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.
You're Nearer
June Christy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Nearer than the wind is to the willow
Dearer than the rain is to the Earth below
Precious as the sun to the things that grow
You're nearer than the ivy to the wall is
Nearer than the winter to the fall is
Leave me but when you're away, you'll know
Leave me but when you're away, you'll know
You're nearer for I love you so
In June Christy's song "You're Nearer," the singer expresses her love and devotion to her partner by comparing their closeness to natural phenomena. She sings that her partner is nearer than her head is to her pillow or the wind is to the willow. By using these metaphors, the singer is conveying how indispensable her partner is in her life. She describes her partner's presence as dearer than the rain to the earth below and as precious as the sun to the things that grow. This comparison conveys how important and essential her partner is to her world.
She also sings that her partner is nearer than the ivy is to the wall and nearer than the winter is to the fall. These lines speak to the constancy of her love for her partner. Just as the ivy clings to the wall and the winter always follows the fall, her partner is always near to her heart. The final lines of the song repeat the sentiment that even when apart, the singer's love for her partner will keep them close.
Overall, "You're Nearer" is a beautiful and romantic love song that speaks to the depths of human emotion and the need for love and connection.
Line by Line Meaning
You're nearer than my head is to my pillow
You're incredibly close to me, closer than my head is to the very thing I rest on for comfort and sleep.
Nearer than the wind is to the willow
The wind is always present around the willow tree, and that's how close you are to me.
Dearer than the rain is to the Earth below
The rain nourishes and sustains the Earth, and that's how important and cherished you are to me.
Precious as the sun to the things that grow
The sun is essential for the growth of living things, and that's how valuable and treasured you are to me.
You're nearer than the ivy to the wall is
Ivy is known for clinging tightly to walls, and that's how tightly you are connected to me.
Nearer than the winter to the fall is
Winter follows fall every year, and that's how close you are to me, following me always.
Leave me but when you're away, you'll know
Even when we are apart, you will still feel close to me, because of the love between us.
You're nearer for I love you so
The love I have for you brings us even closer, no matter the distance between us.
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: LORENZ HART, RICHARD RODGERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind