Julie London

When I was a kid, one of the family's favorite shows was Emergency!, and one of its stars was Julie London, who played nurse Dixie McCall. Little did I know back then she was best known as a chanteuse, a big star in 50s, singing torch songs in a whispery voice. Over the years I've heard snatches of her songs, but I bought a 4-CD collection of hers that include eight albums of hers, made from 1955 to 1958.

She was born Gayle Peck in 1926, and had a film career that began in 1944. But her first big hit, and the song she's best known for today, came in 1955 with "Cry Me a River", which appeared on the album Julie Is Her Name. This album, along with Julie Is Her Name Volume 2, from 1958, have only a guitar and bass as accompaniment, that combined with her voice makes a very languid listening experience.

Over the course of these albums she sings some standards,  "What'll I Do," "Where or When," "Bye Bye Blackbird," and "When the Red Red Robin Comes a Bob Bob Bobbin Along." To be fair, she does not have a voice of great strength or range. She herself referred to it as a "thimbleful" of voice, and to be sure it has a breathy quality that maximizes her sex appeal. An album from 1957, called Make Love to Me, is about as close to phone sex as one could get in the '50s, as the songs are ideal for listening to by lonely bachelors in the dark. Titles include "Go Slow," "The Nearness of You," "You're My Thrill," and "Lover Man," in addition to the title track.

She also made what could be called a concept album with Calendar Girl, with each of twelve songs referencing a month of the year (plus a thirteenth song called "Thirteenth Month"). My favorite is "Time for August," in which she sings off the bat, "I'm in the man of the month club." She followed that up with About the Blues, with all the songs having the word "blues" in the title, including a very good version of "Blues in the Night."

The funniest song in this collection is "Daddy," from her 1957 album Julie, "Daddy". I'm not sure if this came before or after Eartha Kitta's "Santa Baby," to which is very similar, but London really sells it. She was quite the sex kitten.

London was first married to Jack Webb of Dragnet fame, and then for many years to Bobby Troup, who produced her records and later co-starred with her on Emergency!. She made 32 albums in her career. She died in 2000.