Julie London (née Peck; September 26,1926 — October 18, 2000) was an Ameri… Read Full Bio ↴Julie London (née Peck; September 26,1926 — October 18, 2000) was an American jazz and pop singer and actress. She was noted for her smoky, sensual voice and languid demeanor. She released 32 albums of pop and jazz standards during the 1950s and 1960s, with her signature song being the classic "Cry Me a River," which she introduced in 1955.

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.

Mad About the Boy
Julie London Lyrics

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Mad about the boy
It's pretty funny
But I'm mad about the boy
He has a gay appeal
That makes me feel
There's maybe something
Sad about the boy

Walkin' down the street
His eyes look out at me
From people that I meet
I can't believe it's true
But when I'm blue
In some strange way
I'm glad about the boy

I'm hardly sentimental
Love isn't so sublime
I have to pay my rent
And I can't afford to waste much time

If I could employ
A little magic
That would finally destroy
This dream than pains me
And enchains me
But I can't because

I'm mad about the boy
Mad about the boy

Overall Meaning

Julie London's Mad About the Boy is a song about being hopelessly in love with someone who is not attainable. The singer expresses that she is "mad about the boy" despite knowing that she shouldn't be. It's "pretty funny" she says, as if she is aware of how foolish it sounds, yet she cannot help the way she feels. She describes how he has a certain charm or "gay appeal" that makes her feel sad for him, but also drawn to him. The chorus repeats this phrase, emphasizing the singer's infatuation with this mysterious boy.

The second verse talks about seeing the boy out and about, and how he seems to look directly at her, even in the crowd. She feels like she can't believe it's true, as if it's a dream, but it still affects her deeply. The singer acknowledges that she is not a romantic person, and that she has to pay her rent and can't afford to waste time on something that will never work. However, she admits that she can't help but be "glad about the boy" when she is down, and that she is "mad about the boy" even though it pains and enchains her. She wishes she could use magic to destroy this feeling, but she can't, because she is too deeply in love.

Overall, Mad About the Boy is a song about the irrationality of love and the feelings it can evoke, even when you know it's not practical or logical. It speaks to the universal experience of being infatuated with someone who is not necessarily good for us, and the way that love can make us feel both happy and sad at the same time. It's a beautifully melancholic song that captures the essence of unrequited love perfectly.

Mad About the BoyJulie London Lyrics

Mad About the Boy
Julie London Lyrics