Caption: SAUCY SHE IS in the spotlight, and sometimes downright sassy, but away from the limelight, she's quite the elegant, thoughtful lady.We're talking about Saucy Sylvia, whose followers are so fervid in expressing their admiration that it seems safe to describe them as a cult.Sylvia, now appearing in Don Lee's Golden Nugget, plays piano and sings ballads and sprightly ditties as she wraps audiences around her little finger.She was born Sylvia Cadeski in Own Sound, Ont., and earned a B.A. degree in modern languages from the University of Toronto. Interested in classical piano, she began a steady 15 years of instruction at age 6 and still takes lessons when time permits.AT COLLEGE, Sylvia started playing weekend club dates for extra spending money. She was awarded a graduate teaching fellowship by Ohio State U., where she studied for a year and got well into the preparation of a thesis on semantics.But job offers from clubs grew increasingly attractive and she decided to go out on the road. "I knew I had the temperament for it," she says, "but I didn't know whether I had the stamina. I found out if I loved it and stuck with it."In Anderson, Ind., bandleader Barney Rapp heard her in a little bar and told her: "You belong on radio." He took her to WLW in Cincinnati for an audition and soon she was the station's chief vocalist, with her own show."Then," Sylvia recalls, "I got the ax like all the rest." She was referring to the reputation WLW used to have in the trade for separating itself from talent that went on to smashing success. Included in the group are such names as writer Rod Serling, the McGuire Sisters and singer Dick Noel.Comedy entered her act by accident. One night while Sylvia was on a job in Akron, the master of ceremonies failed to show up and the owner asked her to substitute."All went well," she says, "so I put comedy in the show and the jobs came along faster." She was advertised simply as "Sylvia" until the manager of a Tucson hotel, Paul Feyer - bother of pianist George Feyer, currently performing at Al Green's - added "Saucy" to the billing."MY ACT is mostly extemporaneous," says Syliva. "The mood of the audience determines what I do. There's no set routine. I'm also lucky in having a good memory. I can do over a thousand songs and after I meet a person I can remember his first name and the song he requested for years."She's had offers from Paris, Vegas and even Australia, and could work the whole year round; but she keeps her professional schedule down to 26 weeks a year.Basically, Sylvia is a homebody. She lives in Dearborn with her husband, Mike Stouri, to whom she's been married for 17 years. A retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, he's now a contracting officer for the Air Force here in Detroit.Sylvia, who's heading for her first Manhattan engagement next month at the Elyse Hotel, loves duplicate bridge and golf. And she's active in Hadassah and the Founder's Society of the Detroit Institute of Arts.Her natural warmth and sincere interest in people are wrapped up in her theme song, a blues progression that she gives a bouncy twist titled "I Ain't Made at You, Everybody."Hubby Mike will tel you that "she just can't sit still." But apparently she manages to touch all the bases.Says he: "Eveyone's sorry for me because I'm married to an entertainer and probably never get a decent meal at home, but I'm married to one of the great cooks of the century.".
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