Kaye Stevens

Kaye Stevens was born July 21, 1932 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kaye's 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 near Las Vegas, Nevada. One of these shows includes the Frank Sinatra Spectacular TV Show. Kaye went onto appearing on multiple TV game shows including Match Game, Hollywood Squares, Celebrity Sweepstakes, The Price is Right, and Password.

Acting:

In addition to appearing and starring in many TV shows and game shows, Kaye was a famous movie actress. She started out in the 1962 movie The Interns, where she played the character Didi Loomis, and its 1964 sequel, The New Interns.

In 1963 Kaye appeared in the film, The Man from the Diners Club. 1975 brought yet another movie, Lets Switch!

A more famously known movie that Kaye appeared in was the 1983 film Jaws 3. Kaye's most recent film is Miss America: Behind the Crown where she plays Monica. This movie was based on the true story of Miss America pageant winner Carolyn Sapp. It goes behind-the-scenes to take a look at her abusive relationship with her boyfriend and what really goes on during the Miss America pageant.

Filmography

Vietnam

Kaye Stevens’ life is full of meaningful accomplishments. One such event was a USO tour with Bob Hope in 1965. She traveled to Vietnam with Hope and a group of fellow entertainers in the hopes of boosting the morale of thousands of American soldiers.

Kaye’s performances helped young soldiers forget about the war and think of home, but it came at a costly toll for Kaye. She was horrified at what she saw over there while performing for those soldiers. Kaye is quoted as saying, “I came back in 1965 and my life was in shambles because of what I saw.” She returned a different person and battled post traumatic stress syndrome. Kaye says she “blacked out” for twenty years, from 1965 to 1985. In that time she became an alcoholic unable to stop drinking champagne, her drink of choice. She divorced her husband and even became suicidal. It wasn’t until 1985 that she finally made a call to N-E-W-H-O-P-E, a telephone counseling service. That call changed her life for the better and she found a new faith in Jesus and has since started her own ministry.

The Brewer Christian College and Graduate Schools (FL) recently awarded Kaye with a Doctor of Humane Letters for numerous humanitarian efforts as well as her role in supporting the US soldiers in Vietnam with Bob Hope’s USO tour.

inging career

After Kaye’s big break at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, she went from singing to small audiences to singing sold out audiences in New York City, Miami and Los Angeles. From there Kaye went on tour with “The Rat Pack”, Johnny Carson and Bob Hope. She has also starred in many Broadway shows such as Mame, Follies, Unsinkable Molly Brown, Sweet Thursday, Where’s Charlie, Destry Rides Again, Annie Get Your Gun, Little Me, Applause, Nunsense and Gypsy. In her role on NBC’s Emmy award winning daytime drama “Days of Our Lives” Kaye was the first to introduce a new song “You Light Up My Life” to the television audience. Her new song was a huge success and soon after Kaye decided that she had to write new songs and create an album. “I knew then that if I got the kind of response from one song, I had to do an album of inspirational, motivational, spiritual-pop music” (Kaye Stevens). On July 7, 1994, Kaye got a chance of a lifetime, Neva Penner, programmer for Dr. Robert Schuller’s “Hour of Power” television ministries wanted Kaye to appear and sing on a show. On the date of Kaye’s singing debut over 30 million viewers tuned in to watch Kaye sing. To this day Kaye continues to bless churches, groups and organizations with her heavenly songs.

Albums:

“Ruckus at the Rivera” –Columbia/Records“Kaye Stevens Live at the Copa” – Liberty Records“Not So Great Songs from Not So Great Movies” –Liberty Records“Playgirls” –Liberty Records“The Grass Will Sing For You” –Liberty Records“The Temptation Shows guest starring Kaye Stevens” –Motown RecordsSingles:“You Brought Me Back To Love Again” –Sun Records“Someone Must Have Hurt You A Lot” –Capital Records“Friends are Friends Forever” –NLT Records“I’m Going Back to Tennessee” –NLT Records

You can order Kaye Stevens’ albums from this website []

Where Is She Now

Ms. Stevens gave one of her biggest performances at the twilight of her professional career. The “Hour of Power”, a television station for Christian ministries, asked Ms. Stevens to appear on the show, which was to be taped Oct 16, 1994. Over 30 million viewers tuned in to watch the show, which was aired on national television.

Stevens continues to be a philanthropist, volunteer, and speaker for the Christian ministries. She has been recognized by the Brewer Christian College for her accomplishments in spreading the Christian faith.

In her later years, Ms. Stevens has retired to Summerfield, Florida.

Works Cited

"Actress Kaye Stevens Receives Honorary Doctorate ." Brewer Christian College Online News. Brewer Christian College and Graduate School. 31 Mar 2007 .

"Biography for Kaye Stevens." IMDb. IMDb. 31 Mar 2007 .

"Kaye Stevens." The New York Times 2007. 7 Mar. 2007
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Stevens, Kaye. "Introducing Kaye Stevens." KAYE STEVENS. 2006. 7Mar. 2007 []