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.
Love Me or Leave Me
June Christy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You say come and lay by your side
If this is just another ride you're taking me on,
Then leave me alone
I'm not your part-time man
Love is more than now and then
I've enjoyed as much as this, as I can stand
Love me or leave me alone
Love me or, baby,
Believe me, I'm gone
This time I'm gonna be strong
Maybe once upon a time,
I was young and love was blind
I thought I had finally made up my mind
It's sad, but
Love me or leave me alone
Love me or leave me alone
Love me or, baby,
Believe me, I'm gone
Love me or leave me
Girl, don't deceive me
Love me or leave me alone
The song "Love Me or Leave Me" by June Christy is a poignant take on the struggle of a relationship in which one person is no longer willing to put up with the inconsistency of the other. It is a call to make a decision - either commit to the relationship fully or walk away for good. The first verse starts with the singer being invited to join their partner, but at the same time, they can sense that the invitation might not be genuine. The singer decides that they do not want to play this game anymore, and if there is no commitment, then they would rather be left alone. The second verse sees the singer warning their partner that they cannot be a part-time lover; love is not something to be taken lightly, and it requires more than a fleeting attraction. The bridge reveals vulnerability when the singer confesses to being young and foolish at one point, believing that love was all it took to make a relationship work. However, they have now gained wisdom and the strength to choose what is best for themselves, urging their partner to love them or leave them alone.
Line by Line Meaning
You hold your arms open wide
You gesture for me to come near
You say come and lay by your side
You offer me a place to rest beside you
If this is just another ride you're taking me on,
If you're leading me on with no real commitment,
Then leave me alone
Then I'd rather be on my own
I'm not your part-time man
I'm not someone to be used on occasion
Love is more than now and then
Love takes more than occasional moments
I've enjoyed as much as this, as I can stand
I've reached my limit of accepting half-hearted affection
So, love me or leave me alone
Either give me genuine love or let me go
Love me or leave me alone
Either love me fully or not at all
Love me or, baby,
Choose to love me honestly, or
Believe me, I'm gone
I'll leave if you can't love me as I deserve
This time I'm gonna be strong
I won't settle for half-hearted affection anymore
Maybe once upon a time,
Perhaps in the past,
I was young and love was blind
I was naive and didn't see the truth about love
I thought I had finally made up my mind
I believed I had made a clear decision
It's sad, but
It's unfortunate, but
Love me or leave me alone
Again, either do it right or let me go
Love me or leave me alone
I demand genuine love and commitment
Love me or, baby,
Truly love me or
Believe me, I'm gone
I refuse to settle for less than I deserve
Love me or leave me
Either truly love me or leave
Girl, don't deceive me
Don't pretend to love me when you don't
Love me or leave me alone
Authentic love is all I'm willing to accept
Lyrics © DONALDSON PUBLISHING CO, TOBAGO MUSIC COMPANY, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Gus Kahn, Walter Donaldson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind