Shirley Luster was born in Springfield, Illinois, and 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 thirteen. 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 at the same time Christy was quarantined in Chicago with scarlet fever.
In 1945, after hearing that Anita O'Day had left Stan Kenton's Orchestra, she auditioned and was chosen for the role as a vocalist. During this time, she changed her name once again, becoming June Christy.
Her 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.
Beginning Sept. 28, 1959, Christy began a five-week road tour of 38 performances called "Road Show". The all-star billing: Stan Kenton and his orchestra, June Christy, The Four Freshmen. Capitol recorded highlights on October 10 at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, for a two-disc LP, reissued in 1991 on CD.
From 1947, she started to work on her own records, primarily with arranger and bandleader Pete Rugolo. In 1954, she released a 10" LP entitled 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 re-released 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.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Christy appeared on a number of television programs, including the short-lived CBS show Adventures in Jazz (1949), Eddie Condon's Floor Show (1949), The Jackie Gleason Show (1953), The Tonight Show (1955), The Nat King Cole Show (1957), Stars of Jazz (1958), The Steve Allen Show (1959), The Lively Ones (1963). and The Joey Bishop Show (1967). She also appeared on the first sponsored jazz concert on television, The Timex All-Star Jazz Show I (December 30, 1957), which also featured Louis Armstrong, Carmen McRae, Duke Ellington and Gene Krupa.
Christy embarked on dozens of concert tours, playing in Europe, South Africa, Australia and Japan. She toured to such an extent that eventually it began taking a toll on her marriage. She began to pull back from touring in the early 1960s.
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."
Christy semi-retired from the music business in 1969, in part due to her battle with alcoholism.
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 late 1970s and 1980s, playing with a band of all-star West Coast jazz musicians led by Shorty Rogers, as well as taking part in a number of world tours.
Christy returned to the recording studio in 1977 to record her final solo LP, Impromptu. She recorded an interview for a Paul Cacia produced an album in 1987 called "The Alumni Tribute to Stan Kenton" on the Happy Hour label. A number of other Kenton the alumni-Shorty Rogers, Lee Konitz, Jack Sheldon, among them, plus Mort Sahl - interspersed their tunes with reminiscences of the man and the years on the road.
Christy toured one final time in 1988, again with Shorty Rogers. Her final performance was sharing the stage with Chet Baker.
Christy 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.
I Want To Be Happy
June Christy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Trying to work out life's happy plan
Doing unto others as I'd like to have them doing unto me
When I find a very lonely soul
Soon be-kinda-comes my only goal
I feel so much better when I tell them my philosophy
But I won't be happy
Till I make you happy too.
Life's really worth living
When we are mirth giving
Why can't I give some to you
When skies are gray and you say you are blue
I'll send the sun smiling through
I want to be happy
But I won't be happy
Till I make you happy too.
When skies are gray and you say you are blue
I'll send the sun smiling through
I want to be happy
But I won't be happy
Till I make you happy too.
The song "I Want To Be Happy" by June Christy is about a man who is trying to navigate through life and find true happiness. He believes that the key to happiness is by doing good onto others and making them happy as well. The first verse of the song talks about how the man is just an ordinary person trying to figure out his happy plan in life. He then talks about how when he encounters lonely souls, he makes it his goal to make them happy by sharing his philosophy. This shows us that the man believes that he can achieve true happiness by spreading joy and positivity to others.
The chorus of the song emphasizes the man's desire to be happy but also his belief that he cannot achieve true happiness until he makes someone else happy too. By helping others, the man is also helping himself feel fulfilled and content. The last verse of the song talks about how the man wants to bring happiness to someone who is feeling down and how he is willing to send the sun shining through for them. This verse reinforces the idea that the man believes happiness is contagious and that by making someone else happy, he is also bringing happiness to himself.
Overall, "I Want To Be Happy" is about finding true happiness through helping and bringing happiness to others. The song suggests that by doing this, we can all bring more joy into our lives and lead more fulfilling lives.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm a very ordinary man
I am just a regular person
Trying to work out life's happy plan
I am trying to figure out how to be happy in life
Doing unto others as I'd like to have them doing unto me
I treat others the way I want to be treated
When I find a very lonely soul
When I come across someone who is lonely
Soon be-kinda-comes my only goal
My main focus becomes helping that person feel less lonely
I feel so much better when I tell them my philosophy
I feel happier when I share my belief that making others happy is important
I want to be happy
I desire happiness
But I won't be happy
I can't be happy
Till I make you happy too.
Unless I can also make you happy.
Life's really worth living
Life is good and valuable
When we are mirth giving
When we spread joy and laughter
Why can't I give some to you
I wish I could make you happy too
When skies are gray and you say you are blue
When you are feeling sad
I'll send the sun smiling through
I will try to make you feel happy and optimistic
But I won't be happy
I cannot be happy
Till I make you happy too.
Unless I can also bring happiness to you.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: IRVING CAESAR, VINCENT YOUMANS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Bob Collins
Thank you for uploading! I didn't even realize I remembered this until I heard it. I was born the year after this album was produced. I have always had this song in my head - this version even - but never found it. My mother loved June Christy, and I believe she had this album (I seem to remember this version and the album cover). Perhaps this is a real stretch, but I wonder if I heard this so much before and after I was born that it became wedged in my brain…? I counsel couples now as a career and often quote the chorus of this song to them as a point of how they should conduct themselves through their relationship. Most have no idea what song I'm referring to. Now I can point them to this! Thank you again!
Wallace Arvinger
Iwould like to hear this whole album june dose some her best work on this album