Laurie London (born 19 January 1944) is an English 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, re ...

in both English and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

. He is best known for his hit single of the spiritual song " He's Got the Whole World in His Hands".

Life and career

London was born in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

. 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 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 1923 as the Parloph ...

(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), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

(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 graphics, 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 repres ...

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 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 music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

with such renowned

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

s as Norman Newell 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 Beatle ...

" 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 ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

with producer, Nils Nobach." He performed at 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, England, son of singer James Campbell McInnes and novelist Angela Mackail, who was the granddaughter of the Pr ...

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

movie A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

' 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 a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

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

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

, 1966) went unnotice

https://www.discogs.com/release/2155756-Laurie-London-The-Bells-Of-St-Mary] After withdrawing from showbusiness London ran a hotel in

Petworth Petworth is a 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, Heat ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

, which he sold in 2000.

Recordings

* " He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" * "Bum-Ladda-Bum-Bum (Boom-Ladda-Boom-Boom)" * "Auf wiederseh'n Marlen" * "Banjo Boy" * " Basin Street Blues" * "Bells of St. Mary's" * "Boomerang" * "Casey Jones" * "Cradle Rock" * " Darktown Strutters' Ball" * "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" * " Lucky Lips" * "Mamatschi" * "Mandolino Pling Plang Plong" * "My Mother" * "Nix Fraulein, nix Mademoiselle" * "Old Time Religion" * "

Pick a Bale of Cotton "Pick a Bale of Cotton" ( Roud 10061, sometimes "Pick a Bale o' Cotton") is a traditional American folk song and work song recorded by Texas inmates James "Iron Head" Baker (1933) and Mose "Clear Rock" Platt (1939) and later popularized by Lead ...

" * "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" * "Wild und heiss"

References

External links

"Ask Mr Music - Jerry Osborne (1998)"Images.google.com
* *
Laurie London "He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands"
on

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

, April 13, 1958 {{DEFAULTSORT:London, Laurie 1944 births Living people People from Bethnal Green English male singers Singers from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets