April Love

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the Arthur Hughes painting see April Love (Hughes painting).

April Love is possibly best known today as a popular song, but it began life as the theme song for a film of the same name, starring Pat Boone and Shirley Jones, directed by Henry Levin and released in the USA in 1957.

In the film, the Pat Boone character, Nick Conover, leaves Chicago after being put on probation for stealing a car. Living and working on the Kentucky farm of his uncle Jed Bruce and his aunt Henrietta, he falls in love with a neighbour's daughter, played by Shirley Jones.

Pat Boone is often criticised as singing toned down versions of black rhythm and blues and Elvis Presley type songs and the film April Love might similarly be seen as a milder version of James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause (1955) or Marlon Brando's The Wild One (1955).

Regarding the song: the music was written by Sammy Fain and the lyrics by Paul Francis Webster. Helped by the release of the film, the song April Love became a #1 hit in the US for Pat Boone in December 1957 and it was nominated for a Best Music, Original Song Oscar in 1958.