April Stevens

The month of April introduces many things. It is the month that brings baseball . . . the fishing season . . . the showers that bring May flowers . . . Springtime's first balmy days . . . violets poking their heads above the thawing earth . . . planting of the seeds that will mean lush harvests in the Fall . . . break-ups of the ice jam to bring life to Northern ports.

April has introduced many celebrities into the world -- Marlon Brando, Sir Thomas Beecham, Doris Day, Ludwig Bemelmans, Bette Davis, Duke Ellington, Queen Elizabeth, Melvyn Douglas, among others, and, on the last day of one particular April, a petite young lady appropriately named April.

April Stevens introduced herself to show business while still a teenager in her hometown of Niagara Falls, where she sang at local church affairs, at a nightclub owned by an uncle and over two radio stations in Buffalo. The attractive, raven-tressed beauty continued her vocal studies when she moved to Hollywood with her family and soon attracted sufficient attention that she cut her first record for two independent companies. This was to get April her first real break.

April has introduced a new style of sexy singing to the music world, but her natural naivete prevents her from understanding the excitement over it. "Everybody tells me my singing sounds sexy," she said, "I really don't know why. I've been singing like that all my life, since I was seven." But a comment from one of her many fan letters explains her appeal best. "Your voice sounds as though you had a throat full of angora sweaters," the letter reads. "Other girl vocalists sing, but you actually actually talk to a guy and boy, the things you say!"

Miss Stevens was introduced to Henri Rene, West Coast head of Artist and Repertoire for a major label, through these records. He was so impressed that he immediately signed her to record. That started it.

She introduced the record "I'm In Love Again" and within the incredibly short space of four weeks it was the nation's top seller. Disk Jockeys, music critics and record buyers throughout the country fell under the hypnotic spell of April's breathy, alluring, sensuous voice. One success led to another and soon she had a string of best sellers on jukeboxes, radio stations and record counters everywhere.

Since April introduced the song, it was only fair turnabout that the song should serve to introduce April to the country's leading theatres and nightclubs. And between these engagements that kept her hopping about the country to sing for audiences who wanted to see this "sexy siren" in person, the shy, modest, overwhelmed April had her choice of television appearances.

Miss Stevens was introduced to her arranger and conductor when she signed to record this, her first album, for Imperial Records. She was not surprised to discover he was the same Henri Rene. So together they set out to recapture the magic that sparked their first successful venture. We think that in this album, "Teach Me Tiger", they have more than recaptured it.

© Imperial Records

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