June Campbell Cramer (3 June 1931 – 7 June 1999), better known as Lady June, was an English painter, poet and musician.
[ She was associated with the ]Canterbury scene
The Canterbury scene (or Canterbury sound) was a musical scene centred on the town of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Associated with progressive rock, the term describes a loosely-defined, improvisational styl ...
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
Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.
Life and writing
Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...
at AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
described her as a "Bohemian artist",[ and an obituary in '']The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' called her "a great British eccentric and cosmic prankster".[
]
Biography
June Campbell Cramer was born on 3 June 1931 in Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
in Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
, England.[ Her parents were Scottish and Russian, and she was brought up in ]Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
according to the strict rules of the Plymouth Brethren
The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and non-conformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where they originated from Anglicanism. The group emphasizes ...
, a conservative Evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
Christian movement.[ In the late 1940s, her father, a fashion retailer, took her to the Spanish island of ]Majorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean.
The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...
, where he introduced her to modelling. June moved to London in the 1950s where she worked as a model and studied at an art college.[ In the early 1960s she returned to Majorca, where she continued modelling in Palma.][
In Palma June met several musicians including ]Daevid Allen
Christopher David Allen (13 January 1938 – 13 March 2015), known professionally as Daevid Allen, sometimes credited as Divided Alien, was an Australian musician. He was co-founder of the psychedelic rock groups Soft Machine (in the UK, 1966) ...
and Kevin Ayers
Kevin Ayers (16 August 1944 – 18 February 2013) was an English singer-songwriter who was active in the English psychedelic music movement. Ayers was a founding member of the psychedelic band Soft Machine in the mid-1960s, and was closely assoc ...
, who later became associated with the Canterbury scene
The Canterbury scene (or Canterbury sound) was a musical scene centred on the town of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Associated with progressive rock, the term describes a loosely-defined, improvisational styl ...
and were founding members of the Canterbury bands Gong
A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...
and Soft Machine
Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966–196 ...
. June later moved to the coastal village of Deià
Deià is a municipality and small coastal village in the Serra de Tramuntana, which forms the northern ridge of the Spanish island of Mallorca. It is located about north of Valldemossa, and it is known for its literary and musical residents. ...
on Majorca, home of the English poet Robert Graves
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...
. 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."[ 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.][ Her paintings, and later her poetry, were filled with elements of "surreal humour".][
In the late 1960s June moved into a flat in Vale Court in ]Maida Vale
Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is p ...
, London, which she opened up to many musicians to lodge in or just "hang out".[ 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".][ She hosted many parties there, including a birthday party in June 1973 for ]Gilli Smyth
Gillian Mary Smyth (1 June 1933 – 22 August 2016) was an English musician who performed with the bands Gong, Mother Gong, and Planet Gong and released several solo albums and albums in collaboration with other members of Gong. In Gong, she ...
, Allen's wife, during which ex-Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is a retired English musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming para ...
broke his back when he fell from a fourth-floor window.[
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 ]Edinburgh Festival
__NOTOC__
This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...
. In 1973 she worked on the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
series ''If It's Wednesday It Must Be...'' with Kenny Everett
Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole; 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an English comedian, radio disc jockey and television presenter. After spells on pirate radio and Radio Luxembourg in the mid-1960s, he was one of the fi ...
and Vivian Stanshall
Vivian Stanshall (born Victor Anthony Stanshall; 21 March 1943 – 5 March 1995) was an English singer-songwriter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his exploration of the British upper ...
, and participated in a Radiophone Workshop for BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
.[ Later that year she recorded '' Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy'', an album of her poetry to music by Ayers, one of her tenants, and ]Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...
, who lived nearby.[ The recording was made in the front room of her flat in Vale Court with Ayers, Eno and ]Pip Pyle
Phillip "Pip" Pyle (4 April 1950 – 28 August 2006) was an English-born drummer from Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, who later resided in France. He is best known for his work in the progressive rock Canterbury scene bands Gong, Hatfield an ...
,[ and reportedly cost £400.][ ]Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.
Life and writing
Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...
at AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
called the album "an eccentric piece of work" with songs that are "odd, whimsical, rather surrealistic spoken poems, delivered in a quirkily aristocratic manner".[
June continued performing solo and with other artists, and appeared at several women's festivals in Amsterdam and London.][ In 1975 she moved back to Deià, where she lived in the artists' commune, and it was here that she was most productive. Ayers said, "I think she found what she was looking for ... She had been involved in fashion and didn't really like it. She had a longing to be an artist – at whatever cost – and discovered that in Deià."][ June maintained contact with the Canterbury scene musicians and groups, and she featured in a Gong concert held in Paris in May 1977.][ June overcame her shyness by drinking and taking soft drugs, but often tended to over-indulge. ]Cream
Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...
lyricist Pete Brown said, "She smoked and drank a bit too much ... but her paintings continued to be terrific and so funny."[ In the mid-1990s June suffered a minor ]stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
, but this did not deter her work and she continued exhibiting her paintings and giving poetry performances in Deià.[
In 1996 June released her second record, ''Hit and Myth'', and was working on a third, ''Rebela'', an autobiography/audiobiography with ]Mark Hewins
Mark Hewins (born 24 March 1955) is an English jazz guitarist known for his connections to the Canterbury scene, a group of English progressive rock musicians during the 1960s.
Biography
Hewins' professional career as a guitarist began in 1 ...
, featuring some of the members of Gong, Pete Brown, Lol Coxhill
George Lowen Coxhill (19 September 1932 – 10 July 2012) known professionally as Lol Coxhill, was an English free improvising saxophonist. He played soprano and sopranino saxophone.
Biography
Coxhill was born to George Compton Coxhill ...
and others, when she died of a heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
in Deià on 7 June 1999.[ An obituary in '']The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' 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."[
]
Discography
*'' Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy'' (1974, LP, Caroline Records
Caroline Records is a record label originally founded in 1973. Initially founded in the United Kingdom to showcase British progressive rock groups, the label ceased releasing titles in 1976, and then re-emerged in the United States in 1986. ...
)
*''Lady June's Hit and Myth'' (1996, CD, Gas Records)
Source: AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:June, Lady
1931 births
1999 deaths
20th-century English painters
People from Doncaster
Canterbury scene
Painters from London
Writers from London
Singers from London
Musicians from Yorkshire
English people of Scottish descent
English people of Russian descent
20th-century English poets
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women artists
20th-century English women singers