Susan Christie

Susan Christie is an American singer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is best known for her hit folk song “I Love Onions” and for her critically acclaimed solo psychedelic-folk album Paint A Lady (2006). Her song "Rainy Day" from Paint A Lady is featured in the film Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022).

Early career

Susan Christie studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts along with future music producer and director John Hill, who she had met in junior high school when they were involved in a play. Most of her future music was produced in collaboration with Hill, with whom she was also romantically involved. The songs were eventually released through the Chante label as a single but failed to chart, and were subsequently pushed aside in favor of new projects. Some forty years later they were included as the final two tracks on the album Paint A Lady, where they earned much critical praise.

"I Love Onions"

Susan Christie's first taste of success came with the release of the novelty-folk song “I Love Onions” on April 11, 1966. Christie's breathy vocals are featured with a chorus of kazoo, harmonica, and backup singers. The last verse is recited in an Elmer Fudd type of voice.

The song was well received, but only peaked at #63 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Released internationally, “I Love Onions” charted highest in Canada, where it came in at #19 on the RPM 100 national singles on August 1, 1966, and #5 on the CHUM Chart. It was featured in episodes of Captain Kangaroo, and later adapted for several television ads, including the debut of Funyuns in 1969 and a 1980 Turtles Chocolate commercial. The original single of “I Love Onions” features a second Hill - Cochrane song, “Take Me As You Find Me” on the b-side. Only three privately-pressed vanity copies were produced (circa 1970 - 1971) which the disappointed couple saved along with the master tapes.

Following the failure to complete Paint A Lady, Christie abandoned her dreams of recording as an independent artist, working instead as a jingle singer and focusing on personal and family life. “I had decided against being a normal singer because jingle work was easier to fit around the children. I sang about bladder control, detergents, Diet Pepsi and Maxwell House coffee,” she said during a 2008 interview. Christie herself summed the album up simply: “I’d always been proud of it - it was a new sound, sort of ‘funky-folk’.” In 2009, Christie was featured as a guest artist on John Hill’s album The Six Moons Of Jupiter, providing spoken word vocals, and in 2010 she appeared on Jane Weaver’s album The Fallen By Watch Bird.

Original copies of her singles are highly coveted by collectors, while CD and LP copies of Paint A Lady have become increasingly sought after on Internet auction and music sites since it was first released in 2006.

Finders Keepers Records released a remastered edition of Paint A Lady in February 2019.

Her song "Rainy Day" from Paint a Lady is featured in the Jobu Tupaki entrance scene of the film Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Discography

Singles

"When Love Comes" / "No One Can Hear You Cry" (Chante, 1966) "I Love Onions" / "Take Me As You Find Me" (Columbia, 1966) "Tonight You Belong to Me" / "Toy Balloon" (Columbia, 1967) "All I Have To Do Is Dream" / "Anywhere You Are" (Columbia, 1967) "Paint A Lady" / "Ghost Riders In The Sky" (Finders Keepers Records, 2006)

Albums

Paint A Lady (Finders Keepers Records, 2006) Columbia Singles (Columbia - Legacy, 2018)

Guest Appearances The Six Moons Of Jupiter by John Hill (Finders Keepers Records, 2009) The Fallen By Watchbird by Jane Weaver (Finders Keepers Records, 2010)