Meet the Writers Behind Nat King Cole’s “L-O-V-E”

Mutual love and respect for jazz music is the common thread that brought “L-O-V-E” writers, Bert Kaempfert and Milt Gabler, together across oceans.

Kaempfert has international origins, born in Germany in 1923 where he got his start in music. During World War II, he performed in the German Navy band before forming his own big band and working as an arranger and producer. Kaempfert crossed country borders with his first hit, “Wonderland by Night,” written by German composer Klaus Günter Neumann, which Kaempfert recorded with his orchestra. The song was distributed by Decca Records in New York in 1960, where Gabler was Head of A&R, and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 a year later.

“The song that made the name Bert Kaempfert a household term at the top of the best-selling charts was the 1961 instrumental, ‘Wonderland by Night,’ which established him as a worldwide hit-maker,” the Songwriters Hall of Fame writes in his bio. “Beyond discovering talent, Kaempfert was quite an enormous talent, in his own right, as a multi-instrumentalist, recording artist, record producer, and particularly a songwriter.”

[RELATED: Top 10 Songs by Nat King Cole]

“Wonderland by Night” set the stage for Kaempfert to enjoy a string of hit covers of standards, including the popular 1920s waltz, “Three O’Clock in the Morning,” “Red Roses For a Blue Lady” which was originally released in 1948 with Kaempfert taking it to No. 11 on the Hot 100 in 1965, and the 1925 jazz standard, “Bye Bye Blues,” that he recorded in 1966 and hit No. 5 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.

Kaempfert’s name is behind many other songs recorded by major artists, including Frank Sinatra’s chart-topping “Strangers in the Night,” “Spanish Eyes” by Al Martino, Elvis Presley’s “Wooden Heart,” “Almost There” by Andy Williams, “Love After Midnight” by Patti Page and Wayne Newton’s signature hit, “Danke Schoen,” which he wrote with Gabler and Kurt Schwabach.

Kaempfert also had a hand in the early days of The Beatles’ career. While working as a record producer for Polydor Records, Kaempfert hired The Beatles, who at the time consisted of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Pete Best, before they became household names to be the backing band for the Tony Sheridan album, My Bonnie, in 1962.

Born in Harlem, New York as the son of Jewish immigrants from Europe, Gabler was mostly known as a record label executive, founding independent record label Commodore Records in 1938, known for releasing Billie Holiday’s powerful “Strange Fruit” in 1939. Also signed to the label were Bobby Hackett, Art Tatum, Bud Freeman, and others. He later joined Decca Records in 1941 as head of the A&R department.

Gabler and Kaempfert met when the latter came to Decca’s New York office with “Wonderland by Night,” which led them to co-write “L-O-V-E.” Among Gabler’s other prominent songwriting credits are “In a Mellow Tone,” which was composed by Duke Ellington. Gabler also produced the Bill Haley & The Comets hit “Rock Around the Clock” and was working at Decca during Brenda Lee’s tenure which encompassed the release of her signature hit, “I’m Sorry.”

“L-O-V-E” first appeared as an instrumental on Kaempfert’s 1964 project, Blue Midnight. Cole took the song to the top 20 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in 1964, serving as the title track of his 1965 album. “L-O-V-E” can also be heard at the beginning of the beloved 1998 film starring Lindsay Lohan, The Parent Trap.

Gabler’s nephew is actor and comedian Billy Crystal, who inducted him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993—the same year Kaempfert was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Kaempfert passed away in 1980 at the age of 56 following a stroke. Gabler passed away in 2001 when he was 90.

Photo by JP Jazz Archive /Redferns