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June Christy

June was born as Shirley Luster on November 20, 1925 at the Memorial Hospital in Springfield, Illinois and was raised from the age of three in Decatur, Illinois; and from the beginning always wanted to sing.

She was singing with local bands when she was just 13, and later with society bands around Chicago, the big city 150 miles from Springfield, using the name Sharon Leslie. None of her family knew anything about music, so she had to persuade them to let her sing with the local home town band. The band was led by Bill Oetzel, and as Shirley Luster she sang with it for four years. Next she joined Boyd Raeburn's first great band at Chicago's new Band Box Theatre. A bout of scarlet fever meant leaving after just four months. On recovering she found work hard to come by due to the effect of a 20% amusement tax on the music business. Nevertheless a short stint followed with Benny Strong's band, and there was some club work. By 1945, demoralised by the continuing panic in the business she was ready to call it quits and return home. Then she heard that Anita O'day was leaving the Stan Kenton band. The actual details of how she met and was auditioned vary according to the source but the fact remains that she was hired on March 22nd 1945 by Kenton. June was to say later "I don't think Stan ever cared for singers really, but at that time he felt he needed one fast"

During May '45 she recorded 'Tampico' with the band. As she recalled later "that session did a lot for me. I gained a lot of confidence, and luckily, the record was an enormous hit, things went well after that. It was Kenton's first million-seller. With such an auspicious start and newly christened June Christy, a rewarding future stretched ahead. Before the year was out, on Dec 26 1945 she had cut the second million-seller - "Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy" In 1946 June married one of Kenton's star players - tenor saxist - BOB COOPER

The Kenton-Christy combination was a most happy and successful one which continued until Kenton had a temporary disbandment in Dec 1948. She returned on many occasions after that to appear and record with the band. During her years with Kenton she had every kind of music to sing and accomplished every piece with skill even though she could not read music. Arranger and composer Pete Rugolo (who joined the band in 1943) could have saved a lot of work over the years for June simply memorised her parts once she had learned them from an initial run-through by Rugolo at the piano. Her inability to sight-read has never proved an obstacle, so quick and accurate was she at picking up the vocal lines.

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Albums

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Concert Kenton

Sounds of Yesteryear
2020

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The Ultimate Jazz...

Kayax Production
2005

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Something Cool

Capitol Records
2001

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June Christy-Big Band...

Capitol Records
2001

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The Ballad Collection

Kayax Production
2000

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The Complete Peggy...

Mosaic Records
1998

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