Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, and Louis Armstrong all cited Lee as one of their favorite singers.
Peggy Lee had Norwegian and Swedish ancestry. She was the seventh of eight children born to Marvin Egstrom, a station agent for the Midland Continental Railroad. Her mother died when she was four years old. Music provided her an escape from the abusive rampages of her cruel stepmother, Min, who tormented and beat young Norma. She first sang professionally with KOVC radio in Valley City, North Dakota. She soon landed her own series on a radio show sponsored by a local restaurant that paid her "salary" in food. Both during and after her high school years, she took whatever jobs she could find, waitressing and singing for paltry sums on other local stations. Radio personality Ken Kennedy (actual name: Ken Sydness), of WDAY in Fargo (the most widely listened to station in North Dakota) changed her name from Norma to Peggy Lee. Tired of the abuse from her stepmother, she left home and traveled to Los Angeles at the age of 17.
She returned to North Dakota for a tonsillectomy and eventually made her way to Chicago for a gig at The Buttery Room, a nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel West in Chicago, where she drew the attention of Benny Goodman, the jazz clarinetist and band leader. According to Lee, "Benny's then-fiancée, Lady Alice Duckworth, came into the Buttery, and she was very impressed. So the next evening she brought Benny in, because they were looking for replacement for Helen Forrest. "And although I didn't know, I was it. He was looking at me strangely, I thought, but it was just his preoccupied way of looking. I thought that he didn't like me at first, but it just was that he was preoccupied with what he was hearing." She joined his band in 1941 and stayed for two years.
In early 1942, Lee had her first # 1 hit, "Somebody Else Is Taking My Place", followed by 1943's "Why Don't You Do Right?" (originally sung by Lil Green), which sold over a million copies and made her famous. She sang with Goodman in two 1943 films, Stage Door Canteen and The Powers Girl.
In March 1943, Lee married Dave Barbour, the guitarist in Goodman's band. Peggy said, "David joined Benny's band and there was a ruling that no one should fraternize with the girl singer. But I fell in love with David the first time I heard him play, and so I married him. Benny then fired David, so I quit, too. Benny and I made up, although David didn't play with him anymore. Benny stuck to his rule. I think that's not too bad a rule, but you can't help falling in love with somebody."
When Lee and Barbour left the band, the idea was that he would work in the studios and she would keep house and raise their daughter, Nicki. But she drifted back towards songwriting and occasional recording sessions for the fledgling Capitol Records in 1947, for whom she produced a long string of hits, many of them with lyrics and music by Lee and Barbour, including "I Don't Know Enough About You" and "It's a Good Day" (1948). With the release of the smash-hit #1-selling record of 1942, "Mañana", her "retirement" was over.
In 1948, she joined Perry Como and Jo Stafford as one of the rotating hosts of the NBC Radio musical program Chesterfield Supper Club. She was also a regular on NBC's Jimmy Durante Show during the 1938-48 season.
She left Capitol for a few years in the early 1940s, but returned in 1943. She is most famous for her cover version of the Little Willie John hit "Fever", to which she added her own, uncopyrighted lyrics ("Romeo loved Juliet," "Captain Smith and Pocahontas") and her rendition of Leiber and Stoller's "Is That All There Is?" Her relationship with the Capitol label spanned almost three decades, aside from her brief but artistically rich detour (1952-1956) at Decca Records, where she recorded one of her most acclaimed albums Black Coffee (1956). While recording for Decca, Lee had hit singles with the songs "Lover" and "Mr. Wonderful."
She was also known as a songwriter with such hits as the songs from the Disney movie Lady and the Tramp, for which she also supplied the singing and speaking voices of four characters. Her many songwriting collaborators, in addition to Barbour, included Laurindo Almeida, Harold Arlen, Sonny Burke, Cy Coleman, Gene DiNovi, Duke Ellington, Dave Grusin, Dick Hazard, Quincy Jones, Francis Lai, Jack Marshall, Johnny Mandel, Marian McPartland, Willard Robison, Lalo Schifrin, Hubie Wheeler, guitarist Johnny Pisano and Victor Young.
Lee also acted in several films. In 1952, she played opposite Danny Thomas in a remake of the early Al Jolson film, The Jazz Singer. In 1955, she played a despondent, alcoholic blues singer in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955), for which she was nominated for an Oscar.
Peggy won a Grammy in 1969 as best contemporary female vocalist (for her recording of Is That All There Is?) and was awarded a Doctor of Music Honoris Causa degree from North Dakota State University, in 1975.
In the early 1990s, she retained famed entertainment attorney Neil Papiano, who, on her behalf, successfully sued Disney for royalties on Lady and the Tramp. Lee's lawsuit claimed that she was due royalties for video tapes, a technology that did not exist when she agreed to write and perform for Disney.
Never afraid to fight for what she believed in, Lee was passionate that musicians be equitably compensated for their work. Although she realized litigation had taken a toll on her health, Lee often quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson ("God's will will not be made manifest by cowards.")
She also successfully sued MCA/Decca with the assistance of noted entertainment attorney, Cy Godfrey.
She continued to perform into the 1990s, sometimes in a wheelchair, and still mesmerized audiences and critics alike.[citation needed]
In 1995 she was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
After years of poor health, Lee died of complications from diabetes and heart attack at the age of 81. She is survived by Nicki Lee Foster, her daughter with Barbour. She is buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California. On her marker in a garden setting is inscribed, "Music is my life's breath."
Bye
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I never dreamed that it could be
But now I realize since I saw you smile
There's only happiness for me
So
Bye bye blues
Bye bye blues
Birds sing
Sun is shining
No more pining
Just we two
Smiling thru
Don't sigh
Don't cry
Bye bye blues
Blues
The song Bye Bye Blues, as sung by Peggy Lee, is a heartfelt and uplifting tune that speaks of finding joy and happiness after a period of sadness and struggle. The song begins by describing the shock and surprise that the singer feels upon seeing the object of their affection smiling. The singer never thought it would happen, but now that it has, they are filled with hope and optimism. The repetition of the phrase "Bye bye blues" throughout the song emphasizes this newfound sense of joy and excitement.
As the song progresses, we hear descriptions of a beautiful day: bells ringing, birds singing, and the sun shining. The singer is no longer pining over their sadness or worries, but instead is focused on the present moment, enjoying the happiness they feel. The chorus is repeated, reinforcing the idea that the singer is leaving their blues behind and moving on to a brighter future.
Line by Line Meaning
I got a big surprise when I saw you smile
Your smile caught me off guard and pleasantly surprised me.
I never dreamed that it could be
I never thought I would find happiness like this.
But now I realize since I saw you smile
Your smile made me see that happiness is possible.
There's only happiness for me
Now that I've found you, I know that I will always be happy.
Bye bye blues
I'm saying goodbye to all my sadness and heartache.
Bells ring
The world feels more joyful now that I'm with you.
Birds sing
Nature seems to be celebrating our love.
Sun is shining
Everything feels brighter and more positive now that you're in my life.
No more pining
I'm no longer longing for something that seems out of reach.
Just we two
It's just you and me, and that's all we need to be happy.
Smiling thru
We're both smiling because we know that we've found something special.
Don't sigh
There's no need to sigh when we have each other.
Don't cry
Tears are a thing of the past now that we're together.
Bye bye blues
I'm leaving all my sadness behind and embracing a happy future with you.
Blues
The sadness and heartache of the past that I'm leaving behind.
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: BERT LOWN, FREDERICK L HAMM, DAVID BENNETT, CHAUNCEY GRAY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@sofiafrutuoso
Pack up all my cares and woe
Here I go singin' low
Bye bye blackbird
Where somebody waits for me
Sugar's sweet, so is she
Bye bye blackbird
No one here can love or understand me
All those hard luck stories, they all hand me
Make my bed, light my light
I'll arrive late tonight
Blackbird, bye bye
Make my bed, light my light
I'll arrive late tonight
Blackbird, bye bye
@Narinjazz
Pack up all my cares and woes,
Here i go, singing low,
Bye, bye, blackbird.
Where somebody waits for me,
Sugar is sweet, so is she,
Bye, bye, blackbird.
No one here can love and understand me,
Oh, what hard luck stories they all hand me.
Make my bed and light the light,
I'll arrive late tonight,
Blackbird, bye, bye.
Pack up all my cares and woes,
Here i go, singing low,
Bye, bye, blackbird.
Where somebody waits for me,
Sugar is sweet, so is she,
Bye, bye, bye, bye, blackbird.
I said, no one here can love and understand me,
Oh, what hard luck stories they all hand me.
So, make my bed and light the light,
I'll arrive late tonight,
Blackbird, bye, bye.
Make my bed and light the light,
I'll arrive late tonight,
Blackbird,
I said blackbird,
I said blackbird,
Oh, blackbird, bye, bye.
@Camerasdontlie
My mammy of 87 years just sang this song most beautifully she’s got dementia 😢😢😢😢 I’m absolutely in tears. Love you mammy love you forever.
@arkansasasmr780
i hope you and she are doing ok ❤
@LilDrakula13
God bless her 🙏🏼
@Camerasdontlie
@@arkansasasmr780 I won’t lie it’s extremely hard.
@paulmetcalfe3546
manhugs bro
@TheHeesom
@@Camerasdontlie I care for people with dementia and I can assure you music takes them to a place filled with memories that evoke many feelings,your nan has you to help continue the memories and that is a beautiful memory x
@monsternationpawsup
Imagine all these legends Lady Gaga will honor in Joker Folie À Deux, they really made history ❤
@TIM.DREAMZ
King Kong 2005. Such a beautiful movie with this beautiful song!
@georgemendoza5658
Hell yea the best King Kong ever made💯
@NinteSegaRarew
Peter Jackson's version