 While stationed at Donnington in Shropshire, Stella appeared in camp concerts as a featured singer in an Ordnance Corps dance band and was spotted by the producer George Black; she toured the Middle and Far East.In March 1949, she made her first appearance in a musical, as "Annie Ogle-Eyes" in "Belinda Fair" at the Saville Theatre.She went on to appear in Frank Loesser's "The Most Happy Fella" at the Coliseum, and in 1962 she moved to the Savoy Theatre to appear in Noël Coward's breezy "Sail Away", where she was also stand-in for the star, Elaine Stritch, in the role of Mimi Paragon.