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 Belongs To Somebody Else
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
Nellie Lutcher's song The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else is a bittersweet and romantic ballad about waiting for true love. In the first verse, the singer describes the feelings of loneliness and disappointment that come with unfulfilled daydreams. She longs for the one person who will bring joy and happiness to her life. The second verse reveals the extent of her devotion, stating that she will have no one else but her true love. The chorus is a declaration of her unwavering commitment, even if it means waiting for fate to bring them together. The final verse expresses her yearning for a dream romance and her plea to the moon for help in finding her soulmate.
The song is a poignant reminder of the precariousness of love and the hope that sustains us through difficult times. Lutcher's soulful voice and the gentle lilt of the music add to the emotional resonance of the lyrics. The song has endured as a classic representation of the enduring power of love and the human desire for connection.
Line by Line Meaning
When days are long and nights are lonely
During times of extended solitude and unending emptiness
And all my daydreams have gone astray
When all the reveries in my mind have been interrupted
I think about the one and only
I contemplate about my sole and exceptional love
Who's bound to find me some golden day
Who's going to bring me a golden and happy day soon
The one I love is coming along some day
The person I deeply love will appear unexpectedly someday
And I'll have none except the one I love
No other person will satisfy my heart except my beloved
He/She may be near or ever so far away
My lover could be located near or quite far away from me
But I'll have none except the one I love
However, I am sure that I will stay committed to my special person
And though our meeting is left to chance
Despite the uncertainty of destiny concerning our encounter
Until our meeting
Until in the future when we finally meet each other
I still will have my dream romance
I will still hold on and continue dreaming about a romantic affair
And through the night I pray to the moon above
In the night, I offer my supplications to the moon high above
To please be kind and find the one I love
Asking silently for the lunar spirit to kindly help me connect with the one I love
Contributed by Xavier I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.