Kaye Stevens (July 21, 1932 – December 28, 2011) was an American singer and actress.Born Catherine Louise Stephens, her big break in show business came at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, when the headliner for the night, Debbie Reynolds, became ill and Stevens filled in for the night. She then went on to do small shows at the Plaza Hotel's Persian Room, New York's Waldorf Astoria, and Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. She went on to appear on such television game shows as Match Game, Hollywood Squares, Celebrity Sweepstakes, The Price is Right, and Password.
Moved from Pittsburgh to Cleveland where she first performed as a singer and a drummer.
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Former husband Tommy Amato was a bandleader and trumpet player. They performed together in clubs throughout the East.
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In later years she started a Christian ministry and devoted herself to that in Margate Florida.
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Got her first big career boost while performing in a lounge at the Riviera Hotel in Vegas when headliner Debbie Reynolds took ill and Kaye subbed for her.
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Starred in such musicals as Mame, Gypsy, The Unsinkable Molly Brown and Annie Get Your Gun.
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Turned to religion following a period of alcoholism that damaged her career and ended her marriage.
While performing for troops in Vietnam, she gave each serviceman a pair of her trademark elbow-length gloves, telling them that, if they presented them anywhere where she was performing, their whole evening would be on her. Over the past 40 years, she has gotten almost two-thirds of those gloves back from grateful former servicemen.
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Her 1962 album on Liberty Records, "(Not So) Great Songs (Which Were Left Out of) Great Movies (For Obvious Reasons)," includes such truly bizarre (but funny!) songs as "Splendor in the Grass (or, Lawn Parties Can Be Fun)," "Frankenstein (in 3/4 Time)," and "Judgement at Nuremburg (or, A Hun and His Honeybun)."
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