June Christy - The Anecdotes - Part 3

  • Looking and a Lisining - Jack McKnight

    Just spent the last hour looking and a lisining.
    Sure is great.Made me a little sad too see that she passed away.
    Was amazed to see she was born on Nov. 20th. same as me, but 1937.
    Back in the late 50s I collected a few of her albums. Still have them. Recorded them onto reel to reel then cassettes.
    Now I'm looking for CD's.Started this out looking for Stan Kenton's Road Show.
    I think I bought the album because of her and the Four Freshman.I would like to get it on CDs.
    Well Thanks for the memories

  • Sparkling and thorough - John Hankiewicz

    Just a short note of appreciation for your June Christy website, which is sparkling and thorough.
    I discovered June Christy's music just last year. "The Misty Miss Christy" was my first Christy album and remains my favorite.
    Your site, of the same name, is a constant and very helpful reference for me.
    What I'm looking for now is a videotape of the "Nat King Cole Show" with June as a guest (I think Mel Torme was featured, too).
    If this is available commerically, and if you know of the distributor, I'd appreciate your passing on the information to me. My search has been fruitless thus far.
    Again, I very much enjoy your "Misty Miss Christy" page.

  • 'Remind Me' - Jerry A. Williams

    Two of June's best works, in my opinion, are "Remind Me", which has to be one of the most plaintive and beautiful ballads ever, and "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most", which was popular back in my days of small combo work when the west coast 'cool school' guys were at their peak.
    It's great to hear the Lighthouse regulars on the re-mastered CDs. Cooper and Shank and the gang are great.

  • The music speaks for itself- Tracy Fuehrer

    My only regret when it comes to my exposure to the world of jazz and 1940-50's pop music is that I didn't discover it even sooner. The first car I had when I turned sixteen didn't have a cassette deck, so I listened to the radio when I drove, particularly an AM station that played 1940's and 1950's music. I heard artists of the likes of Jo Stafford, Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, etc. There was a deeper, more profound musical nature to these old songs that wasn't present in even the "best" of rock. At about the same time I saw two movies that sparked my interest in that era: "Forever Young" which featured Billie Holiday's rendition of "The Very Thought of You" and "Shining Through" set during WWII, complete with tons of Glenn Miller music. I'm sure the people at the downtown record store were shocked when I started ordering albums of this genre rather than 70's-80's rock! As a budding vocalist in show and swing choirs, I didn't only listen to these albums, I studied them. I learned all the lyrics, all the notes. About a year later, I sent for a CD collection of female vocalists, from Capitol, and June Christy was one of the featured singers. I didn't pay her much heed as the song she had on that disc was "Shoo Fly Pie", which, to be completely honest, has never been one of my favorites, no matter if Christy sings it! What did catch my attention, on another album, was "Midnight Sun." To me, it is THE quintessential jazz recording. It was my senior year in high school and my last variety concert was fast approaching. Until I heard "Midnight Sun" I had no idea what I wanted to sing. Unfortunately, as is the case with most sheet music, the key was not the original and was all wrong, too high, so I sang "Where or When" instead. It was after I graduated from high school that I began to collect Christy albums in earnest. Because I am attending college in order to become a high school history and english a second language teacher, music didn't fit into my schedule. My days of spending the majority of my time on music performance were over. Even though I felt this loss deeply, Christy's music filled the void. I was and am convinced that this "shift" of focus was no accident. As they say, when God closes a door, He opens a window. I could sense that, though I had no idea how, the jazz I was listening to would cause me to grow in my own musical arts. This past winter, after I'd acquired all the Christy CD's I could find, I began a quest for LP's, inspiring me to buy a plethora of record players. This spring I finally located the crown jewel of my collection, the rare "This Time of Year." I don't think I have any one favorite Christy song, because they are all magnificent in their own way (yes, even Shoo Fly Pie. That one had to grow on me for a little while). "My Heart Belongs To Only You", "Midnight Sun" and "For All We Know" are a few of them I like the best. Through Christy I have also discovered Anita O'Day and Chris Connor, who are also among my favorites, in the company of Jo Stafford, Peggy Lee and Billie Holiday. The winter was also when I discovered exactly how, besides keeping me excellent company, these musicians have benefitted me. I have reached an age when my singing voice has "matured" (like comparing Christy's early Kenton tracks to her Something Cool era) The real highlight of reaching a peak has been a series of sessions in our local recording studio. The first session was a birthday gift from my mother, an excellent arranger and pianist, and ever since then, I've been hooked! Whenever I get a new album, I'm almost as excited about reading the liner notes as hearing the music (well, not quite as excited. . . the music speaks for itself). As a writer I've learned how to be a "detective" when it comes to people and characters to locate the unique traits that define them. Anyone as interesting as Christy grips my imagination. One of the fruits of my writing (I scorn to call it labor) has been the anniversary tribute poem that Jim has been kind enough to post here on his page. It originally consisted of only the middle stanza, growing into my first piece of dramatic monologue when I attended a writers' conference in 1998. Even though I never knew Christy personally, I feel as though I have and still do know her through her wonderful music.

  • Sing for the troops - Jeffrey Skinner

    It's heartening to see that my favorite female singer of the century had and has a host of other admirers. My father heard her sing for the troops when he was in the navy towards the end of WWII; I listened to her records when I was a kid, much prefering her to Elvis. Yes, I loved Janis Joplin, the Beatles, etc; but I was IN love with June Christy, a crush it was better not to talk about with my peers. And that's lasted. Thanks for your wonderful work on the website. All I knew before was her voice (which would've been enough, of course). It's good to have all that background, and to learn what cds are now available. My tapes, recorded from dad's albums, are worn out. Do you know if Christy ever crossed paths with the jazz pianist Bill Evans? He's another of my passions; it strikes me they would've made beautiful music together. I'm sure they never recorded together, but do you know if they met, or if she ever spoke of his work?

  • Innovations in Modern Music - Anthony Roberts

    May I just say that I saw June Christy in the early fifties during Stan Kenton's "Inovations in Modern Music" tour. The stage was darkened with only the pin lights of the musicians' stands showing. Suddenly a spotlight exploded onto the beautiful face of June Christy and her first words were "I'm not much to look at." The audience roared because she was so magificent and they were, from then on, totally in her hands. That concert was one of the most impressive I have ever seen.

  • Sweet's Ballroom in Oakland, CA - OLDTRUMPET

    I'm glad I stumbled across your June Christy site! I became a Kenton fan in about 1944 or 1945, I think, while Anita O'Day's vocals with him were playing big on juke boxes. In the Navy, I had the opportunity to catch the Kenton band at the famous Sweet's Ballroom in Oakland, CA, in January 1946. June was on the band by then, of course, and I believe every sailor in the place fell in love with June - the civilian men probably did, too. She was wonderful. Vido Musso was talking to her constantly during breaks but I don't recall Bob Cooper's even being near her. I was really pleased when I learned she had married Coop. I saw Kenton many times of through the years, all over the country, but I don't remember seeing June again. I still have 78's of goodies, such as "Just a Sittin' and a Rockin'."

  • What a lyric and a singer can deliver - Mark Jamison

    What a joy it has been to find your sight! I am 30 years old and have been a fan of June's since I was a kid. My parents listened to her all the time when they were dating and right away, I absorbed their taste in music. In fact, Something Cool was the first song my father played for me and asked me to interpret the lryic. It was the first time I really understood what a lyric and a singer can deliver especially when paired with an excellent melody. I am now a singer as well and I've been working in Chicago for a few years. I am a cabaret/jazz singer and I can't tell you how heavily influenced I have been by June, her music, and her personal style. Tonight, with my friend Justin Hayford at the piano, I am opening my first show dedicated to June and I can't wait to see what other June fans will come out of the woodwork. The last couple of years I have been singing the music of Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer and my first CD that will be released next month is entitled Here's to Hoagy! I can't wait to continue my work on June's music though and it would be such a thrill to record a CD of her music. I'll keep you posted. Until then, thank you for such a great site and for allowing everyone to share their thoughts and memories of such a wonderful person and singer!

  • I found her voice haunting - Jack Kamm

    Thanks for your response re: videos of June Christy. I'll check them out. Once again, it's great to know that your website exists. Like so many other people, when I'd first heard June sing I found her voice haunting and vulnerable and the sound stayed with me. I guess that's the keen sign of a standard of art: the desire to go back to it: the inability to ignore the call. June Christy still holds that lure and she exists in praise and memory on your page.

  • Baker's Keyboard Lounge - (B Loose)

    I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and lived for the times when the Kenton Orchestra came to town - once or twice each year. I absolutely loved June Christy's voice, and still do, all these years later. in the early 1960's I had married and moved to Detroit, and saw an ad saying that June Christy was coming to play "Baker's Keyboard Lounge" - where I also saw Carmen McRae, Stan Getz and Mel Torme. She had aged since I was a teen ager, but her voice was still WONDERFUL. My wife, who had never heard of June Christy, came away believing that I at least knew something about singers. Now when I play a CD of her old songs, it takes me back to the years when I played and wore out her LPs on my "hi-fi". Thanks for this page!

  • Joe Castro Quartet - Joseph Castro

    I saw your marvelous pages on June. and was very pleased and surprised. So nice to see a page on Christy. That's That's what she used to like to called....Hi Christy! I still called her June. She was the sweetest.and the best! I played and conducted for her for some years. I also, am the Pianist on these Albums Those Kenton Days Ballads For Night People Something Cool (Stereo Version) Road Show Cool School (Joe Castro Quartet) She was a GREAT Singer and a Marvelous and Wonderful Person! She Was a great and close friend of mine..I am still in touch with her daughter,SHAY. I was also a friend of Bob Cooper and recorded with him, also.

  • Christy memorabilia - William Vernon

    I have been a June Christy fan for over 50 years & I have gotten much pleasure out of your webpage on her. Thanks to you I was able to print pictures of her to add to my June Christy memorabilia. I came across this web site with many photos of June & Bob Cooper & thought you might like it. That is if you have not seen it already, Its nice to know there are other fans out there who love & enjoy June Christy as I do.

  • THERE IS NO GREATER LOVE - Bert Whitford

    I believe it was in 1948 that I heard a record I liked and bought a 45 rpm copy. It was THERE IS NO GREATER LOVE by the Pastels. After a few times of playing it I decided to see what was on the flip side. It was ACROSS THE ALLEY FROM THE ALAMO by June and the Kenton orchestra. I have been a fan of both ever since and and am still collecting LPs and CDs of both.

  • Brings a tear - Donald Mcdonald

    Thanks for the june christy web site. It's nice to know that other people remember her. I think that my all time favourite is "I'll Remember April". this still brings a tear to my eyes and someone who can do that from fifty years back is no mean performer. Many thanks again keep up the good work.

  • Festival Hall - Allan Hailstone

    I was very glad to come upon your Website this evening; although I haven't time at the moment to read it all, I am looking forward to coming back to it. I am thrilled to find someone who has at least HEARD of June Christy, my all-time favourite singer, along with Billie. I saw June at the Festival Hall, I think in about 1958, and still have the programme autographed by her when I went to the Stage Door. Parkinson sometimes plays her on his R2 Sunday programme, but few now remember her.

  • ONE OF THE ALL TIME GREATS - JOHN

    I WAS BORN & RAISED IN NEW YORK CITY & MOVED TO SILVER SPRING , MARYLAND ABOUT 2 DECADES AGO. DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER DATA ON JUNE CHRISTY SUCH AS WHAT THE NATIONALITY OF HER FAMILY WAS? I NEVER SAW HER IN PERSON. WHEN I FIRST HEARD HER I DISMISSED HER AS ANOTHER ANITA O'DAY COPY. THEN A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO I GOT VIDEOS OF HER & REALIZED THAT SHE WAS QUITE DIFFERENT. IN FACT ONE OF THE ALL TIME GREATS.

  • This is My Theme - Eric Seppala

    I just went through your terrific site on June Christy. I am a huge fan of hers and grew up hearing her because my father was a fan of hers from the start. We had all her LP's and even the 78 that had that bizarre recording of "This is My Theme". My dad has many fond memories of seeing her, including the time he spotted her at a Chris Connor club date. She was alone and incognito with a large hat and scarf and large sunglasses on. He asked her if she was June Christy and she put a finger to her lips and said "Don't tell anyone". He assumed she was there to spy on her rival's act. Another fun memory of mine is when I was taking a workshop from Billy Barnes and he told me about the origins of "Something Cool". He had written that for a college assignment which was to take a character from a non-musical play, and write a song for them. He chose Blanche DuBois from Streetcar Named Desire and out came Something Cool. I am a singer and musician and have transcribed many of June's recordings and arrangements over the past years. And have also collected many of her LPs and 45 picture sleeves. My father, who plays piano, received a collected music book that I created for him for his birthday so that he could play his favorite Christy songs on the piano. I really enjoyed your site and am in constant search for June's Cool School album on CD. Any ideas?

  • Christy's Bossa Nova - Rogers Turrentine

    Just discovered your extensive June Christy website. I'll delve into it in depth at a later time. It's fascinating. Bob Cooper and I collaborated as songwriters on several tunes in the early 60s, one of which June recorded -- "Bossa Nova" (no "The") -- her last 45 for Capitol. Shortly after Coop died I managed to break my only pressing when I was moving and haven't been able to locate another copy. I'd appreciate any information you might have as to how I could find a replacement. My Internet research hasn't turned up anything. I should be able to supply you with some color photos I took of Christy during that period singing in a San Diego nightclub. I have the negatives in storage. It's just a matter of finding them. June used to tell delightful anecdotes about her years on the road. I tried more than once to get her to let me write her biography but she always declined. For the past twenty years I've been a film and television writer and I still occasionally entertain the notion of doing a screenplay about her.

  • A Legacy of Song - bill killip

    Let me say first how much I have enjoyed your June Christy site. I am always amazed how the internet allows people all over the world who would never other wise meet to share common interests. Anyway, I was browsing the Stan Kenton selections at Amazon.com the other day and noticed that the recording of the Kenton band at the 1972 Newport Jazz Festival is set to be released within the next month. I have the cd "June Christy, A Legacy of Song" in my collection, which contains a track from this performance ("Remind Me"). She introduces the song by saying "I'll tell you what we have up next...", which has always led me to wonder what else she may have sang that day, and whether or not it was recorded as well. The quality of the recording is not the greatest, but given the date, this surely must have been about the last Kenton/Christy performance to be recorded, so there is some historical significance. Amazon does not list the tracks on the new cd, but hopefully it will include whatever else they may have done that day. I have put my order in to be shipped as soon as it becomes available. Do you have any info on this? Thanks and keep up the good work.

  • Road Show - richard h. velvart

    I am a great fan of Misty Miss Christy. Also, looking for the 'On the Road' record (CD?) of Kenton with the Four Freshmen and June Christy. Can you help?

  • "The Clouds" - Cameron

    I too am a long-time Christy fan. I saw her in person at "The Clouds," a club at the Park Surf Hotel half a block from the beach at Waikiki in the late '50s. I had been listening to her for years. My copy of "Something Cool" has been held together by tape for so long that the tape needs tape. Nobody seems to mention that her signature tune for years was "Willow Weep For Me," written by the same woman who wrote "Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?" The two songs have some similarity. My favorite cut (favourite? Brit spelling), however, is from another album: "Ballads for Night People." Listen to her do 'Round Midnight. I think it is her best ever.

  • Was in high school - jenice marsico

    I loved june christy's music when i was in high school. i have had a recent desire to purchase a cd with a particular song, my all time favorite, "my heart belongs to only you". none of the cd's i've seen offer this selection. it is on my old LP, Capitol Records, titled "this is june christy". can you help me locate it? i would be very grateful. thank you.

  • how important your site is - Timothy Osburn

    I first discovered this site a couple of years ago. Recently been cruising Ebay, looking for things June (got an autographed pic--soo excited). Anyway just went through your site pretty comprehensively again and am so grateful to you. I just had to say something. Not just the information but the affection you bring to her work is moving. I hope you are well and I hope you know how important your site is to many people like myself.

  • Television appearances - Niall Stokes

    I was looking throuhg your webpage of June christy, excellent site. I've only heard of June more recently but I'm becoming somewhat of a Fan .I know nothing about her but I was wondering was the Dublin gig Dublin Ireland or Dublin America(as far as I know there's a few Dublins in the states) I live in Dublin (Ireland)myself so I was wondering as it would have particular interest for me if she had played here. Also, I a particular fan of Julie london and I was wondering if you had any information on her , or if you knew anyone who might know where i could get any Television appearances of her, which are so rare. Are there any available of June ?

  • The record "I Was A Fool" - Bud Tougas

    Thank you a thousand times for the recording lists. When I was 15 (I'm 61 now) we used to ride around and have coffee here or there (in Rhode Island). One night I got knocked on the floor by a June Christy song on the jukebox. Being a kid, I didn't buy the record and by the time I started to look for it nobody had ever heard of it - neither disk jockies nor musicians. Occasionally, over the years, I have taken another stab at finding it, always unsuccessfully. Actually, this difficulty now seems surprising since your chart shows that the song was on the flip side of a big hit, "My Heart Belongs To Only You". At any rate, thank you for your astonishingly complete record of the great June Christy songbook. At my age, you begin to wonder if you are losing your grip. One of the few times I saw her perform was in 1963 at Pio's Lounge in North Providence, R.I. What a treat! She was four feet from my table through each performance.

  • "AFN broadcast from Frankfurt" - The Fergusons

    Only recently when I was browsing through the jazz discs in a Toronto record store ,did I get re-acquainted with the work of June Christy.I bought the "SONG IS JUNE" and I then sent away for "SOMETHING COOL" I have been playing them both constantly ever since. I was immediately taken back to my teenage years in Scotland where I listened to the AFN broadcast from Frankfurt, I think. You could definitely say that I lost some sleep over Miss Christy as this always took place at night when everyone else was sleeping. As I recall when she sang with Stan Kenton they did not represent the mainstream and Kenton's music was looked on as a bit loud and avant garde by the teenagers that I went to school with, but I always thought that Miss Christy was special and very different from the pop stars of the 40's and 50's who always sang with supreme optimism and without the detachment and uderlying moodiness of June.

  • Congratulations! - Richard Rodney Bennett

    I'm new to the Internet, but you probably know there's a Website in the USA called Songbirds, which is all about jazz singers; they get at least 25 letters a day from people wanting to discuss, compare, look for cds and out- of-print lps. June's name often comes up, along with just about every good singer there is (or has been). I was amazed and thrilled to find the June Christy Website. You may know my name - I'm a composer/pianist/arranger working in the field of both classical music and jazz. I've worked as pianist and/or arranger for among others Mark Murphy, Cleo Laine, Marian Montgomery, Annie Ross and...CHRIS CONNOR, with whom I did 2 albums and many,many concerts and club performances. As you must know, Chris is and was absolutely devoted to June, who recommended her to Kenton. She is still going strong at 70, tho' I haven't worked with her for a while. If she doesn't already know, she will be as pleased as I to know about the Christy Website. I was a fan of June's from the late 50's on, and learned many songs from her great recordings. I never saw her work, but have all her albums still. I am also frequently in touch with an excellent singer in Los Angeles named Pinky Winters, who sang at June's Memorial Service, and who lives with Lou Levy, who was I think the last pianist to record with June. They will be very interested too. That's enough from me. Congratulations!

  • "My Heart Belongs To Only You" - Sam Hall

    I have been searching for years for June's "My Heart Belongs To Only You". Do you know if it is at all available? I have been a fan since her Kenton days and finally got to see her in performance with the great Nat Cole, Four Freshmen, June Christy tour of 1956. Many of her recordings are being reissued, as you know, but I can't find "My Heart Belongs To Only You". If you have any information, I would greatly appreciate hearing form you.

  • Japanese guy who love June Christy - Makoto Nakamura

    My name is Makoto Nakamura, just Japanese guy who love June Christy. She is the best singer in the universe for me. I really love her. The CD of her I have is not so many yet, it isn't sold a lot in Japan. Last year, when I visited Hawaii, I ran to music shop and bought her CDs. Her CD I have was just only "Something cool" before. I went back to my hotel and listen the CD I just had got. I don't know the date she has died, but the booklet of CD let me know that it's 21th June, yes the day I bought her CD at Hawaii. Well, I'm trying to build my personal web page. Then I'd love to link your great Misty Miss Christy site.

  • Lou levy played piano - Ron

    Am a big Kenton fan and Christy! There is a long play album,cover was blue, with June and a small group. Lou levy played piano and am not sure of the other players. I want to buy is someplace if possible. Was released in the 80s I believe. There is another album, non-Christy released in the 80s with Bill Evans and I believe Lee Konitz, Conte Condoli and maybe Frank Rosolino. One cut for sure, either on this album, which also had a blue cover, or the Christy album above, was a tribute to Richie Kamucha; you know who played sax with Stan and died pretty early in life. Any help you can give me on locating both albums is appreciated. FYI, I produced, with a friend in the 80s, a 3 radio hour tribute to Stan Kenton; recorded it at Bias Recording in Alexandria, Va. which was aired in toto on Willis Conover's American Jazz hour on VOA, NPR and many major cities throughout the US. We had a release from the estate and was a non-profit venture. Also had the same idea for a 2-hour radio program tributing the Four Freshman which a friend of mine and another person produced and recorded, getting a lot of air time. Hope you can dig around and assist. Enjoyed the web site on Christy.

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