Nino Tempo, Who Topped the Charts With ‘Deep Purple,’ Dies at 90
He was a busy session saxophonist, but he is probably best known for the Grammy-winning pop hit that he sang in 1963 as half of a duo act with his sister, April Stevens.Nino Tempo, an accomplished tenor saxophonist whose harmonious foray into pop singing with his sister, April Stevens, produced a chart-topping, Grammy-winning version of “Deep Purple” in 1963, died on April 10 at his home in West Hollywood, Calif. He was 90.The death was confirmed on Tuesday by his friend Jim Chaffin.Mr. Tempo’s career traced an early arc of pop music, from big-band jazz to the rise of rock and funk, before boomeranging back to jazz in the 1990s. As a child he sang with Benny Goodman’s orchestra; he later played saxophone on records by Bobby Darin and Frank Sinatra; and he released a funk album, with a studio band called Nino Tempo & 5th Ave. Sax, during the genre’s ascent in the 1970s.But to many aficionados of 1960s pop music, what rings out in memory is his harmonizing with his sister on “Deep Purple,” a jazz standard originally written for piano by Peter DeRose, with lyrics later added by Mitchell Parish.“Deep Purple” was recorded in 14 minutes and originally considered “unreleasable” by Atlantic Records executives, Mr. Tempo recalled. It was released in September 1963 and reached No. 1 two months later.Atco, via Vinyls/AlamyThe song, given a laid-back arrangement by Mr. Tempo and played by a studio ensemble that included Glen Campbell on guitar, was recorded in just 14 minutes at the end of a session produced by Ahmet Ertegun, a founder of Atlantic Records, who had signed Mr. Tempo and Ms. Stevens to his Atco Records imprint.In one part of “Deep Purple,” Ms. Stevens speaks the refrain and Mr. Tempo sings it back in falsetto:“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.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
