Multi-instrument musician and singer Nino Tempo, 90, died on April 12. He and his sister, April Stevens (who died in 2023) won a 1964 Grammy for their jazzy recording of "Deep Purple,” and Tempo began playing with the Wrecking Crew and Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound, the famed session musicians in 1960s-70s L.A. (“I played saxophone, piano, percussion or singing in the background; I did everything. I was there to help.”). Tempo was also an actor (usually in small roles or as himself) in such films and TV shows as The Girl Can’t Help It, The Red Pony, Johnny Trouble, Peter Gunn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and Route 66. Tempo told interviewer George W. Harris in 2018, “I started becoming known as a jazz player, but you starve. So, when the opportunity came to play in the studios, arranger Jimmie Haskell heard me play and he said ‘Bobby Darin has a session coming up.’ So I said, ‘Sure!’ It was money! It was $50 for a three-hour session, and that was big money.” He also recalled that producer Ahmet Ertugun “asked me what I wanted to do, and I started playing tenor and with my sister April Stevens singing with me, and he didn’t like it. He said with a very stern voice ‘The most popular music in the world is rock and roll. Don’t give me any of this good music stuff; I want to sell records.’”
Nino and April sing “Deep Purple” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KwIYxXDLMA
