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Biography
Use mdy dates|date=November 2011Infobox musical artist| name =Peggy Lee| image =PeggyLee tageDoorCanteen83d40m StageDoorCanteen.jpg| alt =| caption =in the film Stage Door Canteen (1943)| image_size =100| background =solo_singer| birth_name =Norma Deloris Egstrom| alias =| birth_date =birth date|1920|5|26|mf=y| birth_place = Jamestown, North Dakota | origin =| death_date =death date and age|mf=yes|2002|1|21|1920|5|26| death_place = Bel Air, Los Angeles, California | genre = Traditional pop , jazz | occupation = Singer , actress , songwriter| instrument =| years_active =1941–2000| label = Decca Records Capitol Records | associated_acts =| url =| notable_instruments = Peggy Lee (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002) was an United States|American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman 's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona , evolving into a multi-faceted artist and performer. She wrote music for films, acted, and created conceptual record albums—encompassing poetry, jazz, chamber pop, and art songs.
Early life
Lee was born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota , the seventh of eight children of Marvin Olof Egstrom, a station agent for the Midland Continental Railroad. Her mother, Selma Amelia (Anderson), died when Lee was four years old. http://www.peggylee.com/biography/bio_curbio.html Peggy Lee profile at Current Biography Her father was Swedish American and her mother was Norwegian American . http://www.genealogi.se/shf9731.htm
Lee first sang professionally over KOVC radio in Valley City, North Dakota . She later had her own series on a radio show sponsored by a local restaurant that paid her a "salary" in food. Both during and after her high school years, Lee sang for paltry sums on local radio stations. Radio personality Ken Kennedy, of WDAY (AM)|WDAY in Fargo, North Dakota (the most widely heard station in North Dakota), changed her name from Norma to Peggy Lee .citation needed|date=January 2011 Thereafter, Lee left home and traveled to Los Angeles at the age of 17.
She returned to North Dakota for a tonsillectomy , and later made her way to Chicago for a gig at The Buttery Room, a nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel East. There, she was noticed by bandleader Benny Goodman . 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 a 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.
Recording career
In 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's orchestra in two 1943 films, Stage Door Canteen and The Powers Girl .
In March 1943 Lee married Dave Barbour , a 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 to songwriting and occasional recording sessions for the fledgling Capitol Records in 1947, 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" (1948). With the release of the US #1-selling record of 1948, " Mañana ", her "retirement" was over.
In 1948 Lee joined Perry Como and Jo Stafford as a rotating host of the NBC Radio musical program Chesterfield Supper Club .cite book|url= http://books.google.com/books? id=EwtRbXNca0oC& pg=PA152& lpg=PA152& dq=chesterfield+supper+club& source=bl& ots=H4zKbUA0Br& sig=chyBsPTHW5ciO5txTs69pFS9OLk& hl=en& ei=Rj8pTNnOIJWknQfwu9SLAQ& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=10& ved=0CC8Q6AEwCTgU#v=onepage& q=chesterfield%20supper%20club& f=false|title=On the air: the encyclopedia of old time radio|editor-last=Dunning|editor-first=John|year=1998|pages=840|publisher=Oxford University Press USA|isbn=0195076788|accessdate=June 28, 2010cite book|url= http://books.google.com/books? id=dfUDAAAAMBAJ& pg=PA21& dq=chesterfield+supper+club& hl=en& ei=4KacTdTzDM-tgQfSobCNBw& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=4& ved=0CDwQ6AEwAzha#v=onepage& q=chesterfield%20supper%20club& f=false|title=Music--As Written|publisher=Billboard|date=June 19, 1948|accessdate=April 6, 2011 She was also a regular on NBC's Jimmy Durante|Jimmy Durante Show .
She left Capitol for a few years in the early 1950s, but returned in 1953. She is most famous for her cover version of the Little Willie John hit " Fever (1956 song)|Fever " written by Eddie Cooley and John Davenport,cite book|first=John|last=Tobler|year=1992|title=NME Rock 'N' Roll Years|edition=1st|publisher=Reed International Books Ltd|location=London|page=56|id=CN 5585 to which she added her own, uncopyrighted lyrics ("Romeo loved Juliet," "Captain Smith and Pocahontas") and her rendition of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller|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 in 1956 she recorded one of her most acclaimed albums, Black Coffee (Peggy Lee album)|Black Coffee . While recording for Decca, Lee had hit singles with the songs Lover (song)|Lover and Mr. Wonderful (song)|Mister Wonderful .
Lee is today internationally recognized for her signature song " Fever (1956 song)|Fever ". She had a string of successful albums and top 10 hits in three consecutive decades. She is regarded as one of the most influential jazz vocalists of all time, being cited as a mentor to diverse artists such as Judy Garland , Frank Sinatra , Paul McCartney , Bette Midler , Madonna (entertainer)|Madonna , and Dusty Springfield . Lee was also an accomplished actress.
In her 60-year-long career, Peggy was the recipient of three Grammy Awards , including the Lifetime Achievement Award, an Academy Award nomination, The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Award; the President's Award, the Ella Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Living Legacy Award http://www.wic.org The Living Legacy Award of the Womens International Center from the Women's International Center. In 1999 Lee was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame . http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazz/profiles/peggy_lee.shtml
Songwriting
Lee was a successful songwriter, with songs from the Disney movie Lady and the Tramp , for which she also supplied the singing and speaking voices of four characters.cite web|title=Lady and the Tramp - 50th Anniversary Edition|url= http://www.peggylee.com/new/0602_ladyandthetramp.html|publisher=PeggyLee.com|date=February 28, 2006 Her collaborators included Laurindo Almeida , Harold Arlen , Sonny Burke , Cy Coleman , Duke Ellington , Dave Grusin , Quincy Jones , Francis Lai , Jack Marshall (composer)|Jack Marshall , Johnny Mandel , Marian McPartland , Willard Robison , Lalo Schifrin and Victor Young .
She wrote the lyrics for:
"I Don't Know Enough About You"
"It's A Good Day", composed by Dave Barbour
"I'm Gonna Go Fishin'", composed with Duke Ellington
"The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter"
" Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me) "
"Bless You (For The Good That's In You)", composed with Mel Tormé
"What More Can a Woman Do? "
"Don't Be Mean to Baby"
"New York City Ghost", composed with Victor Young
"You Was Right, Baby"
"Just an Old Love of Mine"
"Everything's Movin' Too Fast"
"The Shining Sea"
"He's A Tramp"
"The Siamese Cat Song"
"There Will Be Another Spring"
" Johnny Guitar ", composed with Victor Young
"Sans Souci", composed with Sonny Burke
"So What's New? "
"Don't Smoke in Bed"
"I Love Being Here With You"
"Happy With the Blues" with Harold Arlen
"Where Can I Go Without You? "
"Things Are Swingin'"
"Then Was Then" with Cy Coleman
Her first published song was in 1941, "Little Fool". "What More Can a Woman Do? " was recorded by Sarah Vaughan with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker . " Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me) " was no.1 for 9 weeks on the Billboard singles chart in 1948, from the week of March 13 to May 8.
Lee was a mainstay of Capitol Records when rock'n'roll came onto the American music scene. She was among the first of the "old guard" to recognize this new genre, as seen by her recording music from 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 produced a steady stream of two or three albums per year which usually included standards (often arranged quite different from the original), her own compositions, and material from young artists.
Acting career
Lee starred and sang in the hit film s The Jazz Singer (1952 film)|The Jazz Singer , Disney's Lady and the Tramp , and '' Pete Kelly's Blues (film)|Pete Kelly's Blues '', for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.cite book|first=John|last=Tobler|year=1992|title=NME Rock 'N' Roll Years|edition=1st|publisher=Reed International Books Ltd|location=London|page=18|id=CN 5585
In 1952 Lee played opposite Danny Thomas in a remake of the early Al Jolson film, The Jazz Singer (1952 film)|The Jazz Singer . In 1955 she played an alcoholic blues singer in '' Pete Kelly's Blues (film)|Pete Kelly's Blues '', for which she received an Academy Awards nomination. In 1955 Lee did the speaking and singing voices for several characters in The Walt Disney Company|Disney's Lady and the Tramp movie: she played the human "Darling" (in the first part of the movie), the dog "Peg", and the two Siamese (cat)|Siamese cats "Si" and "Am". In 1957 Lee guest starred on the short-lived American Broadcasting Company|ABC variety show|variety program , The Guy Mitchell Show .
In the early 1990s she retained famed entertainment attorney Neil Papiano to sue 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. Her lawsuit was successful.
Never afraid to fight for what she believed in, Lee passionately insisted 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 on the topic: "God will not have his work be made manifest by cowards."
She also successfully sued MCA/Decca with the assistance of noted entertainment attorney Cy Godfrey.
Personal life
Lee was married four times; each marriage ended in divorce:
Musician Dave Barbour (1943–1951); daughter Nicki Lee Foster (born 1943)
Actor Brad Dexter (1953)
Actor Dewey Martin (actor)|Dewey Martin (1956–1958)
Actor Jack Del Rio (1964–1965)
Retirement and death
Lee continued to perform into the 1990s, sometimes in a wheelchair.cite news|url= http://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/07/news/sounds-around-town-615692.html|work=The New York Times|title=Sounds Around Town|first=Stephen|last=Holden|date=August 7, 1992 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0498007/bio Holden, Stephen, Sounds Around Town: Peggy Lee (August 7, 1992) New York Times After years of poor health, Lee died of complications from diabetes and a myocardial infarction|heart attack at age 81. Her body was buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles' Westwood, Los Angeles, California neighborhood. On her marker in a garden setting is inscribed, "Music is my life's breath."
Legacy
Academy Awards memoriam omission
She was not featured in Memoriam Tribute during the 2002 Academy Award s ceremony. When her family requested she be featured in the following year's ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|Academy stated they did not honor requests and Lee was omitted because her contribution to film and her legacy were not deemed significant enough, although she had been nominated for a Best Supporting Actress for her performance in '' Pete Kelly's Blues (film)|Pete Kelly's Blues . Her 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 (film)|Queen of the Damned had yet to be released). The Academy provided no comment on the oversight.
Awards
Lee was nominated for 12 Grammy Award s, winning Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance|Best Contemporary Vocal Performance for her 1969 hit "Is That All There Is? " In 1995 she was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award .
Lee is a recipient of North Dakota's Roughrider Award ; the Pied Piper Award from The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP); the Presidents Award disambiguation needed|date=September 2011, 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 .
Carnegie Hall tribute
In 2003, "There'll Be Another Spring: A Tribute to Miss Peggy Lee" was held at Carnegie Hall http://www.peggylee.com/solos/carnegie.html. 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 others. In 2004 Barone brought the event to the Hollywood Bowl http://www.peggylee.com/solos/july2004.html and to Chicago's Ravinia Festival , with expanded casts including Maureen McGovern , Jack Jones (singer)|Jack Jones and Bea Arthur . The Carnegie Hall concert was broadcast on NPR 's "Jazz Set".
In popular culture
The Peggy Lee Rose is a light pink hybrid tea rose with a "touch of peach" that was introduced in 1983 and named in her honor. http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php? l=2.4730.0 Peggy Lee RoseUnited States Patent No: PP 5,467; dated May 14, 1985. Lee considered peach to be her favorite color.cite journal |url= http://www.peggylee.com/library/870500.html |journal= Science of Mind (magazine)|Science of Mind Magazine |month=May|year=1987|title=A Presence in My Life: Recollections by Peggy Lee |first1=Elaine |last1=St. Johns |accessdate=September 5, 2011
Peggy Lee was known as "Miss Peggy Lee" or "Miss Peggy," and was the inspiration for the Muppets' "Miss Piggy," a stylish self-assured blonde with a sense of romance.
Bibliography
;Autobiography
Peggy Lee, Miss Peggy Lee: An Autobiography , 2002, Bloomsbury (UK), ISBN 0-7475-5907-4
;Biography
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
;Album liner notes
Will Friedwald, Album liner notes The Best of Peggy Lee, The Capitol Years
Discography
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)
Decca Records
1953 Black Coffee (Peggy Lee album)|Black Coffee (10-inch version)
1954 Songs in an Intimate Style
1954 '' White Christmas soundtrack|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 (Peggy Lee album)|Black Coffee (12-inch version)
1957 Dream Street (Peggy Lee album)|Dream Street
1957 '' Songs from Walt Disney's "Lady and the Tramp"
1958 Sea Shells (recorded 1955)
1959 Miss Wonderful (recorded 1956)
1964 Lover (Peggy Lee album)|Lover (recorded 1952)
1964 The Fabulous Peggy Lee (recorded 1953-56)
Capitol Records
1957 The Man I Love (album)|The Man I Love
1959 Jump for Joy (Peggy Lee album)|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 (Peggy Lee album)|Sugar 'N' Spice
1963 Mink Jazz
1963 '' I'm a Woman
1964 In Love Again!
1964 In the Name of Love (Peggy Lee album)|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? (album)|Is That All There Is?
1970 Bridge Over Troubled Water (Peggy Lee album)|Bridge Over Troubled Water
1970 Make It With You (Peggy Lee album)|Make It With You
1971 Where Did They Go (Peggy Lee album)|Where Did They Go
1972 Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown, North Dakota
Post-Capitol albums
1974 '' Let's Love (Peggy Lee album)|Let's Love
1975 Mirrors (Peggy Lee album)|Mirrors
1977 Live in London (Peggy Lee)|Live in London
1977 Peggy (Peggy Lee album)|Peggy
1979 Close Enough for Love (Peggy Lee album)|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)
Peggy Lee and the Dave Barbour Quartet (1950) (short subject)
Mr. Music (1950)
The Jazz Singer (1952 film)|The Jazz Singer (1952)
Lady and the Tramp (1955) (voice)
'' Pete Kelly's Blues (film)|Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
Celebrity Art (1973) (short subject)
;Television
Mystery guest on '' What's My Line? (February 28, 1960)
The World of Peggy Lee - documentary film produced for National Educational Television (October 16, 1969)
Portal|Music
References
;Notes Reflist
External links
Wikipedia books|Peggy Lee
http://www.peggylee.com/ Official website: PeggyLee.com
http://www.jazzdiscography.com/Artists/Lee/index.html Peggy Lee Discography
IMDb name|498007
http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibit_home_page.asp? exhibitId=166 Songwriters Hall of Fame's Peggy Lee exhibit
ww.macleans.ca/culture/entertainment/article.jsp? content=20060417_125049_125049 Review of a Peggy Lee biography by Mark Steyn
Peggy LeeThe Chesterfield Supper Club 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, CaliforniaDEFAULTSORT:Lee, Peggy Category:1920 births Category:2002 deaths Category:American actors Category:American contraltos Category:American female singers Category:American jazz singers Category:Songwriters from North Dakota Category:Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery Category:Capitol Records artists Category:Deaths from diabetes Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Decca Records artists Category:Disease-related deaths in California Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Musicians from North Dakota Category:American people of Norwegian descent Category:American musicians of Norwegian descent Category:People from Jamestown, North Dakota Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:American people of Swedish descent Category:American musicians of Swedish descent Category:Torch singers Category:Traditional pop music singers Category:Female jazz musicians
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