She was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the eldest daughter of the 15 children of Isaac and Suzie Lutcher. Her father was a bass player, and her mother a church organist. She received piano lessons, and her father formed a family band with Nellie playing piano. At age 12, she played with Ma Rainey, when Rainey's regular pianist fell ill and had to be left behind in the previous town. Searching for a temporary replacement in Lake Charles, one of the neighbors told her there was a little girl who played in church who might be able to do it.
Aged 14, Lutcher joined her father in Clarence Hart's Imperial Jazz Band, and in her mid-teens also briefly married the band's trumpet player. In 1933, she joined the Southern Rhythm Boys, writing their arrangements and touring widely. In 1935, she moved to Los Angeles, where she married Leonel Lewis and had a son. She began to play swing piano, and also to sing, in small combos throughout the area, and began developing her own style, influenced by Earl Hines, Duke Ellington and her friend Nat "King" Cole.
She was not widely known until 1947 when she learned of the March of Dimes talent show at Hollywood High School, and performed. The show was broadcast on the radio and her performance caught the ear of Dave Dexter, a scout for Capitol Records. She was signed by Capitol and made several records, including "The One I Love Belongs To Someone Else" and her first hit single, the risqué "Hurry On Down", which went to # 2 on the rhythm and blues chart. This was followed by her equally successful composition "He's A Real Gone Guy", which also made # 2 on the R&B chart and crossed over to the pop charts where it reached # 15.
In 1948 she had a string of further R&B chart hits, the most successful being "Fine Brown Frame", her third # 2 R&B hit. Her songs charted on the pop, jazz, and R&B charts, she toured widely and became widely known. She wrote many of her own songs and, unlike many other African-American artists of the period, retained the valuable publishing rights to them.
In 1950, Lutcher duetted with Nat "King" Cole on "For You My Love" and "Can I Come in for a Second". The same year, her records began to be released in the UK and were actively promoted by radio DJ Jack Jackson. She headlined a UK variety tour, compered by Jackson, with great success, later returning there to tour on her own.
With an orchestra for the first time, Lutcher recorded "The Birth of the Blues" and "I Want to Be Near You" in 1951, but she was losing her appeal with the record-buying public and Capitol dropped her the following year. She went on to record, much less successfully, for other labels including Okeh, Decca and Liberty, and gradually wound down her performance schedule.
By 1957, she had joined the board of the Los Angeles Musicians Union, but continued to perform occasionally until the 1990s under the management of Alan Eichler, with many successful engagements including the Cookery and Michael's Pub in New York, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel's Cinegrill in Los Angeles and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. She also starred in her own TV special "Nellie" on PBS and recorded a one-hour concert with Marian McPartland for the NPR series Piano Jazz. She invested successfully in property and managed her own apartment building in the Crenshaw area of Los Angeles.
She was the sister of saxophonist Joe "Woodman" Lutcher and aunt of Latin jazz percussionist Daryl "Munyungo" Jackson and singer Jacqueline Levy.
The One I Love
Nellie Lutcher Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And all my daydreams have gone astray
I think about the one and only
Who's bound to find me some golden day
The one I love is coming along some day
And I'll have none except the one I love
He/She may be near or ever so far away
And though our meeting is left to chance
Until our meeting
I still will have my dream romance
And through the night I pray to the moon above
To please be kind and find the one I love
The song "The One I Love" by Nellie Lutcher is a soulful ballad about the longing for a special someone. The opening lines of the song reveal the singer's feelings of loneliness and despair. The days seem long, and the nights are even worse. All of the singer's daydreams have gone astray, and life appears bleak. However, she finds solace in the thought of the one she truly loves. The one who she knows will find her someday and bring her a golden day.
The song speaks to the universal human experience of longing and hope for a meaningful connection with another person. The lyrics convey a sense of longing that is palpable in the voice of Lutcher. The lyric "He/She may be near or ever so far away, But I'll have none except the one I love" speaks to the power of love and the lengths we will go to find our soulmate. The hope of finding the one that we are meant to be with is something that everyone can relate to, and the song captures that feeling perfectly.
Overall, the song is a romantic and hopeful ode to the power of love. It speaks to the deep longing that we all have to find that special someone who will make our dreams come true. The song's message is universal, and its themes resonate with audiences even today.
Line by Line Meaning
When days are long and nights are lonely
I feel desolate when my days are endless and nights are loveless
And all my daydreams have gone astray
My aspirations have become futile leaving me cherishing unattainable fantasies
I think about the one and only
I ponder about my true love, my soulmate, my better half
Who's bound to find me some golden day
I'm looking forward to that special someone who'll bring joy to my life and fulfill my dreams
The one I love is coming along some day
I believe that someday, the one true love of my life will come to me
And I'll have none except the one I love
I won't settle for anyone else but the one I truly love
He/She may be near or ever so far away
Whether they're close or distant, I'll wait for the one I love
But I'll have none except the one I love
I'll remain steadfast and won't let go of the prospect of true love with anyone other than my special person
And though our meeting is left to chance
Although the likelihood of our meeting remains uncertain
Until our meeting
Waiting until the day we finally meet
I still will have my dream romance
I'll continue to nurture affectionate thoughts of a blissful relationship with the one I love
And through the night I pray to the moon above
During the night, I whisper my desires under the light of the moon and hope for destiny to intervene
To please be kind and find the one I love
To appeal for compassion in securing my happiness by uniting me with the one and only person for whom I was looking for
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Royalty Network
Written by: Bronislaw Kaper, Gus Kahn, Walter Jurmann
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Richard L.
@Mslordjim Gracias por comentar. Lo u himo que supe, que aun estaba vivo pero muj viejo. Un cordial saludo..... Richard.