Queens of Vinyl is a series where we explore the sounds, styles, and impact of some of the most incredible and influential female artists ever pressed to vinyl.
This week: Julie London
She is seductive and sultry. She’s smoky and mysterious. She’s gorgeous and talented. These are only a few of the phrases that describe the amazing Julie London. An accomplished actress and legendary torch singer, London toured all over the world during her 35-year career, and solidified her place in our Queens of Vinyl series.
Born straight into the show biz lifestyle, London was the daughter of two vaudevillian actors and was introduced into the acting and singing world at the early age of 14. Coming out of the Hollywood Professional School in 1945 with an already slowly blossoming acting career, Julie London began to take the world by storm. While attempting to get work and part-timing as an elevator operator, she was “discovered” and immediately put on the starlight path.
She began recording demo tracks with Bethlehem Recordings, and shortly after that, her first release with Liberty Records solidified her as a pop music goddess. In 1955, the famous Julie is Her Name was released. From it came the smash hit “Cry Me a River,” which is to date one of her best known songs.
From the success of Julie Is Her Name, London would go on to complete another 32 albums. Records like Calendar Girl, which today is one of her most sought after LPs, paid homage to her days as a pin-up girl for WWII GIs. Albums like Swing Me an Old Song infused the fast jazz numbers that she and her first husband, Jack Webb (famous for Dragnet), shared a passion for.
London had chart-toppers on almost every album she produced, and they are still remembered fondly by the fans she had back then and the new ones that discover her today. She has throughout the years, and even in the modern scene, remained the queen of the sultry and smoky voice.
From her days of recording sessions in the booths at Liberty Records to her modern revival through the media and internet, Julie London is as relevant as ever. Through television and movies, her songs can be heard backing some of the saddest and most seductive moments the silver screen has to offer.
The 2006 thriller, V for Vendetta, prominently featured “Cry Me a River,” and the show Six Feet Under used the track “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy” and featured it on their soundtrack.
Although her acting career was not as monumental as her singing career, London performed in over 20 movies, and had a large part in the hit show Emergency! While the world lost the great Julie London in October of 2000, it is thanks to these mediums that we can still enjoy her remarkable talent and poise.
In an era when Marilyn Monroe was turning heads and Frank Sinatra was lighting up the charts, Julie London was still able to shine. London offered sensual and hypnotizing performances that guarantee she will live on in the hearts of music purists everywhere.
While digging through the crates at your local record shop, you may happen across one of her albums and wonder just who this sultry seductress is, and what she sounds like. This is when we encourage you buy the album, dust it off, take it for a spin, and let your mind wander with one of the queens of vinyl, Julie London.
“It’s only a thimbleful of a voice, and I have to use it close to the microphone. But it is a kind of over-smoked voice, and it automatically sounds intimate.”
—Julie London, LIFE magazine (1957)
