"Steve has the most unbelievable range for a man that I've ever heard"
About this Quote
Praise like this is doing two jobs at once: celebrating Steve’s voice, and quietly policing the expectations that surround it. When Eydie Gorme says, "Steve has the most unbelievable range for a man that I've ever heard", the compliment lands with the kind of old-school showbiz authority you can’t fake. Gorme wasn’t a casual fan; she was a consummate vocalist with a working musician’s ear, the sort of performer who knows how hard it is to make extreme notes sound effortless.
The phrase "for a man" is the tell. It’s both a benchmark and a backhanded category label, revealing how gendered vocal assumptions were baked into pop and traditional standards: men are supposed to live in a narrower corridor, sell the melody with steadiness, not acrobatics. By framing Steve’s range as "unbelievable", she’s signaling that he’s breaking a tacit rule of the era’s mainstream singing - not just hitting notes, but expanding what male vocal virtuosity can look like without losing warmth or credibility.
There’s also a strategic generosity in the wording. Gorme doesn’t say he’s the best, period; she says he’s the most unbelievable she’s ever heard. That personalizes the superlative and makes it feel less like hype, more like astonished testimony. In a business where reputations are built on who vouches for you, her line functions as a co-sign: an insider’s stamp that elevates Steve from "talented" to anomalous, the rare performer whose instrument forces even veterans to recalibrate their standards.
The phrase "for a man" is the tell. It’s both a benchmark and a backhanded category label, revealing how gendered vocal assumptions were baked into pop and traditional standards: men are supposed to live in a narrower corridor, sell the melody with steadiness, not acrobatics. By framing Steve’s range as "unbelievable", she’s signaling that he’s breaking a tacit rule of the era’s mainstream singing - not just hitting notes, but expanding what male vocal virtuosity can look like without losing warmth or credibility.
There’s also a strategic generosity in the wording. Gorme doesn’t say he’s the best, period; she says he’s the most unbelievable she’s ever heard. That personalizes the superlative and makes it feel less like hype, more like astonished testimony. In a business where reputations are built on who vouches for you, her line functions as a co-sign: an insider’s stamp that elevates Steve from "talented" to anomalous, the rare performer whose instrument forces even veterans to recalibrate their standards.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
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