broadway, We Got Us, Steve And Eydie Sing The Golden Hits and Our Love Is Here To Stay, the latter a double album of great George Gershwin songs, which was the soundtrack of a well-received television special. Lawrence, on his own, continued to have regular hits with "Portrait Of My Love" and "Go Away Little Girl" in 1961/2, and enjoyed critical success with albums such as Academy Award Losers and Portrait Of My Love. As an actor he starred on Broadway in What Makes Sammy Run?, took the lead in Pal Joey in summer stock, and has acted in a crime series on US television. During the 70s and 80s he continued to record and make television appearances with Gorme, with the couple gaining a record-breaking seven Emmys for their Steve And Eydie Celebrate Irving Berlin special. The couple also joined Frank Sinatra on his Diamond Jubilee Tour in 1991.
www.steveandeydie.com

2/18 Chef Rick Tarantino

Rick Tarantino or Chef Rick as he is know in the media has a diverse back ground that has helped him build a successful career as a celebrity chef. He attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Campus and graduated with a Bachelors' of Science from the School of Food Science and Nutrition. Then began his work experience at the prestigious chain of Sheraton Hotels and Resorts from Los Angles to New York's five star St Regis Hotel, Rick worked his way up the corporate ladder. But that was only the beginning, with years of experience in the family hotel business that he was raised in and now with corporate hospitality business under his belt, he began his entrepreneurial career and started Inn Vision a state of the art in-room movie company in hotels around the country. After successfully selling that venture he went back into his family hotel and restaurant business with his father. Emerald Hotel and Resorts International, owned and operated hotels and restaurants in New England.

Rick then returned to school and received his Masters of Science degree from Johnson & Wales University, the world leading hotel and culinary school. Wanting to give back he began teaching at the school. That lead to an opportunity to develop an alumni and development office for the Chancellor, so when his father retired, they sold the hotel company and Rick began his next career as an educator, author and fundraiser. During the ten year period at Johnson & Wales, Rick met Justin Miller a young inspiring 6 year old who loved to cook. Rick trained Justin to become the Guinness Book of Records Worlds Youngest Chef and the two travelled the world cooking and inspiring others. This launched Rick in to the Television and Media industry.

The pair appeared on almost every national television show venue from Good Morning America, David Letterman, Disney, to the Food Network. Rick also became a research chef for many national brands like Westinghouse, Rival's Crock -Pot, Cattlemen's, BBQ sauce, Kraft Foods, and VacuWare to just name a few. In addition he now appears regularly on HSN ( Home Shopping Channel ) and The Shopping Channel Canada as well as National Infomercials and Tradeshows.

Chef Rick has experience in many media outlets, live appearances, press tours, news shows, morning shows, radio, infomercials, cook books, and currently co-hosts a cable cooking show called You Won't Even Miss it. He worked with Celebrities like the late Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse, Jarred Fogle from Subway and Martin Yen. He is sought after for recipe development by food companies and supermarkets. He develops many of the free recipes you pick up at the grocery store and tours supermarkets regularly teaching customers recipes and how to enhance their meals to get out of the "Food RUT". You can see him at Hannaford's, ACME, Lowes, Sweet Bay and Shaw's. He also endorsees his own line of products called Chef Rick Spices, Chef Rick Seafood , Proware Professional Kitchen Products and Bold Chef. He does product development for companies like All-Clad , Williams Sonoma and Westinghouse.

Go to www.myrastellidirect.com/chefrick!

2/11 Tom Dreesen

Tom Dreesen’s life is equal parts comedy and philanthropy. He excels at both, and has created an extraordinary legacy in both arenas.

Dreesen has made over 500 appearances on national television as a stand-up comedian, including more that 60 appearances on The Tonight Show. He is a favorite guest of David Letterman, and frequently hosts the show in Letterman’s absence. For 13 years he toured cross country and opened for Frank Sinatra, and has appeared countless times in Las Vegas, Tahoe, Reno and Atlantic City with artists like Smokey Robinson, Liza Minnelli, Natalie Cole and Sammy Davis, Jr. Tom has acted in numerous television shows – from Columbo to Murder She Wrote – and appeared in motion pictures including Man on the Moon and Spaceballs. He has recorded comedy albums, starred in his own TV comedy special, Dreesen Street, and hosted a late night talk show in Chicago, Night Time Starring Tom Dreesen.

He is currently appearing to rave reviews around the country in his one-man show “An Evening Of Laughter and Memories of Sinatra.”

Dreesen’s comic style is down-to-earth, warm and unpretentious. Daily Variety called him “a thorough pro… one of the most respected family comedians of our time.” Larry Wilde ,author of The Great Comedians said about Tom’s performances. “Excellent Material, Impeccable Timing, Tom Dreesen is the Quintessential Comedian.” Frank Sinatra, who called himself a “saloon singer,” characterized Dreesen as a “saloon comedian.” “We’re a couple of neighborhood kind of guys,” said Sinatra.

Dreesen has also made an indelible mark with his philanthropic activities. For 30 years he has lent his talent to over 100 charities, and founded a “Day for Darlene” to benefit Multiple Sclerosis Research. He ran 26 miles on three occasions for the event, which is named for his late sister who was afflicted with MS.

And he’s still going strong. A proud veteran of the United States Navy, he continues to perform for US troops all over the world, and recently appeared at numerous bases in Iraq. Tom Dreesen’s hometown of Harvey, Illinois named a street after him. He was a 2005 recipient of the Ellis Island
 Medal of Honor.

For upcoming show info go to: tomdreesen.com

02/04 Connie Stevens

Connie Stevens (born August 8, 1938) is an American actress and singer, better known for her roles in the television series Hawaiian Eye and other TV and film work.

Early life
She was born Concetta Rosalie Ann Ingoglia in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Peter Ingoglia (known as musician Teddy Stevens) and singer Eleanor McGinley.

She adopted her father's stage name of Stevens as her own. Her parents were divorced and she lived with grandparents. and attended Catholicboarding schools. Actor John Megna was her half-brother. At the age of twelve, she witnessed a murder in Brooklyn and was sent to live inBoonville, Missouri, with family friends.

Coming from a musical family, she joined the singing group called The Fourmost, in which the other three vocalists (Tony Butala, Jim Pike, and Gary Pike) — all males — went on to fame as The Lettermen. In 1953, Stevens moved to Los Angeles with her father. When she was 16, she replaced the alto in a singing group, The Three Debs. She enrolled at a professional school (The Georgia Massey Professional School in the San Fernando Valley), sang professionally and appeared in local repertory theater.

Career
Stevens started working as a movie extra. After she'd appeared in four B movies, Jerry Lewis saw her in Dragstrip Riot and cast her in Rock-A-Bye Baby. Soon after that, she signed a contract with Warner Brothers.

She played 'Cricket Blake' in the popular television detective series Hawaiian Eye from 1959 to 1963, a role that made her famous; her principal costar was Robert Conrad. In a televised interview on August 26, 2003, on CNN's Larry King Live, Stevens recounted that while on the set of Hawaiian Eye she was told she had a telephone call from Elvis Presley. "She didn't believe it, but in fact it was Elvis, who invited her to a party and said that he would come to her house and pick her up personally"; they subsequently dated.

Her first album was titled Concetta (1958). She had minor single hits with the standards "Blame It On My Youth" (music by Oscar Levant and lyrics byEdward Heyman), "Looking For A Boy" (music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin), and "Spring Is Here" (music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart). She appeared opposite James Garner in a comedy episode of the TV Western series Maverick entitled "Two Tickets to Ten Strike," and after making several appearances on the Warner Bros. hit TV series 77 Sunset Strip, she recorded the hit novelty song "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb" (1959), a duet with one of the stars of the program, Edd Byrnes, that reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. She and Byrnes also appeared together on ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom. Stevens also had hit singles as a solo artist with "Sixteen Reasons" (1960), her biggest hit, reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, (#9 in the UK) and a minor #71 hit "Too Young to Go Steady" (1960) (music by Jimmy McHugh and lyrics byHarold Adamson). Other single releases were "Why'd You Wanna Make Me Cry?", "Mr. Songwriter", and "Now That You've Gone".

She later starred as Wendy Conway in the television sitcom Wendy and Me (1964–1965) with George Burns, who also produced the show and played an older man who watched Wendy's exploits upstairs on the TV in his apartment, periodically commenting to the viewers about what he saw. Her other Wendy and Me costars were Ron Harper, James T. Callahan and character actor J. Pat O'Malley.

She starred in the Broadway production of Neil Simon's The Star-Spangled Girl with Anthony Perkins in 1966. She appeared in stage productions insummer stock, including The Wizard of Oz, Carousel Theatre, California and Any Wednesday, Melodyland, Anaheim, California.

In the 1970s Stevens started singing the Ace Is The Place theme song on Ace Hardware TV commercials in Southern California, and was a guest onThe Dean Martin Celebrity Roast a few times. Her risque 1976 action movie Scorchy has never been released on DVD. In the spring of 1977 Stevens appeared in one of the two pilots for The Muppet Show. She also was seen numerous times on the Bob Hope USO specials, including his Christmas Show from the Persian Gulf (1988).

Other projects
In 1987 she toured, along with Barbara Eden and Lee Greenwood, with Bob Hope on his USO tour to the Persian Gulf. Among her charitable works, she founded the Windfeather project to award scholarships to Native Americans, and supports CancerGroup.com. In 1991 Stevens received the Lady of Humanities Award from Shriners Hospital and the Humanitarian of the Year Award by the Sons of Italy in Washington, DC.

Stevens developed her own cosmetic skin care product line, Forever Spring, and in the 1990s opened the Connie Stevens Garden Sanctuary Day Spa in Los Angeles.

In 1994 she issued her first recording in several years, Tradition: A Family at Christmas, along with her two daughters.

In 1997 Stevens wrote, edited, and directed a documentary entitled A Healing, about Red Cross nurses who served during the Vietnam War. The following year it won the title of Best Film at the Santa Clarita International Film Festival.
She has also made nightclub appearances and headlined in major Las Vegas showrooms. She was an occasional guest panelist on Match Game.

Her feature-length directorial debut, Saving Grace B. Jones, was released in 2009.

Personal life
Stevens has been married twice: her first was to actor James Stacy from 1963 until their 1967 divorce; her second was to singer Eddie Fisher from 1967 until their 1969 divorce. She is the mother of actresses Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher.

She maintains homes in Beverly Hills, Palm Springs; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; and New York City.

Stevens has a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars in Palm Springs, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6249 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood and a star on the Italian Walk of Fame in Toronto, Canada.

On September 23, 2005, Stevens was elected secretary-treasurer of the Screen Actors' Guild. This is the union's second-highest elected position. She succeeded James Cromwell, who did not seek re-election.

Stevens has contributed thousands of dollars over the years to the Republican Party, including donations to the Republican Congressional Committee and to both of Arizona Senator John McCain's runs for president.

On June 29, 2013 the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution's President General, Merry Ann Wright, presented Connie with the Founder's Medal for Patriotism, for her 40+ years of work with the USO. She was applauded by more than 1,200 Daughters.

www.conniestevens.net
en.wikipedia.org