Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Peggy Lee was born Norma Deloris Egstrom on May 26, 1920 in Jamestown, North Dakota. The seventh of eight children of Norwegian and Swedish ancestry, her mother died when she was four. She began singing on a local radio station during her high school years, and then ventured to Fargo where Ken Kennedy of WDAY changed her name to Peggy Lee. At 17 she left home for Los Angeles.

Making her way to Chicago’s Buttery Room, Lee caught the attention of Lady Alice Duckworth who was so impressed brought her fiancé Benny Goodman the next night. That chance encounter landed her a gig with Goodman for two years, replacing Helen Forrest in 1941.

Peggy had her first #1 hit with “Somebody Else Is Taking My Place” in1942 followed by the million record seller “Why Don’t You Do Right” that made her famous by 1943. Her signature song became “Fever” to which she added some lyrics. In 1948 she joined Perry Como and Jo Stafford as one of the rotating host of NBC’s Chesterfield Supper Club. As a composer she collaborated with Laurindo Almeida, Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, Johnny Mandel, Marian McPartland, Dave Grusin and Lalo Schifrin among others.

Lee played opposite Danny Thomas in the 1952 remake of the Jazz Singer, in 1955 played a despondent, alcoholic blues singer in Pete Kelly’s Blues that garnered her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and voiced several characters in Disney’s Lady and the Tramp for which she later had to sue Disney for video royalties.

From her humble beginnings as a vocalist on local radio she forged her own sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and performer, receiving 12 Grammy nominations, three wins including a Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame among other awards and accolades. Peggy Lee, whose career as a jazz and pop singer, songwriter, composer and actress spanned nearly seven decades passed away due to complications from diabetes and a heart attack on January 21, 2002.

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