Peggy Lee
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Peggy Lee (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002) was an American popular music singer. She was famous for her "soft and cool" singing style, which she is thought to have developed in response to noisy nightclub audiences.
Lee was born Norma Dolores Egstrom (Egström) in Jamestown, North Dakota. In 1941, she joined Benny Goodman's band—then at the height of its popularity—and for over two years toured the United States with it. In July 1942, Lee recorded her first hit, "Why Don't You Do Right?" It sold over a million copies and made her famous. In March 1943, Lee married Dave Barbour, the guitarist in Goodman's band.
In 1944, Lee began to record for Capitol Records, for whom she produced a long string of hits, many of them with lyrics and music by Lee and Barbour. She is most famous for her cover version of the Little Willie John hit "Fever" and her rendition of Leiber and Stoller's "Is That All There Is?" Her relationship with the label lasted almost three decades, although from 1952-1957 she moved to Decca Records.
She was also known as a songwriter with such hits as the songs from the Disney movie Lady and the Tramp, which she also sang.
Lee also acted in several films. In 1953, she played opposite Danny Thomas in a remake of the early Al Jolson film, The Jazz Singer. In 1955, she played a despondent and alcoholic blues singer in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955), for which she was nominated for an Oscar.
In the early 1990s, she successfully sued Disney for royalties on Lady and the Tramp. She claimed that she was due royalties for video tapes, a technology that didn't exist when she agreed to write and perform for Disney.
Peggy Lee is interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California.
Albums
- 1948 Rendezvous with Peggy Lee
- 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'
- 1956 Black Coffee
- 1957 Dream Street
- 1957 Songs from Walt Disney's 'Lady and the Tramp'
- 1957 The Man I Love
- 1958 Sea Shells
- 1959 Jump for Joy
- 1959 Things Are Swingin'
- 1959 Miss Wonderful
- 1959 I Like Men!
- 1959 Beauty and the Beat
- 1960 Latin a la Lee
- 1960 All Aglow Again
- 1960 Pretty Eyes
- 1960 Christmas Carousel
- 1960 Ole a la Lee
- 1961 Basin Steet East Proudly Presents 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 Agan!
- 1964 In the Name of Love
- 1965 Pass Me By
- 1965 That Was Then and This Is Now
- 1966 Guitars a la Lee
- 1966 Big Spender
- 1967 Extra Special
- 1967 Somethin' Groovy
- 1968 Two 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?
- 1971 Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown, North Dakota
- 1974 Let's Love
- 1975 Mirrors
- 1977 Live in London
- 1977 Peggy
- 1979 Close Enough for Love
- 1988 Miss Peggy Lee Sings the Blues
- 1993 Moments Like This
- 1993 Love Held Lightly: Rare Songs by Harold Arlen
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 (1953)
- Lady and the Tramp (1955)
- Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
- Celebrity Art (1973) (short subject)
External links
- Peggy Lee official site (http://www.peggylee.com/)
- IMDB entry for Peggy Lee (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0498007/)
"Peggy Lee" is also a character in Victory Gundam, one of the five (of the six) original members of the Shrike Team named in homage to famous 20th century female singers.de:Peggy Lee sv:Peggy Lee