Peggy Lee
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| Peggy Lee | |
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 Peggy Lee in the 1943 film Stage Door Canteen.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Norma Deloris Egstrom |
| Born | May 26, 1920 |
| Origin | Jamestown, North Dakota |
| Died | January 21, 2002 (aged 81) |
| Genre(s) | Traditional Pop, Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, Actress |
| Years active | 1941– 1996 |
| Label(s) | Decca Records Capitol Records |
| Associated acts | Jo Stafford, Patti Page, Rosemary Clooney |
Peggy Lee (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002) was an American jazz and popular music singer and songwriter and Academy Award-nominated actress. She was born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota. Widely recognized as one of the most important musical influences of the 20th century, Lee has been cited as a mentor to such diverse artists as Bobby Darin, Paul McCartney, Bette Midler, Madonna, k.d. lang, Elvis Costello, Dusty Springfield, Dr. John, and numerous others. As a songwriter, she collaborated with her late husband Dave Barbour, Sonny Burke, Victor Young, Francis Lai, Dave Grusin, John Chiodini, and Duke Ellington who stated, "If I'm the Duke, then Peggy's the Queen." As an actress, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Pete Kelly's Blues.
Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong all cited Lee as one of their favorite singers.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
The youngest child of seven, Lee found music to provide an escape from the abusive rampages of her cruel stepmother, Min, who tormented and beat young Norma. She first sang professionally with KOVC radio in Valley City, North Dakota. She soon landed her own series on a radio show sponsored by a local restaurant that paid her "salary" in food. Both during and after her high school years, she took whatever jobs she could find, waitressing and singing for paltry sums on other local stations. Radio personality Ken Kennedy (actual name: Ken Sydness), of WDAY in Fargo (the most widely listened to station in North Dakota) changed her name from Norma to Peggy Lee. Tired of the abuse from her stepmother, she left home and traveled to Los Angeles at the age of 17.
She returned to North Dakota for a tonsillectomy and eventually made her way to Chicago for a gig at The Buttery Room, a nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel West in Chicago, where she drew the attention of Benny Goodman, the jazz clarinetist and band leader. According to Lee, "Benny's then-fiancée, Lady Alice Duckworth, came into the Buttery, and she was very impressed. So the next evening she brought Benny in, because they were looking for replacement for Helen Forrest. "And although I didn't know, I was it. He was looking at me strangely, I thought, but it was just his preoccupied way of looking. I thought that he didn't like me at first, but it just was that he was preoccupied with what he was hearing." She joined his band in 1941 and stayed for two years.
[edit] Recording career
In early 1942, Lee had her first # 1 hit, "Somebody Else Is Taking My Place," followed by 1943's "Why Don't You Do Right?" (originally sung by Lil Green), which sold over a million copies and made her famous. She sang with Goodman in two 1943 films, Stage Door Canteen and The Powers Girl.
In March 1943, Lee married Dave Barbour, the guitarist in Goodman's band. Peggy said, "David joined Benny's band and there was a ruling that no one should fraternize with the girl singer. But I fell in love with David the first time I heard him play, and so I married him. Benny then fired David, so I quit, too. Benny and I made up, although David didn't play with him anymore. Benny stuck to his rule. I think that's not too bad a rule, but you can't help falling in love with somebody."
When Lee and Barbour left the band, the idea was that he would work in the studios and she would keep house and raise their daughter, Nicki. But she drifted back towards songwriting and occasional recording sessions for the fledgling Capitol Records in 1944, for whom she produced a long string of hits, many of them with lyrics and music by Lee and Barbour, including "I Don't Know Enough About You" and "It's a Good Day" (1946). With the release of the smash-hit #1-selling record of 1948, "Mañana," her "retirement" was over.
In 1948, she joined Perry Como and Jo Stafford as one of the rotating hosts of the NBC Radio musical program Chesterfield Supper Club. She was also a regular on NBC's Jimmy Durante Show during the 1947-48 season.
She left Capitol for a few years in the early 1950s, but returned in 1957. She is most famous for her cover version of the Little Willie John hit "Fever", to which she added her own, uncopyrighted lyrics ("Romeo loved Juliet," "Captain Smith and Pocahontas") and her rendition of Leiber and Stoller's "Is That All There Is?" Her relationship with the Capitol label spanned almost three decades, aside from her brief but artistically rich detour (1952-1956) at Decca Records, where she recorded one of her most acclaimed albums Black Coffee (1956). While recording for Decca, Lee had hit singles with the songs "Lover" and "Mr. Wonderful."
[edit] Songwriting
She was also known as a songwriter with such hits as the songs from the Disney movie Lady and the Tramp, for which she also supplied the singing and speaking voices of four characters. Her many songwriting collaborators, in addition to Barbour, included Laurindo Almeida, Harold Arlen, Sonny Burke, Cy Coleman, Gene DiNovi, Duke Ellington, Dave Grusin, Dick Hazard, Quincy Jones, Francis Lai, Jack Marshall, Johnny Mandel, Marian McPartland, Willard Robison, Lalo Schifrin, Hubie Wheeler, guitarist Johnny Pisano and Victor Young.
She wrote the lyrics for "I Don't Know Enough About You", "It's A Good Day", "I'm Gonna Go Fishin'", "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter", "Fever", "The Shining Sea", "He's A Tramp", "The Siamese Cat Song", "There Will Be Another Spring", "Johnny Guitar", "Sans Souci", ""What's New?", "Things Are Swinging", "Don't Smoke in Bed", "I Love Being Here With You", "So What's New" and numerous others.
During a time when youths began turning to rock'n'roll, she was one of the mainstays of Capitol recordings. She was the first of the "old guard" to recognize this new genre, as is evident in her recordings of the Beatles, Randy Newman, Carole King, James Taylor and other up-and-coming songwriters. From 1957 until her final disc for the company in 1972, she routinely produced a steady stream of two or three albums per year which usually included standards (often arranged in a style quite different from the original), her own compositions, and material from young artists.
[edit] Acting career
Lee also acted in several films. In 1952, she played opposite Danny Thomas in a remake of the early Al Jolson film, The Jazz Singer. In 1955, she played a despondent, alcoholic blues singer in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955), for which she was nominated for an Oscar.
Lee was nominated for 12 Grammy Awards, winning Best Contemporary Vocal Performance for her 1969 hit "Is That All There Is?" In 1995 she was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
In the early 1990s, she retained famed entertainment attorney Neil Papiano, who, on her behalf, successfully sued Disney for royalties on Lady and the Tramp. Lee's lawsuit claimed that she was due royalties for video tapes, a technology that did not exist when she agreed to write and perform for Disney.
Never afraid to fight for what she believed in, Lee was passionate that musicians be equitably compensated for their work. Although she realized litigation had taken a toll on her health, Lee often quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson ("God's will will not be made manifest by cowards.")
She also successfully sued MCA/Decca with the assistance of noted entertainment attorney, Cy Godfrey.
[edit] Retirement and death
She continued to perform into the 1990s, sometimes in a wheelchair, and still mesmerized audiences and critics alike. After years of poor health, Lee died of complications from diabetes and heart attack at the age of 81. She is survived by Nicki Lee Foster, her daughter with Barbour. She is buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California.
[edit] Legacy
[edit] Academy Awards memoriam omission
She was not featured in Memoriam Tribute during the Academy Awards ceremony. When her family requested she be featured in the following year's ceremony, the Academy stated they did not honor requests and Lee was omitted because her contribution to film and her legacy were not deemed significant enough. The Lee family pointed out that, although she had been omitted, R&B singer/actress Aaliyah, who died a few months earlier, was included though having been in only one moderately successful film, Romeo Must Die (Queen of the Damned had yet to be released). The Academy provided no comment on the oversight.
[edit] Awards
Lee is a recipient of the state of North Dakota's Roughrider Award; the Pied Piper Award from The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP); the Presidents Award, from the Songwriters Guild of America; the Ella Award for Lifetime Achievement, from the Society of Singers; and the Living Legacy Award, from the Women's International Center. In 1999 she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
[edit] Carnegie Hall tribute
In 2003, "There'll Be Another Spring: A Tribute to Miss Peggy Lee" was held at Carnegie Hall. Produced by recording artist Richard Barone, the sold-out event included performances by Cy Coleman, Debbie Harry, Nancy Sinatra, Rita Moreno, Marian McPartland, Chris Connor, Petula Clark and many others. In 2004, Barone brought the event to the Hollywood Bowl and Chicago's Ravinia Festival, with expanded casts including Maureen McGovern and Bea Arthur. The Carnegie Hall concert was broadcast as on NPR's "Jazz Set."
[edit] Biographies
[edit] Autobiography
- Peggy Lee, Miss Peggy Lee: An Autobiography, 2002, Bloomsbury (UK), ISBN 0-7475-5907-4
[edit] Other authors
- Peter Richmond, Fever: The Life and Music of Miss Peggy Lee, 2006, Henry Holt and Company, ISBN 0-8050-7383-3
- Robert Strom, Miss Peggy Lee: A Career Chronicle, 2005, McFarland Publishing, ISBN 0-7864-1936-9
[edit] Biographical album liner notes
- Will Friedwald, Album liner notes The Best of Peggy Lee, The Capitol Years
[edit] Albums
[edit] Capitol Records
- 1948 Rendezvous with Peggy Lee (set of 78s: 6 songs)
- 1952 Rendezvous with Peggy Lee (10-inch LP: 8 songs; 12-inch LP: 12 songs)
[edit] Decca Records
- 1953 Black Coffee (10-inch version)
- 1954 Songs in an Intimate Style
- 1954 Selections from Irving Berlin's 'White Christmas' (w/ Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye)
- 1955 Songs from Pete Kelly's Blues' (w/ Ella Fitzgerald)
- 1956 Black Coffee (12-inch version)
- 1957 Dream Street
- 1957 Songs from Walt Disney's "Lady and the Tramp"
- 1958 Sea Shells (recorded 1955)
- 1959 Miss Wonderful (recorded 1956)
[edit] Capitol Records
- 1957 The Man I Love
- 1959 Jump for Joy
- 1959 Things Are Swingin'
- 1959 I Like Men!
- 1959 Beauty and the Beat!
- 1960 Latin ala Lee!
- 1960 All Aglow Again!
- 1960 Pretty Eyes
- 1960 Christmas Carousel
- 1960 Olé ala Lee
- 1961 Basin Street East Proudly Presents Miss Peggy Lee
- 1961 If You Go
- 1962 Blues Cross Country
- 1962 Bewitching-Lee
- 1962 Sugar 'N' Spice
- 1963 Mink Jazz
- 1963 I'm a Woman
- 1964 In Love Again!
- 1964 In the Name of Love
- 1965 Pass Me By
- 1965 Then Was Then - Now Is Now!
- 1966 Guitars A là Lee
- 1966 Big $pender
- 1967 Extra Special!
- 1967 Somethin' Groovy!
- 1968 2 Shows Nightly
- 1969 A Natural Woman
- 1969 Is That All There Is?
- 1970 Bridge Over Troubled Water
- 1970 Make It With You
- 1971 Where Did They Go
- 1972 Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown, North Dakota
[edit] Post-Capitol albums
- 1974 Let's Love
- 1975 Mirrors
- 1977 Live in London
- 1977 Peggy
- 1979 Close Enough for Love
- 1988 Miss Peggy Lee Sings the Blues
- 1990 The Peggy Lee Songbook: There'll Be Another Spring
- 1993 Love Held Lightly: Rare Songs by Harold Arlen (rec. 1988)
- 1993 Moments Like This
[edit] Filmography
- The Powers Girl (1943)
- Stage Door Canteen (1943)
- Banquet of Melody (1946) (short subject)
- Jasper in a Jam (1946) (short subject) (voice)
- Midnight Serenade (1947) (short subject)
- Peggy Lee and the Dave Barbour Quartet (1950) (short subject)
- Mr. Music (1950)
- The Jazz Singer (1952)
- Lady and the Tramp (1955) (voice)
- Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
- Celebrity Art (1973) (short subject)
[edit] References
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This article does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
[edit] External links
- Official website: PeggyLee.com
- Peggy Lee Discography
- Peggy Lee at the Internet Movie Database
- Songwriters Hall of Fame's Peggy Lee exhibit
- Peggy Lee's Gravesite
- Review of a Peggy Lee biography by Mark Steyn
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lee, Peggy |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Egstrom, Norma Deloris |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Singer, Actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 26, 1920 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Jamestown, North Dakota |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 21, 2002 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California |
