June Christy (November 20, 1925 – June 21, 1990),
born
Shirley Luster, was an American vocalist,
best known for her work in the
cool jazz
genre. Her success as a singer began with
The Stan Kenton Orchestra. She pursued a solo
career from 1954 and is best known for her debut album
Something Cool. Upon her death, she was
hailed as "one of the finest and most neglected singers of her
time."
Biography
Early life
June
Christy was born as Shirley Luster in Springfield,
Illinois
. She moved with her family to Decatur,
Illinois
when she was
three years old. She began to sing with the Decatur based
Bill Oetzel Orchestra at the young age of 13. While attending
Decatur High School she appeared with Oetzel and his society band,
the Ben Bradley Band, and Bill Madden's Band. After high school she
moved to Chicago, changed her name to
Sharon
Leslie, and sang with a group led by
Boyd Raeburn. Later she joined Benny Strong's
band.
In
1944, Strong's band moved to New York
, while at
the same time Christy was quarantined in
Chicago with scarlet
fever.
Work with Stan Kenton's Orchestra
In 1945, after hearing that
Anita O'Day
had left
Stan Kenton's Orchestra, she
auditioned and got the role as a vocalist. At first, she bore a
heavy resemblance to Anita O'Day, both physically and vocally.
During the time when she sang in the Orchestra, she changed her
name once again, this time to
June Christy.
Her unique voice produced successful hits such as "
Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan
Dowdy," the million-selling "
Tampico" in 1945, and "
How High the Moon". "Tampico" was Kenton's
biggest-selling record. When the Kenton Band temporarily disbanded
in 1948, she sang in nightclubs for a short time, and reunited with
the band two years later in 1950.
Solo career
From 1952, she started to work on her own records, primarily with
the arranger and bandleader
Pete Rugolo.
In 1954, she released her own 10" LP
Something Cool, recorded with Rugolo and
his orchestra, a gathering of notable Los Angeles jazz musicians
that included her husband, multi-instrumentalist
Bob Cooper and alto saxophonist
Bud Shank.
Something Cool was
rereleased as a 12" LP in 1955 with additional selections, and then
entirely rerecorded in stereo in 1960 with a somewhat different
personnel. Christy would later say that the album was "the only
thing I've recorded that I'm not unhappy with."
Something
Cool was also important in launching the vocal cool movement
of the 1950s, and it hit the Top 20 Charts, as did her third album
The Misty Miss
Christy. She continued to release more records, which
influenced future jazz vocalists and set new standards for the
music.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Christy appeared on a number of
television programs, including
The Nat
King Cole Show,
The
Steve Allen Show, and the short-lived
variety show The
Lively Ones.
Christy embarked on a number of concert
tours, playing such far away locales as Europe, South Africa,
Australia and Japan
.
R.M. Cook and Brian Morton, writers of
The Penguin Guide to Jazz
Recordings, appreciated the singer's body of work:
"Christy's wholesome but particularly sensuous voice is less an
improviser's vehicle than an instrument for long, controlled lines
and the shading of a fine
vibrato. Her
greatest moments—the heartbreaking 'Something Cool' itself,
'Midnight Sun,' 'I Should Care'—are as close to creating definitive
interpretations as any singer can come."
Personal life
Christy was married to Bob Cooper. In 1954, she gave birth to a
daughter, Shay Cooper. Christy's nephew claims that although she
was
agnostic, she was very well versed in
religion and philosophy, identifying at least partially with
Buddhism.
Later years and death
Christy retired from the music business in 1965, rarely taking the
stage again after that point.
In 1972, she
sang at the Newport Jazz
Festival in New York
City
, where she was reunited with the Kenton
Orchestra. She also performed at a handful of jazz festivals
during the 1980s, playing with a band of all-star west coast jazz
musicians led by
Shorty Rogers.
Christy returned to the recording studio in 1977 to record her
final LP,
Impromptu.
After
struggling with illness for many years, she died at her home in
Sherman
Oaks
, California
of kidney failure on
June 21, 1990, at the
age of 64. Her remains were cremated and scattered off the coast of Marina Del Rey
.
Discography
| Release date |
Album |
Label |
| 1954 |
Something Cool (10"
LP) |
Capitol Records |
| 1955 |
Something Cool (12" LP) |
Capitol Records |
| May 5, 1955 |
Duet |
Capitol Records |
| July 30, 1956 |
The Misty Miss
Christy |
Capitol Records |
| 1957 |
Fair and Warmer! |
Capitol Records |
| 1957 |
Gone for the Day |
Capitol Records |
| 1958 |
This Is June Christy |
Capitol Records |
| 1958 |
June's Got Rhythm |
Capitol Records |
| 1958 |
The Song Is June! |
Capitol Records |
| 1959 |
Recalls Those Kenton Days |
Capitol Records |
| 1959 |
Ballads For Night People |
Capitol Records |
| 1960 |
The Cool School |
Capitol Records |
| 1960 |
Something Cool (rerecorded in stereo) |
Capitol Records |
| 1960 |
Off-Beat |
Capitol Records |
| 1960 |
Do-Re-Mi (with Bob Cooper) |
Capitol Records |
| 1961 |
This Time of Year |
Capitol Records |
| 1962 |
Big Band Specials |
Capitol Records |
| 1963 |
The Intimate Miss Christy |
Capitol Records |
| 1965 |
Something Broadway, Something Latin |
Capitol Records |
| 1977 |
Impromptu |
Interplay Records |
| 1977 |
June Christy 1977 (reissue) |
Trio PAP |
| 1986 |
A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening (compilation) |
Jasmine Records |
| 2002 |
Cool Christy (compilation of 1945-1951) |
Proper Records Ltd |
References
- New
Statesman article: " Carrying
a torch".
- June Christy, Singer, 64, Is Dead; Gained Fame With
Kenton's Band - New York Times
- June Christy credit page at IMDB.
- The Later Swing Era, 1942 to 1955 By Lawrence
McClellan, p. 92-93
-
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/guynew/sheet/june18.htm
- " My Aunt June - A Tribute" by Scott Luster.
- Solid! June Christy Biography
- Discogs - June Christy
- Find A
Grave entry for June Christy.
- June Christy Discography
-
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0pfuxqe5ldse
External links
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