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."
I'm Beginning to See the Light
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I never wink back at fireflies
But now that the stars are in your eyes
I'm beginning to see the light
I never went in for afterglow
Or candlelight on the mistletoe
But now when you turn the lamp down low
Used to ramble through the park
Shadowboxing in the dark
Then you came and caused a spark
That's a four-alarm fire now
I never made love by lantern-shine
I never saw rainbows in my wine
But now that your lips are burning mine
I'm beginning to see the light
Peggy Lee's "I'm Beginning to See the Light" is a love song that describes how the singer's perspective on life has changed because of a new romantic interest. The opening lines reveal how prior to meeting this person, the singer never paid attention to the beauty of nature; moonlit skies and fireflies never caught their eye. But with the stars in their new romantic interest's eyes, they have a newfound appreciation for the world around them.
The second stanza delves into how the singer never really indulged in romantic activities like afterglows or candlelight, but with the new love interest, they find these things appealing. This change in perspective is a representation of how love can change one's outlook on life.
The third stanza further emphasizes how the new love interest has had a significant impact on the singer's life. Previously, they wandered aimlessly in the park, and even when boxing, it was in the dark. But with the new love interest, something sparked within them, leading to a passionate fire that now rages within them. The final stanza describes how the singer never saw beauty in simple things like rainbows or lanterns but now sees the world in an entirely new light thanks to the love they've found.
Line by Line Meaning
I never cared much for moonlit skies
I have never been fond of looking at the moonlit sky
I never wink back at fireflies
The sight of fireflies never interested me to winking back at them
But now that the stars are in your eyes
However, now that I can see the reflection of stars in your eyes
I'm beginning to see the light
I am starting to understand the beauty of nature and embrace it
I never went in for afterglow
I never appreciated the beauty of the sunset
Or candlelight on the mistletoe
Nor the tradition of lighting candles under the mistletoe
But now when you turn the lamp down low
However, when you dim the lamp, setting the mood for the evening
I'm beginning to see the light
My perception towards romance and nature is starting to change
Used to ramble through the park
Previously, I used to wander aimlessly through the park
Shadowboxing in the dark
On occasion, even indulging in meaningless activities like shadowboxing in the dark
Then you came and caused a spark
Until you came and ignited a spark in me
That's a four-alarm fire now
It turned into an all-consuming four-alarm fire, consuming my heart and soul
I never made love by lantern-shine
I never indulged in romantic acts like making love by lantern light
I never saw rainbows in my wine
Nor have I ever seen the beauty of rainbows in my wine glass
But now that your lips are burning mine
But, since the moment your lips touched mine, everything seems magical
I'm beginning to see the light
I'm starting to understand the true beauty of life and love, and it's all thanks to you
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Edward Kennedy Ellington, Don George, Harry James, Johnny Hodges
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@laurenkustudick9000
My dad loved Peggy .. Thanks for a loving memory
@marileehall6049
PERFECTION!!!
@gregjhill
Pure magic!
@mninblk7
thanks for posting this version Phillip, Miss Lee has always been a favorite of mine!
@phillipprimrose8981
mninblk7 You're Welcome glad you enjoyed this version... if you have time look in my channel I have a few other Peggy Lee song in there you might like.