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.
Is You is Or Is You Ain't
June Christy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Any time we have a date
But I love her
Yes I love her
I'm gonna walk right up to her gate
And see if I can get it straight
'Cause I want her
Is you is or is you ain't my baby
Way you're acting lately makes me doubt
You'se is still my baby, baby
Seems my flame in your heart's done gone out
A woman is a creature that has always been strange
Just when you're sure of what you'll find
She's gone and made a change
Is you is or is you ain't my baby
Maybe baby's found somebody new
Or is my baby still my baby true
Is you is or is you ain't my baby
Maybe baby's found somebody new
Or is my baby still my baby true
June Christy's song Is You is Or Is You Ain't is about a man who is uncertain about the woman he loves. He has a girlfriend who is always late whenever they have a date, but despite this, he still loves her. He wants to talk to her about his doubts and find out once and for all if she is still his girl or if she has moved on. The song deals with the insecurity that can come with love and relationships.
The lyrics "Is you is or is you ain't my baby?" are repeated throughout the song and are the heart of its message. The man is confused and unsure of his woman's feelings and is looking for an answer from her. June Christy's voice adds a sense of frustration and longing to the song, making it easy to relate to for any listener who has ever experienced doubt in a relationship.
Overall, the song is a beautiful and moving portrayal of the complexities of love and relationships. It captures the anxieties and uncertainties that can come with giving your heart to someone, and the joy and relief that comes with knowing you are loved in return.
Line by Line Meaning
I got a gal who's always late
I have a girl who is never on time for our dates.
Any time we have a date
Whenever we plan to go out together.
But I love her
Despite her tardiness, I have deep feelings for her.
Yes I love her
I am completely devoted to her.
I'm gonna walk right up to her gate
I plan to go directly to her house to talk.
And see if I can get it straight
And try to figure out what is going on with our relationship.
'Cause I want her
I am invested in this relationship and want to make it work.
I'm gonna ask her
I plan to directly ask her about our current status as a couple.
Is you is or is you ain't my baby
Are you still my significant other or not?
Way you're acting lately makes me doubt
Your recent behavior has made me question our relationship.
You'se is still my baby, baby
You used to be my significant other; are you still?
Seems my flame in your heart's done gone out
It seems like you have lost feelings for me.
A woman is a creature that has always been strange
Women are complex individuals that can be hard to understand.
Just when you're sure of what you'll find
Just when you think you know a woman very well.
She's gone and made a change
She will do something unexpected that will change the relationship.
Maybe baby's found somebody new
Perhaps my significant other has found someone else to replace me.
Or is my baby still my baby true
Or does my significant other still have feelings for me.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Billy Austin, Louis Jordan
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
skela aderrab
Here I go again
I hear those trumpets blow again
All aglow again
Taking a chance on love
Here I slide again
About to take that ride again
Starry eyed again
Taking a chance on love
I thought that cards were a frame-up
I never would try
Now I'm taking that game up
And the ace of hearts is high
Things are mending now
I see a rainbow blending now
We'll have a happy ending now
Taking a chance on love
Here I slip again
About to take that trip again
I got that grip again
Taking a chance on love
Now I prove again
That I can make life move again
I'm in a groove again
Taking a chance on love
I walk around with a horseshoe
In clover I lie
And brother rabbit of course you
Better kiss your foot good-bye
On that ball again
I'm riding for a fall again
I'm gonna give my all again
Taking a chance on love
Bartosz Kaczan
Take a Chance on Him ❤️
There is one right way back home, only one Name to get saved- Jesus. He is the real (Word of) God, there is only one Spirit of the everlasting love- it is Christ, who loves unconditionally .
Everybody can meet Him and realize, what He really is like. He tells the truth directly to everyone, who is searching for Him from the bottom of the heart. Jesus Christ is so much different than they wrote and talk about Him in this world. He is so much better than the people think.
There is no other God's Name, no other Spirit, nobody who can tell the truth about Him- I mean everyone who hasn' t met Him or doesn't hear His voice. When somebody talks about things, which were written, he becomes a witness of a scripture, not of Jesus Christ.
This world is not His Kingdom, that's why it is full of lies, which the people called "truth". Call His holy Name, He always answers when all we want is Him and His truth.. If you belive in Jesus Christ, you should be babtized in His Name... Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you and you can listen to the Word of GOD in your heart. . GOD will let you know that you are saved and born again.
And then?
Will you be searching for Him somewhere else or by someone else, when He will live inside of you? The bible is not the true Word of God, there are two different gospels of this book- about the "lord" of this world (flesh) and the second one about Jesus Christ, The Revealed God, who became a human to save us..
We can be (spirituallly) born again now as children of the only true Father (The Holy Ghost). If you (still) want to read this book, please remember- always ask the Holy Spirit to guide you, even when you see things written about Jesus.
Frank Soria
She's pulling those modulations out of thin air...fantastic!
tzazzy
One more thing: the key changes are as smooth as butter. Thanks again June.
Karl Krass
YES!!!!
Meher Music
way cool key changes for sure
Ludger Rickling
tzazzy: your comment is absolutely right! these changes are not easy to sing in accurate form, so that it sounds good
Wayne Brasler
June had everything, a cool voice that could be warm, too; great interpretive style; and as her arranger at Capitol Records said, you could throw any change of time or key or anything to her and she could toss if off as it were nothing. She had a happy marriage to the great musician Bob Cooper and a darling daughter named Shay who looked very much like her parents. They lived in a hip home on a hill in Sherman Oaks. When I could not find two of June's albums in the LP days June actually had her producer, Bill Miller, get me copies from the Capitol library! She was from Decatur, Illinois, and already singing with bands by the age of 13.
MM Robb
And she was gorgeous. How would you contrast the following vocalists: June Christy, Anita O'Day, and Chris Connor?
Wayne Brasler
@Robert craddock "Something Cool" on C.D. with both the original mono and later stereo recordings.
Robert craddock
Which of June's recordings on CD would you suggest for a 1st time buyer?
goplad1
You sure love the female vocalists of that era! I like your comments because the are educational and show great appreciation for this timeless music. I love June, Joni, Julie, and all the others!