June Christy

Infobox musical artist
Name = June Christy


Img_capt =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Shirley Luster
Alias = Sharon Leslie
Born = Birth date|1925|11|20|df=yes
Springfield, Illinois
Died = Death date and age|1990|6|21|1925|11|20|df=yes
Sherman Oaks, California
Origin =
Instrument = Vocals
Genre = Pop, cool jazz
Occupation = Singer
Years_active = 1938 – 1965, 1977
Label = Blue Note, Capitol
Associated_acts = The Stan Kenton Orchestra
URL =
Notable_instruments =

June Christy (born Shirley Luster November 20, 1925 – June 21, 1990) was an American Jazz singer popular in the 1950s. Her success as a singer began with The Stan Kenton Orchestra. She pursued a solo career from 1954 and is best known for her recording of "Something Cool" written by Hollywood composer/lyricist Billy Barnes.

Early life

June Christy was born Shirley Luster in Springfield, Illinois on November 20th, 1925, and moved to Decatur, Illinois when she was three. She began to sing with the Decatur based Bill Oetzel Orchestra at the young age of 13. She appeared with Oetzel and his society band during high school, then moved to Chicago in the early '40s. She changed her name to Sharon Leslie, sang with a group led by Boyd Raeburn, and joined Benny Strong's band afterwards. In 1944, Strong's band moved to New York, while at the same time Christy was quarantined in Chicago with scarlet fever. Finding working in the music industry very difficult and frustrating, in 1945, she considered giving up her dream of becoming a singer. Then in the same year she heard that Anita O'Day was going to leave Stan Kenton's Orchestra.

tan 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. She eventually found her unique vocal style, characterized by a warm and smooth voice with a unique enunciation. During the time when she sang in the Orchestra, she changed her name once again 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.

olo career

From 1952, she started to work on her own records, primarily with the arranger and bandleader Pete Rugolo. In 1954, she gave birth to a daughter, Shay Cooper.http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/guynew/sheet/june18.htm] That same year, 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." [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE5D8103FF937A15755C0A966958260 June Christy, Singer, 64, Is Dead; Gained Fame With Kenton's Band - New York Times ] ] "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" (1956). She continued to release more records, which influenced future jazz vocalists and set new standards for the music.

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. [ [http://www.nndb.com/people/017/000044882/ June Christy ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/christy_june/bio.jhtml VH1.com : June Christy : Biography]
* [http://www.belten.freeserve.co.uk/misty/june.htm JUNE CHRISTY]
* [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=june+christy&search=Search June Christy on YouTube]