Laurie London

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

Not to be confused with Lauren London.

Life and career

London was born in Bethnal Green, 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 (45-R4359) which was picked up by its co-owned American sister label Capitol Records (F3891). In April 1958, it reached number 1 on Billboard's "Most Played by Jockeys" chart and remained there for four weeks, but it was to be his only hit record. It was the most successful record by a British male in the 1950s in the United States, topping the charts.[1] It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA in 1958.[2]

According to one online source,[3] "he worked at the Abbey Road Studios, London with such renowned record producers as Norman Newell and George Martin" and "special songs were written for him, tailored to the German taste in popular music, and he recorded them in Cologne and Munich 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 novel, Absolute Beginners.

London has a credit[4] as "singer" in the 1961 German movie … und du mein Schatz bleibst hier 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 hit "Lucky Lips" (1963), and "The Bells of St. Mary" (CBS, 1966) went unnoticed.

In the 1990s he ran a hotel, The Angel, in Petworth, West Sussex, but sold it in 2000, and later the Ship and Castle bar and restaurant on the Hard, in Portsmouth, Hampshire.

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"
  • "Dark Town Strutter's 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"
  • "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"
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References
  1. "Laurie London Biography - Music Artist Band Biographies - Artists Bands Bio - FREE MP3 Downloads". Music.us. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  2. Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. pp. 103–4. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
  3. "BCSD - Laurie London". Boysoloist.com. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  4. ...und du, mein Schatz, bleibst hier on IMDb
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