A Tale of Two Julees

"The Sunday Morning Hangover" features part five of Women's History Month, "A Tale of Two Julees," exploring the music of Julie London and Julee Cruise, 8am, KWVA 88.1 FM Listen to this broadcast HERE
Julie London, (born Julie Peck) was one of the top female vocalists during the 1950's and early '60's, her most famous recording being Cry Me A River, released in 1955. She was born on September 26, 1926 in Santa Rosa, California, to Jack and Josephine Peck, a song and dance team in vaudeville and radio. In 1929, the family moved to San Bernardino, where Julie's parents had a radio show, on which she occasionally appeared. In 1941, they moved to Los Angeles, where Julie left school and went to work as an elevator operator in a department store. She began singing during this time with the Matty Malnech Orchestra. In Los Angeles, she met Jack Webb, then in the Marine Corps, and Sue Carol, an actor/agent and wife of Alan Ladd. Carol obtained a screen test for Julie, which started her on a movie career. Julie's roles during the first few years were bit parts. She soon reached star status by playing leading roles in such movies as A Question Of Adultery, Task Force, and The Fat Man. In 1947 she married Webb, who was just breaking into dramatic acting on radio. With marriage, she temporarily gave up her movie career to become a full-time wife and mother, and they had two daughters, Stacy and Lisa. In November, 1953, London and Webb divorced, and she received custody of the children. With the breakup of her marriage, Julie entered a brief period during which, she has said, she had a lack of self confidence. In 1954 this changed when she met Bobby Troup, a jazz musician and songwriter. Under his guidance she began a serious singing career in 1955. Her first singing engagement was the 881 Club in Los Angeles. In 1955 she cut her first album, Julie is Her Name. Included on this LP was her most successful hit: Cry Me A River. Over three million copies of the album and single were sold. The single remained on Billboard charts for 13 weeks, and the LP for 20. Julie was voted one of the top female vocalists of 1955, 1956, and 1957. On New Year's Eve, 1959, she became Mrs. Bobby Troup.
Julie's vocal style has been described as being sultry, sexy, "come-hither", intimate, breathy, warm, smoky, haunting, husky, sullen, sad, suggestive and seductive. She self-described her voice in a LIFE magazine article in 1957, as "It's only a thimbleful of a voice, and I have to use it close to the microphone. But it is a kind of oversmoked voice, and it automatically sounds intimate." The majority of her album covers were graced by sultry, yet sophisticated pictures of Julie - the cover of her first album, Julie Is Her Name being, at the time, thought of as so sexy that it was described as "...generating enough voltage to light up a theater marquee". The album Calendar Girl is graced with 12 "cheesecake" photos of Miss London - one for each month of the year, with an additional large photo for the "thirteenth" month on the inside of the foldout cover.
At the same time as her singing career took off, Julie's movie career was also "resurrected". In 1956 she starred as an alchoholic singer in the film "The Great Man". From there, she went on to star, or co-star in more movies for United Artists and MGM, including: Man Of The West (lobby card photo), Voice In The Mirror, The Wonderful Country, The George Raft Story, and The Third Voice. (see Filmography). During the film Voice In The Mirror, Julie became a songwriter, composing the title song for the movie. She has also appeared on numerous television shows as both actress and singer (which I am still trying to compile). In 1971, she began playing one of her best-known roles as Nurse Dixie McCall on the TV Show Emergency, (which also featured Bobby Troup, as Dr. Joe Early). After Emergency, Julie did one last film: Survival On Charter #220 before retiring from show business.
During the late 50's and into the 60's, Julie did some international tours in such locales as Brazil and Japan. While in Japan, she recorded a Japanese-only television program with Bobby Troup and his band, which has been preserved, and with enough hunting, can still be found on video tape. Julie essentially quit recording when the Liberty label folded in 1968. Her last recording was in 1981, for the movie Sharky's Machine, in which she performed My Funny Valentine for the soundtrack.Julie London died Oct. 18, 2000

As a recording artist, Julee Cruise originally joined up with film director David Lynch and composer Angelo Badalamenti for her widely acclaimed debut album on Warner Bros. Records, Floating Into The Night, which hit the Billboard charts in 1990. The music was prominently integrated into Lynch's ground breaking TV series Twin Peaks, in which Julee had a recurring role. Eventually the Peaks soundtrack became the largest selling TV soundtrack in history and enjoyed worldwide success, as did Julee's album and hit single "Falling," the show's arresting and ethereal theme song. Julee followed up with a concert tour, including her debut at London's legendary Palladium, and a controversial musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live (she stepped in when Sinead O'Conner refused to appear with host Andrew Dice Clay). Julee first collaborated with Lynch/Badalamenti for the song "Mysteries Of Love" in the notorious Lynch movie classic Blue Velvet. The three also produced an original full length performance video Industrial Symphony #1, a memorable extravaganza filmed live on the main opera stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (Julee performed the piece almost entirely airborne) as part of the Next Wave Festival. Julee appeared in the movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and on the soundtrack, and sang the movie's theme song "Questions in a World Of Blue" under a full moon on a beach in the French Riviera for the film's premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 1992. Badalamenti also featured her voice at the opening ceremonies of the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona. Along with U2, REM, k.d. lang and others, her singing was heard in the Wim Wenders movie Until The End Of The World, doing a cover of the old Elvis tune "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears," which was subsequently used as the music behind a Kim Bassinger lingerie commercial that aired only in Europe and the Far East. Julee Cruise holds a degree in French Horn from Drake University and performed with several orchestras before getting her break in acting. Among her stage credits are House Of Blue Leaves, A Little Night Music, Beehive, Little Shop Of Horrors, Cabaret, Pump Bovs and Dinettes, and the award-winning sci-fi Shakespearean spoof Return To The Forbidden Planet. Her voice can be found on radio and TV commercials if you listen closely. While starring in Planet in New York she was seen by Fred Schneider, the unmistakable lead singer for -the B-52s. Along with Fellow B's guitarist Keith Strickland, vocalist Kate Pierson and keyboardist Pat Irwin, Fred was searching for a singer to replace founding member Cindy Wilson on an upcoming tour. Julee subsequently joined the band for a 1 992-93 tour through North and South America and Europe, including a featured performance at Bill Clinton's inauguration. "I loved working with Kate, Fred, Keith and the band," Julee says. "The B's are real special. It's the most fun I ever had on stage. I hope to do it again someday." Julee also points out that while Twin Peaks was a relatively short-term phenomena in the U.S., it kept hitting the top of the TV ratings around the world. "It was like a domino effect. I was doing press for years. Long after Peaks died in the U.S., I'd get these hysterical calls from journalists in Pago-Pago demanding to know who killed Laura Palmer. Or I'd get transatlantic calls at four in the morning from radio guys who'd introduce themselves as 'the Howard Stern of Oslo.' God, it went on and on." And, of course, wherever the show peaked, the music went with it and so, quite often, did Julee. "I ended up touring Japan, New Zealand and Australia. The Japanese are still obsessed with Laura Palmer."