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.
The Bad And The Beautiful
June Christy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It longs for bitter disappointment and tears, and tears
It calls to all that used to be
And it yearns for someone who was tender but untrue
Love is blind, it's helplessly inclined
To bind itself to discontent and fears, and fears
It [Incomprehensible] on nights that might have been
My darling, so I hold each little talking
We knew, we knew
Endlessly I unfold each word we've spoken
We two, we two
Love is mad, it's beautiful but bad
It gladly weeps when disillusion appears, appears
And so I cling to yesterday while I'm hopelessly in love
While I'm hopelessly in love with you
In June Christy's rendition of The Bad and the Beautiful, she tells a story of a person who is hopelessly in love with someone who was tender but untrue. She describes love as a hopeless song that longs for bitter disappointment and tears. It calls to all that used to be and yearns for someone who is not faithful. Love is depicted as blind, helplessly inclined, prone to bind itself to discontent and fears. It dreams of nights that might have been and needs nothing more to do.
My darling, so I hold each little talking we knew, we knew, she sings, suggesting that the love was once there but is now a thing of the past. Love here is depicted as mad, beautiful but bad, gladly weeps when disillusion sets in. The storyteller clings to yesterday while they are hopelessly in love with the person who has caused them pain. The singer suggests that love is a fickle emotion; it appears beautiful and alluring at first, but it can quickly turn sour, leaving behind only disillusionment.
Overall, The Bad and the Beautiful is a poignant song that captures the complex nature of love and all its ups and downs.
Line by Line Meaning
Love is wrong, it sings a hopeless song
Love often leads to failed expectations, heartbreak and sadness.
It longs for bitter disappointment and tears, and tears
Love tends to desire things that cause sadness and despair.
It calls to all that used to be
Love frequently reminisces about past times.
And it yearns for someone who was tender but untrue
Love may crave the affection of someone who was kind but ultimately was not genuine or honest.
Love is blind, it's helplessly inclined
Love often overlooks faults and flaws, and may trap someone in an unhappy situation.
To bind itself to discontent and fears, and fears
Love may attach itself to negative emotions such as dissatisfaction and anxiety.
It [Incomprehensible] on nights that might have been
Love frequently muses about the possibilities of what could have happened.
Love needs nothing more to do
Love requires no additional stimulation.
My darling, so I hold each little talking
My dear, I cherish every conversation we've had.
We knew, we knew
We were aware of our love for each other.
Endlessly I unfold each word we've spoken
I constantly relive each word we've said to each other.
We two, we two
Just the two of us.
Love is mad, it's beautiful but bad
Love can be both wonderful and terrible at the same time.
It gladly weeps when disillusion appears, appears
Love may cause sadness and disappointment when reality doesn't match expectations.
And so I cling to yesterday while I'm hopelessly in love
I hold on to memories of the past while I'm deeply in love.
While I'm hopelessly in love with you
I am deeply, unequivocally in love with you.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: DAVID RAKSIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind