Born in Greensboro, North Carolina, Lavine completed classical studies and earned an opera degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. During the 1970s and 1980s she performed at prominent clubs and concert venues, concentrating on New York and additional East Coast cities. She took part in the Ladies Of Off-Broadway series and joined a Kennedy Center salute to George Gershwin. Tribute programs devoted to Harold Arlen and Stephen Sondheim formed segments of the Citicorp Salute to Great American Songwriters, which in turn led to a booking aboard the SS Rotterdam on one of its global cruises. In 2001 Lavine received Bistro magazine’s Outstanding Vocalist honor together with the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs Female Vocalist Award for the productions This Is No Dream and Dancing; she also earned a Nightlife Award nomination as Outstanding Cabaret Female Vocalist for Simply Lavine. On Broadway she served as standby or understudy for Judy Kaye in Songbook: A Tribute To Mooney Shapiro, for Betty Buckley and Barbara Cook in Carrie, and for Teresa Stratas in Rags, where she appears as Rosa on the original cast album. Additional stage credits include numerous regional-theatre engagements across the United States. Her interpretations remain eloquent and fully convey the atmosphere of each selected piece.
