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."
Georgia on My Mind
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Georgia, the whole day through
Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia
On my mind
Georgia, a song of you
Comes as sweet and clean as moonlight
Through the pines
Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The roads leads back to you
Georgia, no peace I find
Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia
On my mind
Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The roads leads back to you
Georgia, no peace I find
Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia
On my mind
Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia
On my mind
The song Georgia On My Mind, popularized by Ray Charles and originally written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell, has been covered by numerous artists throughout the years, including Peggy Lee and Four Of A Kind. The lyrics reflect the nostalgic feelings of someone who has moved away from Georgia but still has the state on their mind, and the sweet memories that the place and its people evoke.
The opening line of the song, “Georgia, the whole day through,” sets the tone for the rest of the lyrics, as the singer is seemingly unable to escape thoughts of Georgia, even when occupied with other activities throughout the day. The nostalgic and dreamlike quality of the song is emphasized through the imagery of moonlight streaming through the pines, and the peaceful dreams the singer has of returning to Georgia.
The reference to “other arms” and “other eyes” suggests that the singer may have left a loved one behind in Georgia, which may be contributing to their yearning to return. Additionally, the repetition of the titular phrase, “Georgia on my mind,” throughout the song emphasizes the powerful hold that the state exerts on the singer’s thoughts and emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
Georgia
The state of Georgia, in southern United States.
Georgia, the whole day through
I think about Georgia all day, every day.
Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia On my mind
There is a sweet melody, like an old song, that constantly reminds me of Georgia.
Georgia, a song of you
The song about Georgia reminds me of you.
Comes as sweet and clear as moonlight
The song about Georgia is beautiful and clear, like the moonlight shining through the trees.
Through the pines
The song about Georgia feels like it is coming through the trees.
Other arms reach out to me
Other people are trying to love me.
Other eyes smile tenderly
Others look at me with kindness and love.
Still in peaceful dreams I see
Even in my peaceful dreams, I still see Georgia.
The roads leads back to you
I know that the roads will always lead me back to you.
Georgia, no peace I find
I cannot find peace without Georgia.
Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia On my mind
The only thing that keeps me at peace is the sweet melody of the song about Georgia.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Hoagy Carmichael, Stuart Gorell
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@JosephDiveley
One of those few perfect singers for their style of singing. It's really not easy to sing so relaxed like this. For me it really relaxes my soul to listen to her sing.
@vijaynair2403
She sings this wonderful song real well.
@joykanazawa9096
She's one of the best jazz singer. Love her voice❤️
@HandwhistlerBen
Peggy was sensational all the way up to her final performance in 1995 at 75! Thank you for posting this most versatile singer/performer/entertainer!
@vincenzo6162
what a lovely version. peggy lee is drawing me in.
@johnmartinez6092
PEGGY LEE WAS SO UNDERRATED...……….SHE WAS ONE OGF THE GREATEST SINGERS!!!
@alfching2499
I Quite Agree,She Was Fabulous
@alfching2499
You Bet She Was
@joehallen6831
I LOVE THIS!!
@lianysroman4813
Tom waits silencio night