Mel Torme—”April Showers”

Another classic song about this time of year is “April Showers,” written for the 1921 Broadway musical “Bombo” by two men from New York City: composer Louis “Lou” Silvers (1889-1954) and songwriter George Gard “Buddy” DeSylva (1895-1950). Here it is sung by Mel Tormé in a Los Angeles studio in 1950, with a trio led by Al Pellegrini on piano. The harpist is probably June Weiland.

Singer, actor, author, composer, arranger, drummer and pianist Melvin Howard Torme (1925-1999) was extraordinarily versatile, but he will primarily be remembered as one of the supreme popular vocalists of the last century, a superb song stylist equally persuasive handling tender love-songs, swinging rhythm numbers or giving a cool jazz sound to the best of popular song.

Torme (his surname originally had no accent) was born on the South Side of Chicago from Jewish-Russian parents whose name had been changed from Torma to Torme by an immigration agent.

Mel's father was a grocer, but his musical talents were promoted by his mother, who demonstrated sheet-music in Woolworth’s and taught her young son new songs as they came out. Mel later cited as other influences the radio, to which he was “addicted,” and the woman who used to look after him during the week but played barrel-house piano with an all-girl band at weekends. As a child Mel proved adept at various musical instruments before concentrating upon singing.

“Sure! I sang with Coon-Sanders band at the Blackhawk Restaurant in Chicago when I was 4!” Mel later recalled the moment he fell in love with the microphone.

Mel’s family had taken him there for dinner, and Mel sang along at his table. During intermission, he was invited by band drummer Carlton Coon to sing a number with the band. His rendition of “You’re Driving Me Crazy” was so cute that it earned the Torme tod a steady Monday night gig at $15 a week, which made his parents realize they had a real performer in the family.

It was while seated on the drummer Carlton Coon’s knee that Torme decided he also wanted to play the drums. By the age of six, he was a regular vaudeville performer at weekends, his income helping support the family during the worst of the Depression, and until his voice changed he was one of the busiest child actors on radio.

From that time with Coon-Sanders on, Mel’s parents did everything possible to encourage their son's music talents, and Mel found himself a member of the high school orchestra and glee club, doing radio work, and composing music which he sold.

At Hyde Park School in Chicago Mel played drums in the school band, and at 15 composed his first song, the Ellingtonian “Lament for Love,” which became a hit in 1941 when recorded by Harry James.

Tormé (he had now added an accent) left high school in 1942 when the veteran bandleader Ben Pollack offered him a job drumming and singing with the Chico Marx band (actually formed and led by Pollack). At only 17 Mel was rewarded with a Hollywood contract and made his screen debut in “Higher and Higher.”

Before he was 21 Mel Tormé, who was about medium height, had reddish-blond, curly hair, and blue eyes, was considered a young genius in the music world by elder listeners as well as a teen-idol making a big hit with the bobby-soxers who were “mad for Mel” now. In 1947 he went within a year from earning $150 a week to taking down about $250,000 a year.

That year Mel Tormé rose to national prominence when he started a coast-to-coast 15-minute Saturday afternoon radio show at $1000 weekly. He sang three songs on the weekly NBC program and “Out of Nowhere” became Mel’s theme song for “Tormé Time,” which was sent to the listeners by Toni Home Permanent.

After these successful beginnings followed a rich career of the man that was called a “musician’s singer” and who never lost sight of his jazz roots.

By the end of his life Mel Torme had written some 300 songs, of which “The Christmas Song” is the most successful one. Mel Torme liked to recall that the song was written in just 40 minutes on a sweltering July afternoon in Los Angeles and that it had subsequently been recorded in 1,734 versions.

For an overview of Mel Tormé's entire career and a full discography visit www.meltorme.com