Artist:June Christy
Song:A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening
Album:Four Classic Albums
Jazz singer June Christy was best known for her days with Stan Kenton's band. After she left in 1954, she recorded several albums for Capitol Records. She was born Shirley Luster Nov. 20, 1925 in Springfield, IL and she grew up in Decatur. She sang with local bands while she was in high school. After graduating, she moved to Chicago and changed her name to Sharon Leslie. After a stint with Boyd Raeburn, she moved to New York with Benny Strong's band. In 1945, she heard that Anita O'Day had left Stan Kenton's band. She auditioned and got the job. And with that came the name change to June Christy. Though she remained with Kenton until 1954, June started recording her own music on Capitol in 1947. She usually worked with arranger and conductor Pete Rugolo along with her sax player husband Bob Cooper. She worked with Los Angeles session musicians. A Lovely Way To Spend The Evening is from the 1956 album The Misty Miss Christy. The song was written by Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson for the 1944 film Higher and Higher where it was sung by Frank Sinatra. The Ink Spots had a hit single with it. The song has become a jazz standard. You can get The Misty Miss Christy on one of Avid's Four Classic Albums as a budget CD. The other albums are Something Cool (1955), Gone For The Day (1957) and Ballads For Night People (1959). June remained with Capitol until 1965. She retired in 1969 mostly due to alcoholism. She only recorded one more album in 1977. But she would tour with west coast jazz musicians like Shorty Rogers in a big band setting. June Christy died on June 21, 1990 at age 64. Here's June Christy performing A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening with Stan Kenton's band in 1965.
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