Lady June
Lady June | |
---|---|
Majorca, Spain | |
Genres | Progressive rock |
Occupation(s) | Poet, painter, singer |
Instrument(s) | Singing |
Years active | early 1960s – 1999 |
Labels | Caroline |
June Campbell Cramer (3 June 1931 – 7 June 1999), better known as Lady June, was an English painter, poet and musician.[1] She was associated with the Canterbury scene and recorded two albums. She exhibited and performed her works in several countries, often combining her painting, poetry and music into multimedia presentations.
Richie Unterberger at AllMusic described her as a "Bohemian artist",[2] and an obituary in The Independent called her "a great British eccentric and cosmic prankster".[1]
Biography
June Campbell Cramer was born on 3 June 1931 in
In Palma June met several musicians including Daevid Allen and Kevin Ayers, who later became associated with the Canterbury scene and were founding members of the Canterbury bands Gong and Soft Machine. June later moved to the coastal village of Deià on Majorca, home of the English poet Robert Graves. Allen said that in order to live there "you had to have some sort of satisfactory relationship with him ... Robert was very tolerant of June, and she hung out with him."[1] June began painting in Deià and put on several exhibitions of her work there as June 'Onion', hanging an onion over each piece as her signature.[3] Her paintings, and later her poetry, were filled with elements of "surreal humour".[1]
In the late 1960s June moved into a flat in Vale Court in Maida Vale, London, which she opened up to many musicians to lodge in or just "hang out".[2] Allen described her flat as "London's premier smoking salon", and her role of "landlady to many of the capital's more creative musicians" spawned her honorary title of "Lady".[1] She hosted many parties there, including a birthday party in June 1973 for Gilli Smyth, Allen's wife, during which ex-Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt broke his back when he fell from a fourth-floor window.[1][5][6]
By 1970 June was combining her painting, poetry and music into multimedia presentations, and in 1972 she gave performances at a number of venues, including the International Carnival of Experimental Sound in London and the
June continued performing solo and with other artists, and appeared at several women's festivals in Amsterdam and London.
In 1996 June released her second record, Hit and Myth, and was working on a third, Rebela, an autobiography/audiobiography with Mark Hewins,[8][9] featuring some of the members of Gong, Pete Brown, Lol Coxhill and others, when she died of a heart attack in Deià on 7 June 1999.[1] An obituary in The Independent called Lady June "a great British eccentric and cosmic prankster", and said that her "most achieved performance was herself: she succeeded in turning her existence into living art, bristling with humour."[1]
Discography
- Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy (1974, LP, Caroline Records)
- Lady June's Hit and Myth (1996, CD, Gas Records)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Salewicz, Chris (11 June 1999). "Obituary: Lady June". The Independent. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
- ^ a b c Unterberger, Richie. "Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy". AllMusic. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Lady June". Calyx, the Canterbury Music Website. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
- ^ "Interview With Lady June". Facelift. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
- ^ Cumming, Tim (22 September 2003). "'I've no idea what's next'". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
- ^ Johnson, Phil (30 September 1997). "Interview with Robert Wyatt". The Independent. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
- ^ Ingham, Jonh (18 January 1975). "Lady June: Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy". NME. Retrieved 26 June 2019 – via Rock's Backpages.
- ^ "Rebela: A Fantasy Autobiography". Archived from the original on 1 March 2001. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
- ^ "Rebela". SoundCloud. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
- ^ "Lady June discography". AllMusic. Retrieved 21 May 2012.