Julie London

Julie London, the smoky-voiced ``Cry Me A River'' night club singer was born Julie Peck in Santa Rosa, on September 26, 1926 and moved to Los Angeles at 14 with her vaudeville song-and-dance team parents.

Julie's first recording was a 45 single "Cry Me a River " written by former high school classmate Arthur Hamilton. Another former classmate was disc-jockey Jack Wagner of KHJ in Hollywood. Jack was very impressed with Julie's sultry looks as a high school student and equally impressed with her singing talent. He, as much as anyone, helped tremendously to promote her albums. Jack wrote the liner notes for Julie's 1957 album "About the Blues".

London was married to ``Dragnet'' star Jack Webb for five years. Her second husband, Bobby Troup, was the composer, jazz musician and actor who penned the classic song ``Route 66.'' Troup booked London for a nightclub engagement that was followed by her hit ``Cry Me A River'' in 1955 and eventually 32 albums.

In 1955, '56 and '57, she was voted one of Billboard's top female vocalists. Among her songs: ``Around Mignight,'' ``In the Middle of A Kiss,'' ``In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning'' and ``My Heart Belongs to Daddy.''

When nightclubs began losing their appeal and closing in the 1960s, London moved to television. She appeared on an episode of ``Big Valley,'' then got the role of the head nurse at fictional Rampart General Hospital on ``Emergency!'' Her husband, Troup, played neurosurgeon Dr. Joe Early on the 1970s TV drama. He died of heart failure last year at 80. Webb was the show's executive producer, which ran from 1972 to 1977. Cable TV reruns have brought ``Emergency!'' renewed popularity.

Julie was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1974 for best TV actress in a drama. She made over 30 albums. Julie London and Bobby Troup remained married until Bobby's death in February of 1999.

Julie London's music also incited a fresh repertoire of amorous sexual responses, making romance more a matter of environment than emotion. Many of her songs are less about passion than about its accoutrements: the jewels, the satin sheets, the colognes, the after-office dinners, and, best of all, the cocktail interlude when many pecuniary deals are forged. For the cover of her 1961 album, Whatever Julie Wants, Julie had to have special armed security men stand guard as she posed beside almost $750,000 worth of furs, jewels, and piles of paper money.

London had been in poor health since suffering a stroke five years ago. She was taken by ambulance from her San Fernando Valley home to a nearby hospital, where she died on October 18, 2000 London is survived by a daughter from her marriage to Webb and three, children from her 39-year marriage to Troup.