April Byron
| April Byron | |
|---|---|
 April Byron 1982 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | April Elizabeth Dove Potts |
| Born |
22 March 1947 Warburton, Victoria, Australia |
| Genres | Rock, pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, keyboard |
| Years active | 1960–present |
| Labels | Festival, Leedon, CBS/ARC, Down Under Label |
| Associated acts | The Bee Gees, Johnny O'Keefe, Johnny Farnham, Beeb Birtles (Little River Band), John Farrar, Olivia Newton-John |
| Website |
www |
April Byron (real name April Elizabeth Dove Potts) was born 22 March 1947, in Warburton, Victoria, Australia. April is an award-winning Australian pop/rock pioneer. She is a singer, songwriter and actress, and is the first chart-topping female artist to collaborate with the Bee Gees (April's 1966 single 'He's a Thief/A Long Time Ago').[1]
April is the 9th great niece of Roger Williams, founder of Providence, Rhode Island and the First Baptist Church in America and is the great-great-granddaughter of Lady Caroline Gardiner (Garner), Lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria,[2]
Early life and career
April's career began at 12 years old in 1960, while attending St. Peters Collegiate Girls School in Adelaide, South Australia. Her earliest employers/mentors include Rupert Murdoch ('Seventeeners', 'Sing Sing Sing', 'Studio A'), Clyde Packer ('Woodie's Teen Time', 'Bandstand'), producer/songwriter Nat Kipner, and Australian rock legend Johnny O'Keefe. Her personal manager during her early career in Adelaide, South Australia was her Mother, Jean Potts. Her road manager and photographer was her brother, Australian filmmaker Ted Potts. Her then business managers were Ron Tremaine (the Australian entrepreneur responsible for bringing The Beatles to Adelaide in 1964) and his wife Patricia Tremaine (née Morris, Miss South Australia 1959). April relocated to Melbourne in 1963 to play the Ivan Dayman dance circuit, including Festival Hall and the Palais St. Kilda, with other Australian teenage pop pioneers including Normie Rowe, Olivia Newton-John and Bobby and Laurie. Always told she looked like the young Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet, April was often referred to as 'Australia's Liz Taylor'.[3][4] April's first recording on Festival's Leedon Label, 'Make the World Go Away', won the 3UZ (Melbourne) Golden Sound Award 1963–64 for best-produced song in Australia. April was also awarded the 5KA (Adelaide) Best Female Artist Award 1964–65. During this time, April's image appeared under Coca-Cola bottle caps in Australia.[5]
Music career
In 1964, Everybody's Magazine's headline read 'Oh, to be in Melbourne, NOW THAT APRIL'S THERE' – heralding April's Golden Sound Award and focusing the Australian pop industry on Melbourne. April's award plus The Go!! Show, where April was resident female star of the first season, set the cornerstone for the second wave of pop/rock in Australia that began in Melbourne at that time and produced the next Australian 'king of pop', Normie Rowe.[5] April was touted as being "second only to The Beatles"[3] – 'Make the World Go Away' stayed near the top of the charts for many weeks in several States, but the Beatles occupied the top four or five spots due to their global mass-popularity and 1964 Australian tour.
April's manager at this time was Horrie Dargie, head of DYT Productions, which produced The Go!! Show.. Olivia Newton-John was one of the new artists introduced during the first season of the show. John Farrar, then guitarist of The Strangers was musical coordinator. After the first season of The Go!! Show, April was let go by DYT Productions due to her condition. She was 16 years old, pregnant, and determined to have (and keep) her child despite her unmarried status.[3]
April immediately moved to Sydney, where she and her family were supported by promoter Ivan Dayman, and later the Jacobsen Agency. After her daughter (Cinderella) was born, April joined Johnny O'Keefe, Dinah Lee, and Max Merritt and the Meteors on the Johnny O'Keefe/Jacobsen Agency train tour of New South Wales and Queensland.[6] In Sydney, April played the RSL and Leagues clubs, the Motor Club and other major venues, television shows (Don Lane Show, Studio A, Paul Hogan Show, etc.) and performed with Helen Reddy, Dudley Moore, Peter Allen, John Rowles, young guitarist Rick Springfield, and toured with the Mills Brothers. It was during this time in Sydney that April first collaborated with the Bee Gees, Nat Kipner, and Ossie Byrne at the now-historic St. Clair Studio, Hurstville.[1][4][7] In early 1969, April toured Central Australia – New South Wales and Queensland – with Johnny Farnham and later played venues in Brisbane and the Gold Coast with The Masters Apprentices (whose bass player Glenn Wheatley later became manager of The Little River Band). April's second daughter, Candy, was born in October 1969 at Southport on Australia's Gold Coast.
During the 1970s April travelled from her Gold Coast home to do shows all over Australia and was awarded Queensland Entertainer of the Year 1974–75.[8] In 1977, April joined Johnny O'Keefe and the cast of "The Return of J.O.K and the Good Ol' Days of Rock n' Roll" at the St. George's Leagues Club.[9]
Work with the Bee Gees
In 1965–66, when April was the current recipient of the 5KA Best Female Artist Award and Barry Gibb was the current 5KA Songwriter of the Year Award recipient (his first songwriting award), April collaborated on a single with the Bee Gees, then also in their teens. The single, 'A Long Time Ago/He's a Thief',[10] began the Gibb's renowned succession of collaborations with charting/award-winning pop divas (Samantha Sang, Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Dolly Parton, Celine Dion). In 1982, April again began a collaboration with the brothers in the United States at their famed Middle Ear Studio in Miami Beach, FL, and was present during the recording of Dionne Warwick's 'Heartbreaker' album, and Kenny Rogers' 'Eyes That See in the Dark' album, produced by the brothers. April was given songs by the Bee Gees ('Falling in Love With You' and 'Don't Forget to Remember Me') which she later recorded in Music City, Nashville, TN, but were never released .[11]
Film career in the United States
April left Australia with her family in 1978 to pursue a film career in the US. She had been seriously considered by casting director Mary Selway for the role of Lois Lane in the 1978 film 'Superman'. Due to this near-casting, her agent/manager at that time in Los Angeles, Clyde Packer, submitted April for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in the Zanuck/Brown 'Continuation of Gone With the Wind'. However, the movie project was shelved in 1982.[4]
April continued her singing career, touring throughout the US, playing venues including the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas, The Sheraton Resort Hotel in Miami Beach, FL, and Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar in Nashville, TN.
Personal life
April has two daughters, Cinderella Abrams (née Potts) and Candy Potts, and four grandchildren – Ashenputtel (Ashlee) Abrams, Melanie Abrams, Emmalee Rainbow Abrams, and Kingsley Knecht.
April's first daughter Cinderella (stage name Cindy Byron), at 9 years of age, became one of the youngest stars of the 1970s Australian nationwide children's television series Happy Go 'Round (QTQ-9 Brisbane, Queensland). The show was produced by Paul Sharratt and hosted by Jacki McDonald.
April's second daughter Candy starred in VH1's hit reality show 'Saddle Ranch' in 2011–12.[12][13]
April's granddaughter Ashenputtel owns Beverly Hills Princess, L.A's premier princess party company.
April currently resides in Beverly Hills, CA, where she manages the entertainment careers of daughter Candy and granddaughters Ashenputtel,[14] Melanie, and Emmalee Rainbow.[15]
Discography
- Make the World Go Away/He's My Bobby – 1964
- What's A Girl to Do/Listen Closely – 1965
- He's a Thief/A Long Time Ago – 1966
- See You Sam/You Go Ahead Baby – 1967
References
- 1 2 "Gibb Songs – 1966".
- ↑ Demoskoff, Yvonne. "Queen Victoria's Ladies-in-Waiting".
- 1 2 3 Butler, Chris (1977). "A Star Reappears in April". The Daily Telegraph.
- 1 2 3 Casey, Bill. "The Down Under Label 1966". Hurstville City Library Museum Gallery.
- 1 2 "Oh to be in Melbourne, now that April's there!". Everybody's. 12 August 1964.
- ↑ "April Faces Up to June". The Daily Telegraph. 29 June 1977.
- ↑ "Hurstville City Council – The St. Clair Studio".
- ↑ Hampson, Frank (1974). "At Five April Knew What She Wanted". Gold Coast Bulletin.
- ↑ "April Faces Up to July". The Daily Telegraph. July 1977.
- ↑ "A Long Time Ago/He's a Thief".
- ↑ Mon Hughes, Andrew (2002). Tales of the Brothers Gibb.
- ↑ "Saddle Ranch".
- ↑ "Candy Potts".
- ↑ "Ashlee Abrams".
- ↑ "Emmalee Rainbow Abrams".