Peggy Lee

From her breakthrough performing on Benny Goodman's popular recording "Why Don't You Do Right," Peggy Lee stood among the vocal era's most mesmerizing figures thanks to her seductive timbre, singular phrasing, expansive repertoire, and skill at composing many originals herself. Solo successes further revealed this captivating vocal force, merging smoldering swing with flawless musical command. She began the early 1940s as vocalist in Goodman's band and soon attained independent stardom. Although she amassed numerous mainstream hits, she repeatedly bridged pop and jazz territories, prompting widespread critical acclaim as one of America's premier singers in either field. She also engaged cinema as both actress and songwriter, most prominently in the 1950s, when an Academy Award nomination recognized her performance in Pete Kelly's Blues. A trailblazer of the cool vocal approach, she earned broadest renown through her hit treatment of Little Willie John's composition "Fever" on the 1958 album Sea Shells. Tireless, she sustained activity until declining health curtailed her efforts in the 1990s.

Born Norma Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, she lost her mother at age four and confronted hardship from a demanding stepmother after her father remarried. Radio exposure to Count Basie instilled her rhythmic sensibility; she trained herself to sing and debuted on air at fourteen. She advanced first to Fargo, where she acquired the name Peggy Lee, then to Minneapolis and St. Louis with a regional ensemble. Two attempts to establish herself in Hollywood ended without success.

Her decisive opportunity arose in 1941 when a vocal group she belonged to performed at a Chicago club. Benny Goodman heard her there, just as his regular singer Helen Forrest prepared to exit. She recorded with him days later, introducing herself on the well-received "Elmer's Tune" despite acute nervousness. Several commercial successes followed that year, among them "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)" and "Winter Weather." In 1943 "Why Don't You Do Right" became her first major hit, yet she departed the Goodman band and withdrew from music altogether after marrying his guitarist Dave Barbour later the same year.

After slightly more than a year of domestic life, Peggy Lee reentered the field, first contributing to an all-star jazz collection. Capitol awarded her a solo contract near the close of 1945, and she reached the charts with her initial release, "Waitin' for the Train to Come In." Momentum continued through the late 1940s, yielding more than two dozen chart entries before the decade ended, including "It's a Good Day," "Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me)"—1948's most popular song—and "I Don't Know Enough About You." Many of these singles involved Barbour as her regular writing and recording partner.

Moving to Decca in 1952, she scored with the single "Lover" and the album Songs from Pete Kelly's Blues, made with Ella Fitzgerald; both singers also appeared in the film. During the early 1950s she hosted her own radio program, frequently spotlighting admired composers such as Johnny Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael, Matt Dennis, and others. Five years at Decca preceded her return to Capitol, where she distinguished herself by exploring wide-ranging material, sometimes entire albums shaped by blues, Latin, cabaret, and pop idioms. Varied settings included an orchestra conducted by Frank Sinatra on 1957's The Man I Love, the George Shearing Quintet on the 1959 live recording Beauty and the Beat, Quincy Jones as arranger and conductor for 1961's If You Go, and Benny Carter's charts on 1963's Mink Jazz. Although Barbour's alcoholism ended their marriage, they remained close until his death in 1965.

An early champion of rock, Peggy Lee adapted readily to material oriented toward that style. Her breadth and receptivity to strong songs regardless of source allowed her to interpret the more melodic late-1960s rock with apparent ease, selecting works by Jimmy Webb, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Burt Bacharach, Randy Newman, Goffin & King, and John Sebastian. She approached the Top Ten in 1969 with Leiber & Stoller's "Is That All There Is?" She continued issuing contemporary pieces until 1972's Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown, North Dakota returned her to her origins and became her final Capitol album. Subsequent single releases appeared on Atlantic, A&M, Polydor UK, and DRG before she largely retired at the start of the 1980s. A return occurred in 1988 with two Musicmasters albums that revisited earlier successes. Her last recording, Moments Like This, was made in 1992 for Chesky. A 1998 stroke silenced her voice, and she died of a heart attack at her Bel Air home in early 2002.