Peggy Lee Biography, Photos and Posters

Peggy Lee

Biography

Born: May 26, 1920
City and Country of Origin: Jamestown, North Dakota
Music Training:
Awards: Grammy 1969 Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, Female, "Is That All There Is?" 1995 Lifetime Achievement Award
Top Recordings: "It's a Good Day," "Mañana," "Fever," "Is That All There Is?," "Lover"
Peggy Lee Biography: Norma Deloris Egstrom was the youngest child of 7, born in Jamestown, North Dakota to parents of Scandanavian decent. Her mother died when she was 4 and when her father remarried her stepmother was very cruel to her. She first sang professionally with KOVC radio in Valley City, N.D. She literally sang for her supper. During high school she often worked as a waitress while singing on local radio stations. The program director at WDAY in Fargo changed her name from Norma to Peggy Lee. At 17 she left home and moved to Los Angeles.

After hearing her sing at The Buttery, a nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel West in Chicago, Benny Goodman hired her to replace singer Helen Forrest. She stayed with the band for 2 years, but left after she became romantically involved with guitarist Dave Barbour. This was against Goodman's rules of fraternization between members of the band and the female vocalists. Barbour was fired and Ms. Lee left the band. The couple married in March of 1943. After she gave birth to a daughter it was planned for her to stay home while he worked in the studio, but shortly she drifted back to the studio where the couple teamed up writing several hit songs which she recorded including "I Don't Know Enough About You" and "It's a Good Day" (1946) and the smash-hit #1-selling record of 1948, "Mañana."

Starting in 1948 she joined Perry Como and Jo Stafford as one of the rotating hosts of the NBC musical radio program Chesterfield Supper Club. She left Capitol Records for Decca in the early 50s, but returned in 1957. Her most famous hits were Little Willie John's hit "Fever" and her rendition of Leiber and Stoller's "Is That All There Is?" While at Decca she recorded one of her most acclaimed albums Black Coffee in 1956 and had hit singles with "Lover" and "Mr. Wonderful."

She was also a songwriter and penned songs for the Disney animated feature Lady and the Tramp. In addition to Barbour she also teamed with several other songwriters including Harold Arlen, Quincy Jones, Johnny Mandel and Duke Ellington among others.

Even during the advent of the rock era she continued to produce 2 or 3 albums a year for Capitol Records. She also pursued an acting career playing opposite Danny Thomas in the remake of The Jazz Singer in 1952 and Pete Kelly's Blues in 1955 for which she was nominated for an Oscar. She was a 12 time Grammy nominee. She continued to perform into the 1990s, but finally died from complications due to diabetes and cardiac disease in 2002.
Died: January 21, 2002

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