London's 35-year acting career began in films in 1944 and included playing opposite Gary Cooper in Man of the West (1958) and Robert Mitchum in The Wonderful Country (1959). She achieved continuing success in the TV medical drama Emergency! (1972–1979), co-starring her real-life husband, Bobby Troup, and produced by her ex-husband, Jack Webb, in which London played the female lead role of nurse Dixie McCall. She and Randolph Mantooth, who played one-half of her medical students, a paramedic, in the series, were very close to her family, until her death in 2000.
Born in Santa Rosa, California, she was the daughter of Jack and Josephine Peck, who were a vaudeville song-and-dance team. When she was fourteen the family moved to Los Angeles. Shortly after that, she began appearing in movies. She graduated from the Hollywood Professional High School in 1945.
London began singing under the name Gayle Peck in public in her teens before appearing in a film. She was discovered by talent agent Sue Carol (wife of actor Alan Ladd), while working as an elevator operator. Her early film career, however, did not include any singing roles.
London recorded 32 albums in a career that began in 1955 with a live performance at the 881 Club in Los Angeles. Billboard named her the most popular female vocalist for 1955, 1956, and 1957. She was the subject of a 1957 Life cover article in which she was quoted as saying, "It's only a thimbleful of a voice, and I have to use it close to the microphone. But it is a kind of oversmoked voice, and it automatically sounds intimate."
London's debut recordings were for the Bethlehem Records label. While shopping for a record deal, she recorded four tracks that would later be included on the compilation album Bethlehem's Girlfriends in 1955. Bobby Troup backed London on the album, for which London recorded the standards "Don't Worry About Me", "Motherless Child", "A Foggy Day", and "You're Blasé".
London's most famous single, "Cry Me a River", was written by her high-school classmate Arthur Hamilton and produced by Troup. The recording became a million-seller after its release in December 1955 and also sold on reissue in April 1983 from the attention brought by a Mari Wilson cover. London performed the song in the film The Girl Can't Help It (1956), and her recording gained later attention in the films Passion of Mind (2000) and V for Vendetta (2006). The song "Yummy Yummy Yummy" was featured on the HBO television series Six Feet Under and appears on its soundtrack album. London's "Must Be Catchin'" was featured in the 2011 premiere episode of the ABC series Pan Am. Her last recording was "My Funny Valentine" for the soundtrack of the Burt Reynolds film Sharky's Machine (1981).
Other popular singles include "Hot Toddy", "Daddy", and "Desafinado". Recordings such as "Go Slow" epitomized her career style: her voice is slow, smoky, and playfully sensual.
She was married to Jack Webb, of Dragnet fame. Her obvious beauty and self-poise (she was a pinup girl prized by GIs during World War II) contrasted with his pedestrian appearance and stiff-as-a-board acting technique (much parodied by impersonators). This unlikely pairing arose from his and her love for jazz; their marriage lasted from July 1947 to November 1953. They had two daughters, one who was killed in a traffic accident in the 1990s and one who survived London. In 1954, having become somewhat reclusive after her divorce from Jack Webb, she met jazz composer and musician Bobby Troup at a club on La Brea Blvd. They married on December 31, 1959 and remained married until Troup's death in February 1999. Together, they had one daughter and twin sons.
London suffered a stroke in 1995, and was in poor health until her death in Encino, California, at the age of seventy-four, survived by four of her five children. She died on18th October 2000, and was buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.
I Hadn
Julie London Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I was a lonely one 'til you,
I used to lie awake and wonder if there could be
A someone in the wide world just made for me,
Now I see
I had to save my love for you, (I saved my love for you)
I never gave my love 'til you, (I saved it all for you)
Cupid took a hand in it,
I hadn't anyone till you.
I kept my love in secrecy,
I put it under lock and key,
I had to save my love for you!
I never gave my love away,
I waited for that lucky day
When I could give it to you
And through my lonely heart demanding it,
Cupid took a hand in it,
I hadn't anyone till you.
The lyrics to Julie London's song "I Hadn't Anyone Till You" describe the feeling of loneliness and the search for love, eventually finding it in the person being addressed in the song. The first stanza outlines the singer's previous loneliness and the subsequent longing for a partner who is "just made for me." The next stanza elaborates on the singer's decision to save their love for the person they are addressing, never having given it away before. The last line of each stanza is "I hadn't anyone till you," emphasizing the importance of this person in the singer's life.
The song's narrative also touches upon the idea of fate and destiny playing a role in the formation of this relationship. Specifically, the lyrics say "Cupid took a hand in it" to suggest that it was beyond the singer's control and that love simply found its way to them.
One interpretation of the lyrics could be that the singer is addressing a previous partner who changed their life significantly, but it could also be broadened to reflect on the universal experience of finding one true love in a sea of uncertainty and loneliness.
Line by Line Meaning
I hadn't anyone till you,
I didn't have anyone in my life until you
I was a lonely one 'til you,
I used to feel lonely before I met you
I used to lie awake and wonder if there could be
I would spend restless nights wondering if there was someone meant for me
A someone in the wide world just made for me,
I felt like there might be a person out there specifically meant for me
Now I see
But now I realize that person is you
I had to save my love for you, (I saved my love for you)
I saved all my love for you, because I knew you were the one
I never gave my love 'til you, (I saved it all for you)
Before you, I never gave my heart away to anyone else
And through my lonely heart demanding it,
Even though my heart was yearning for love and companionship
Cupid took a hand in it,
Love finally found me, through the workings of Cupid
I hadn't anyone till you.
You were the first and only person that I truly loved and allowed into my heart
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: NOBLE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind