Pop Music

It is not unusual in this first era of rock and roll to look at songs from earlier decades in a new way. It gives new sparkle to golden oldies. One such example is “Deep Purple” by Nino Tempo and April Stevens. Peter DeRose wrote “Deep Purple” as a piano composition in the 1930s. It became very popular, and Mitchell Parish added lyrics a few years later. In 1963, this version by siblings Nino Tempo and April Stevens went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won the Grammy Award for Best Rock and Roll Record. The way April Stevens speaks the lyrics adds to the feeling of a love now gone. The record sold more than one million copies and earned them an RIAA gold record.

Nino Tempo was born Antonino LoTempio in Niagara Falls, New York, in 1935. He is a musician, singer, and actor. Tempo is known for his jazz clarinet and tenor saxophone playing. He has appeared in the films The Red Pony, The Glenn Miller Story, and Operation Petticoat. He was worked with Maynard Ferguson, the Modern Jazz Quarter, and as a member of The Wrecking Crew session musicians for Phil Spector.

April Stevens, born Carol LoTempio in Niagara Falls, New York, in 1936. started recording when she was just a teenager. At 15, she recorded Cole Porter’s “I’m in Love Again” with the Henri René Orchestra, which went to #6 on the U.S. Pop Chart. She also had success with “Whispering,” “All Strung Out,” “The Coldest Night of the Year,” and “Wanting You.

Here are the lyrics to “Deep Purple” by Nino Tempo and April Stevens:

“Oh oh oh whoah oh uh whoah oh oh

When the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls
And the stars begin to twinkle in the night
In the mist of a memory, you wander on back to me
Breathing my name with a sigh-igh-yigh

In the still of the night once again I hold you tight
Though you’re gone, your love lives on when moonlight beams
And as long as my heart will beat, sweet lover, we’ll always meet
Here in my deep purple dreams

When the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls
And the stars begin to twinkle in the night
In the mist of a memory, you wander back to me
Breathing my name with a sigh-igh-yigh

In the still of the night once again I hold you tight
Though you’re gone, your love lives on when moonlight beams
And as long as my heart will beat, sweet lover, we’ll always meet
Here in my deep purple dreams

And as long as my heart will beat, sweet lover, we’ll always meet
Here in my deep purple dreams”

If you are interested in an album by Nino Tempo and April Stevens, please click on the photo below:

For More Golden Oldies Music

The Daily Doo Wop Rec Room has daily featured doo wop music, rock and roll hits, R&B, or rockabilly songs that were hits during the first era of rock and roll (that is, from about 1952 until the British invasion in 1964). After a song is featured, it then goes into the juke box. You are welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections there. Every weekend, there is a Golden Oldies Juke Box Saturday Night, and the juke box is full of song requests from the 1950s and 1960s.

Please click here for the Daily Doo Wop YouTube channel, to which you can subscribe. Thank you for stopping by The Daily Doo Wop. Hope you enjoyed “Deep Purple” by Nino Tempo and April Stevens.