Throughout her career, Peggy Lee was the epitome of cool. While many other vocal- ists
grabbed the audience’s attention by singing loud and engaging in impressive vocal
gymnastics, Lee did the opposite. When confronted with a noisy crowd, she sang quieter
so listeners had to calm down in order to hear her. Rather than overtly grabbing their
attention, she drew listeners into her musical world.
Lee had a soft voice and a limited range that contrasted with that of Sarah Vaughan
and Ella Fitzgerald. Inspired by Billie Holiday and Maxine Sullivan, she made the most
of what she had, singing with subtle creativity. She dug deep into the lyrics that she
interpreted and made each sound and note count, perfectly placing them for maximum
effect. She swung at every tempo and gave one the impression that each song was writ-
ten for her, and that she was singing her stories directly towards each listener. She did all
of this while always appearing sophisticated even though she actually came from bleak
surroundings.
She was born Norma Deloris Egstrom on May 26, 1920 in Jamestown, North Da- kota, the
sixth of seven children.
Her mother died when she was four and her stepmother
treated her poorly, abusing her physically and emotionally. Music turned out to be her
escape. While still in high school, she became the singer for a college sextet led by Lyle
“Doc” Haines. She sang on radio station KOVC in Valley City, North Dakota in 1936 and
had her own 15-minute radio show on Saturdays. When she began singing on Fargo’s
WDAY, she was persuaded by its program director to change her name from Norma
Egstrom to the more memorable Peggy Lee.
In 1938 when she was 17, Lee left North Dakota and moved to Hollywood where
she worked as a short order cook, a waitress, and a carnival barker while looking for sing- ing
jobs. Back in North Dakota the following year, she performed regularly at a hotel and
toured with the Will Osborne Orchestra. Lee returned to Los Angeles by 1940, singing in
Palm Springs and developing her soft-toned style.
While performing in Chicago in 1941, Peggy Lee was discovered by Benny Good- man who
was looking for a replacement for the recently departed Helen Forrest. Lee
joined Goodman’s orchestra and was his main singer for the next two years. While she
sounded quite nervous at her first recording session with the clarinetist (as can be heard
on “Elmer’s Tune”), she matured within a few months, sounding much more confident
on “How Deep Is The Ocean” and “My Old Flame” and also recording with the Benny
Goodman Sextet (including “Where Or When” and “On The Sunny Side Of The Street”).
Her recording of “Somebody Else Is Taking My Place” sold well and was soon followed by
her first major hit, “Why Don’t You Do Right.” The latter (which she also sang in the movie
Stage Door Canteen) made her famous.
In 1943 Peggy Lee married Goodman’s guitarist Dave Barbour and they both soon
left the band. Lee planned to retire and become a fulltime housewife, but after a few
months Barbour told her that if she did that permanently, it would not be long before she
regretted giving up singing. Lee gradually returned to the music scene, at first recording
for Capitol in 1944 and writing songs. Due to the great demand caused by the success of
“Why Don’t You Do Right,” it was not long before she had become a regular on radio and
was performing regularly again.
During the 1945-65 period, Peggy Lee had one success after another and was at
the peak of her powers. She wrote 270 songs in her career including such standards as
“I Don’t Know Enough About You,” “I Love Being Here With You,” “I’m Gonna Go Fishin’” (a
Duke Ellington song for which she wrote the lyrics), and “It’s A Good Day.” She had major
hits with “Golden Earrings,” “Mañana,” “Fever,” and “Black Coffee.” Lee composed the music
for the animated classic Lady And The Tramp (also supplying the voices for four of the
characters) and acted in three major movies: the Bing Crosby film Mr. Magic, the remake
of The Jazz Singer (during which one of the songs she sang was “Lover”), and Pete Kelly’s
Blues, gaining an Academy Award nomination for the latter.
By the mid-1950s Peggy Lee was a constant on television where she appeared on
close to 200 variety shows. That and her long string of recordings kept her a household
name long after most other former big band singers had been forgotten or confined
to nostalgia shows. By 1968 she was performing current pop songs by the Beatles, Bob
Dylan and others of the era, de-emphasizing her earlier swing standards and doing her
best to remain relevant. In 1969 she had her last big hit with the rather unusual and
sur- prising “Is That All There Is.” Her voice gradually declined during the 1970s and ‘80s as did
her health but she refused to fade away. By the 1990s she was performing in a wheelchair
but she never lost her phrasing or her ability to make a ballad such as “The Folks Who Live
On The Hill” quite touching.
Peggy Lee gave her final concert performance in 1995, had a stroke in 1998, and
passed away on Jan. 21, 2002 at the age of 81. More than 20 years after her death, she is
still famous and a strong influence on any singer who uses understatement, space, and
quiet inner heat to tell their story.
John Forbes, the producer of Ridin’ High, plus all of the previous releases in
Hindsight’s Reimagined Series (albums featuring Doris Day, Patti Page, Kay Starr, Sarah
Vaughan, Frankie Laine, Carmen McRae, and Rosemary Clooney), has had a very busy
career as a keyboardist, arranger, composer, music director, orchestrator, and producer
of music in many different fields. His endless resume includes tours with major names,
films, television shows, recordings, and many other projects, but the Reimagined Series
has a special place in his heart. “At this point in my career, I need to work on music that
moves me. Peggy Lee’s voice with its purity, roundness, tonality and her phrasing really
moves me.” For each of the projects in the Reimagined Series, John Forbes studied the singer
closely and then added an ensemble that complements the original arrangements
while always keeping the focus on the unique voice and style of each vocalist. “I was
always familiar with Peggy Lee but her version of ‘What Is This Thing Called Love’ just blew
my mind. I love her interpretation of that melody which was very jazzy, and the way that
she sometimes sang briefly between the standard 12 notes before pulling the note back
into tune; it is very effective. I was drawn immediately into her music.”
John Forbes utilized many instruments for the Peggy Lee project, particularly
organ a la Jimmy Smith, additional piano, vibes, guitar, drums, and percussion. “I always
work to match the original arrangement. She did a lot of sambas and bossa novas in her
career so, when appropriate, I put in a tropical feel since that was part of her style.”
The original music on this release dates from the early 1950s and is comprised of
performances made especially to be played on the radio (both radio transcriptions and
appearances before live audiences).as opposed to being commercial recordings. These
performances were not available for sale to the general public for decades. Many of
the selections originally had Peggy Lee accompanied by guitarist Bill Pitman (a fine Los
Angeles-based studio player who often worked with singers), pianist Gene DiNovi, Bob
Whitlock or Don Prell on bass, Larry Bunker or Ray Rivera on drums, and occasionally
harpist Stella Castellucci. “It’s A Good Day” and “I’ve Got The World On A String” had Lee
joined by the Billy May Orchestra.
Ridin’ High features Peggy Lee singing 14 standards, two of which she wrote. At
the time, she was in her early thirties and was constantly busy with appearances on
radio, nightclubs and recording studios. These performances are fairly brief with Lee
typically taking the first chorus and, after an instrumental interlude, coming back in to
finish the song. Since there was not much time to stretch out, one has to admire her
ability to tell the story quickly and with enthusiasm. John Forbes’ arrangements greatly
expand her accompaniment while never getting in her way, adding to the momentum
and swing of each selection. “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” sets the standard for what
is to follow. As
usual Lee sounds quite natural, singing the vintage song (which debuted in 1928) as
if she had just discovered it. She starts her composition “It’s A Good Day” by taking the
verse slow and in a wistful mood before the performance becomes a cooker filled with
happy optimism. In the lyrics, she sounds quite determined to make every second
count in getting everything that she needs accomplished that day.
During the two choruses of “Love Is Just Around The Corner,” the singer uplifts
the melody with subtlety and joy. She puts plenty of feeling into the words of “I’ve
Got The World On A String,” ending that performance with a triumphant long note.
Lee shows affection for Johnny Mercer’s classic lyrics of “Accentuate The Positive” and
is exuberant on “’Deed I Do.” The latter, as with several of these pieces, has solo space
for guitar which became one of Peggy Lee’s favorite instruments after she met Dave
Barbour. One of the main ballads of the set is “What’s New,” a Bob Haggart instrumental
originally titled “I’m Free” before it was given lyrics by Johnny Burke. Lee gives it a
heartfelt interpretation. Next, she is featured on medium-tempo versions of “Between
The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea” and “Just One Of Those Things.” While she sang her “I
Don’t Know Enough About You” regularly ever since co-composing it with Barbour in
1946, she never failed to make it sound fresh, alluring, and with her own brand of wit .
On “Ridin’ High” (for which Forbes provided a big band-type backing), Peggy Lee
typically sounds quite relaxed despite the fast tempo. She concludes the memorable
program with “Let There Be Love,” a medium-tempo “You” (a superior obscurity from
the 1936 film The Great Ziegfeld), and her classic rendition of Cole Porter’s “What Is This
Thing Called Love” which she takes slower than usual and with quiet sensuality.
John Forbes sums up Peggy Lee’s artistry: “She was definitely a true musician,
had complete control over her shows, and yet could sit in and jam with other musi- cians. She was amazingly contemporary compared to other singers of her era. She could have sung these timeless songs today and it would still sound modern.”
Scott Yanow, jazz journalist/historian and author of 12 books including his memoirs
Life Through The Eyes Of A Jazz Journalist
