Laurie London (born 19 January 1944) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

singer, who achieved fame as a boy singer of the 1950s, for both his gospel and novelty songs

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

in both

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. He is best known for his hit single of the spiritual song "

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" is a traditional African-American spiritual, first published in 1927. It became an international pop hit in 1957–58 in a recording by English singer Laurie London, and has been recorded by many other si ...

Life and career

London was born in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common land, Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heat ...

, East London. At the age of thirteen, whilst a pupil at The Davenant Foundation Grammar School in Whitechapel Road, he made an up-tempo version of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" with the Geoff Love Orchestra for

Parlophone Records Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 19 ...

(45-R4359) which was picked up by its co-owned American sister label

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

(F3891). In April 1958, it reached number 1 on Billboard's "Most Played by Jockeys"

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

and remained there for four weeks, but it was to be his only

hit record A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

. It was the most successful record by a British male in the 1950s in the United States, topping the charts. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

in 1958. According to one online source, "he worked at the

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

with such renowned

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

s as

Norman Newell Norman Newell (25 January 1919 – 1 December 2004) was an English record producer, who was mainly active in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also the songwriter, co-writer of many notable songs. As an A&R manager for EMI, he worked with musicians su ...

and

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...

" and "special songs were written for him, tailored to the

taste in

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

, and he recorded them in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

with producer, Nils Nobach." He participated in the 1959 Deutsches Schlager-Festival (German Hit-Festival) singing "Bum Ladda Bum Bum". London is mentioned along with his hit song "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" in the

Colin MacInnes Colin MacInnes (20 August 1914 – 22 April 1976) was an English novelist and journalist. Early life MacInnes was born in London, the son of singer James Campbell McInnes and novelist Angela Mackail, who was the granddaughter of the Pre-Rap ...

novel, '' Absolute Beginners''. London has a credit as "singer" in the 1961 German

movie A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

' and he also appeared in the 1958 Danish film ''Soldaterkammerater'', where he performed "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands". He originally retired from singing at the age of nineteen. Later cover versions of the

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

hit "Lucky Lips" (1963), and "The Bells of St. Mary" (

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

, 1966) went unnoticed. In the 1990s he ran a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

, The Angel, in

Petworth Petworth is a small town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chichester (district), Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 road, A272 east–west road from Heathfield, East Sussex ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

, but sold it in 2000, and later the Ship and Castle bar and restaurant on the Hard, in Portsmouth, Hampshire.

Recordings

* "

" * "Bum-Ladda-Bum-Bum (Boom-Ladda-Boom-Boom)" * "Auf wiederseh'n Marlen" * "Banjo Boy" * "

Basin Street Blues "Basin Street Blues" is a song often performed by Dixieland jazz bands, written by Spencer Williams in 1928 and recorded that year by Louis Armstrong. The verse with the lyric "Won't you come along with me / To the Mississippi..." was later added ...

" * "Bells of St. Mary's" * "Boomerang" * "Casey Jones" * "Cradle Rock" * "

Darktown Strutters' Ball "Darktown Strutters' Ball" is a popular song by Shelton Brooks, published in 1917. The song has been recorded many times and is considered a popular and jazz standard. There are many variations of the title, including "At the Darktown Strutters' ...

" * "Darling Sue" * "Down by the Riverside" * "God's Little Acre" * " Gospel Train" * "Handed Down" * "Hear Them Bells" * "Hey, Hey - es wird Musik gemacht" * "Hopalong Cassidy" * "I'll Make You Forget Him" * "I'm Afraid" * "I'm Gonna Walk and Talk with My Lord" * "I Gotta Robe" * "Ich bin nicht arm, ich bin nicht reich (I'm Not Poor, I'm Not Rich)" * "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Honolulu Strand Bikini" * "

Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" (or alternatively "Joshua Fought de Battle of Jericho", "Joshua Fit the Battle" or just Joshua and various other titles) is a well-known African-American spiritual. The lyrics allude to the biblical story of the ...

" * "

Lucky Lips Lucky Lips is a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was originally recorded by Ruth Brown in 1956 and was successfully covered by Cliff Richard in 1963. Ruth Brown and early cover versions The song was first recorded by the R&B si ...

" * "Mamatschi" * "Mandolino Pling Plang Plong" * "My Mother" * "Nix Fraulein, nix Mademoiselle" * "Old Time Religion" * "Pick a Bale of Cotton" * "Pretty Eyed Baby" * "Roll on Spring" * "Sad Songs" * "Schenk mir einen Traum" * "Schöne weisse Rose" * "Schritt für Schritt" * "(She Sells) Sea Shells" * "Three O'Clock" * "Today's Teardrops" * "

Up Above My Head "Up Above My Head" is a gospel song of traditional origin, first recorded in 1941 (as "Above My Head I Hear Music In The Air") by The Southern Sons, a vocal group formed by William Langford of the Golden Gate Quartet. In the version that is now th ...

" * "Wild und heiss"

References

External links

"Ask Mr Music - Jerry Osborne (1998)"Images.google.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:London, Laurie 1944 births Living people People from Bethnal Green English male singers