"Sign of the Gypsy Queen" is a song written and first recorded by Canadian singer Lorence Hud. The song became a hit in Canada when released as a single in 1973. Hud's version appeared on his eponymous debut album, released by

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

. The song reached the top 5 on the West Coast, #3 on

CJRW-FM CJRW-FM is a Canadian radio station broadcasting at 102.1 FM broadcasting, FM in Summerside, Prince Edward Island owned & operated by the Maritime Broadcasting System. The station plays an adult contemporary format branded on-air as ''102 Spud F ...

Summerside, Prince Edward Island Summerside is a Canadian city in Prince County, Prince Edward Island, Prince County, Prince Edward Island. It is the second largest city in the province and the primary service centre for the western part of the island. History Summerside was ...

, and peaked at #16 nationally on the

RPM 100 ''RPM'' ( and later ) was a Canadian music-industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. ''RP ...

chart.

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

hard rock band

April Wine April Wine is a Canadian rock band formed in 1969 and based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, led by singer-guitarist-songwriter Myles Goodwyn until his death in 2023. April Wine first experienced success with their second album, ' ...

recorded a cover version, releasing it as the second single from their album '' The Nature of the Beast'' (1981). The song reached #40 on the Canadian RPM Hot 100, #57 on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

, and #19 on Billboard's

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

chart. It remains one of the band's most popular songs, appearing on many of their compilation album and becoming a staple of both their live set lists and Canadian

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

radio.

History

The song was first recorded by Lorence Hud at RCA's Toronto Studios in 1971, with Bill Misener of The Paupers producing. Bill wanted to sign Lorence but RCA did not move quickly enough, so A&M signed him instead. On Hud's recording he played all the instruments himself.

's 1981 cover version helped the song grow in popularity, charting on the pop and rock charts in both Canada and the United States. It remains a staple of

radio in Canada and one of April Wine's signature songs.

April Wine version

had greater success with a

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

version of the song in 1981. It was the second single from their album '' The Nature of the Beast''. The song reached #40 in Canada, and #57 in the United States on the

, and #19 on the

. This version has become popular on

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. US rad ...

radio stations, getting frequent airplay in the United States and Canada. A

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

aired on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's first day of broadcast. It remains one of the group's signature songs and a live concert staple. The song has since been recorded by other artists.April Wine - Chart History
Billboard

In popular culture

"Sign of the Gypsy Queen" appeared in the background of a scene in the American television series ''

Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan for AMC (TV channel), AMC. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Breaking Bad), Walter White (Bryan Cran ...

'' episode " Granite State", in 2013. It also appeared, along with April Wine's song " Just Between You and Me", in the 1981 Canadian comedy film ''

Gas Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...

''.

Charts

References

{{April Wine, state=collapsed 1981 singles 1972 songs April Wine songs Aquarius Records (Canada) singles Capitol Records singles