Sylvia Blagman was born in Brooklyn, New York. She had polio as a child.
She went to jazz nightclubs on New York’s 52nd Street as a teenager and received informal training from Billie Holiday. She made her debut at Kelly’s Stable in 1941.
Mae West saw her perform at the Cinderella Club in Greenwich Village in 1948 and offered her a part in a show she was doing. Frank Sinatra, who saw her in nightclubs, thought she was the “world’s greatest saloon singer.” Syms by Sinatra, Sinatra’s 1982 album, was conducted by Sinatra.
Decca Records signed her to a contract, and she achieved major success with a recording of “I Could Have Danced All Night” in 1956, which sold over one million copies and earned her a gold disc. Syms was a regular at the Carlyle in Manhattan. Occasionally, while sipping a cocktail in Carlyle’s bar, she would walk on stage and perform with the cabaret’s other regular, Bobby Short.
Sylvia Syms cause of death: How did Sylvia Syms die?
Around 1972, Syms had a lung removed. Despite the operation, she was able to perform as Bloody Mary in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific at the Chateau de Ville Dinner Theater.
On May 10, 1992, she died of a heart attack while performing in the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel in New York City. She was 74 years old at the time.
