Peggy Lee (26 May 1920 – 21 Jan 2002), was an American Grammy Award-winning… Read Full Bio ↴Peggy Lee (26 May 1920 – 21 Jan 2002), was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz/popular music singer-songwriter and Academy Award-nominated actress. She was born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota. Lee has been cited as an influence by such diverse artists as Bobby Darin, Paul McCartney, Bette Midler, Madonna, Shirley Horn, k.d. lang, Elvis Costello, Dusty Springfield, Dr. John, and numerous others. As a songwriter, she collaborated with Sonny Burke, Victor Young, Francis Lai, Dave Grusin, John Chiodini, her husband Dave Barbour, and Duke Ellington, who stated, 'If I'm the Duke, then Peggy's the Queen.' As an actress, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Pete Kelly's Blues. She had a contralto singing range.
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."
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 Lookin' Out The Window
Peggy Lee Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'I'm Lookin' Out The Window' by these artists:
Cliff Richard Im looking out the window Im waitin at the door To see…
Cliff Richard & The Shadows I'm looking out the window I'm waitin' at the door To see…
Cliff Richard / The Shadows I'm looking out the window I'm waitin' at the door To see…
We have lyrics for these tracks by Peggy Lee:
'Deed I Do Do I want you? Oh my! Do I Honey, deed I…
'S Wonderful Life has just begun, Jack has found his Jill; Don't know wha…
A Brown Bird Singing All through the night There's a little brown bird singing S…
A Cottage for Sale Our little dream castle with every dream gone, Is lonely and…
A Guy Is A Guy Why he left me I don't know, I loved him more…
A Hard Day It's been a hard day's night, and I've been working…
A Hundred Years from Today Don't save your kisses, pass them around You'll find my reas…
A Long Way From St. Louis You came a long way from St. Louis, you climbed…
A Natural Woman Looking out on the morning rain I used to feel…
A Nightingale Can Sing the Blues Got my feathers burned Got my lesson learned Guess that I wa…
A Song For You I've been so many places in my life and time I've…
A Taste of Honey It′s all because of you I'm feeling sad and blue you went…
AC-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive Gather 'round me, everybody Gather 'round me, while I preach…
After You Now won't you listen honey, while I say, How could…
Again Snowflakes fallin', church bells callin' It's Christmas time…
Ain Now, baby when you sigh (When you sigh) I wanna sigh with…
Ain't That Love Now, baby when you sigh (When you sigh) I wanna sigh with…
Ain't We Got Fun Every morning, every evening Ain't we got fun? Not much mone…
Ain'tcha Ever Comin' Back Ain'tcha ever coming back, aintcha? can't ya see the differe…
All Dressed up with a Broken Heart I'm all dressed up With a broken heart Pretending I'm with y…
All I Need Is You I don't need a million dollars To make my dreams come…
All I Want I'm a fool to want you I'm a fool to want…
All Of Me All of me, why not take all of me? Baby, can't…
Almost Like Being In Love What a day this has been! What a rare mood I'm…
Alone Together Alone together, beyond the crowd Above the world, we're not …
Alright Well alright, okay, you win I'm in love with you Well alri…
Alright OK You Win Well alright, okay, you win I'm in love with you Well alrigh…
Alright, Okay, You Win Well alright, okay, you win. I'm in love with you. Well alri…
Always I walk along the city streets You used to walk along…
Always True in My Fashion If a custom tailored vet Asks me out for something wet When…
Aren Oh, it really wasn't my intention To disregard convention …
Aren't You Glad You're You Every time you're near a rose Aren't you glad you've got…
Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did Oh, it really wasn't my intention To disregard convention It…
Arent You Kind Of Glad We Did? Oh, it really wasn't my intention To disregard convention …
As Long As I Live Maybe I can't live to love you as long as…
As Time Goes By Lyrics and Music by Herman Hupfeld; © 1931 Warner Bros. Musi…
As You Desire Me As you desire me, so shall I come to you, Howe'er…
At Last I'm confessin' that I love you, Tell me, do you love…
Autumn in New York Autumn in New York Why does it seem so inviting Autumn in…
Autumn in Rome Autumn in Rome My heart remembers fountains where children p…
Baby "Baby" is what he calls me When we are all alone "Baby"…
Baby (Is What He Calls Me) "Baby" is what he calls me When we are all alone. "Baby"…
Baby Don Just because I'm kind and gentle, slightly sentimental, Hone…
Baby Don't Be Mad At Me Baby, don't be mad at me! If I made you cry,…
Baby Dont Be Mad At Me Baby, don't be mad at me! If I made you cry,…
Baby Is What He Calls Me "Baby" is what he calls me When we are all alone "Baby"…
Baby's First Morning / What Is a Baby What is a baby? I just can't understand. It must be…
Back in Your Own Back The bird with feathers of blue Is waiting for you Back in…
Back in your own backyard We leave home expecting to find a blue bird Hoping ev'ry…
Bali H'ai Bali Ha'I may call you, any night, any day In your…
Bali Ha Bali Ha'I may call you, any night, any day In your…
Bali Ha i Bali Ha'I may call you, any night, any day In your…
Basin Street Blues Won't you come along with me To the Mississippi? We'll take …
Baubles Bangles and Beads Baubles, Bangles And Beads Peggy Lee Baubles, bangles, Hear…
Be Anything Be a beggar Be a thief be my sunshine Or my grief…
Beautiful Love is funny or it's sad, Or it's quiet or…
Because I Love Him So Let me tell you 'bout a boy I know He is…
Bella notte Oh, this is the night, it's a beautiful night And we…
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea I don't want you, but I'd hate to lose you You've…
Bewitched Bewitched, Bewitched, You've got me in your spell. Bewitched…
Big Bad Bill In the town of Louisville they got a man they…
Big Spender The minute you walked in the joint I could see you…
Bill In the town of Louisville they got a man they…
Black Coffee I'm feelin' mighty lonesome Haven't slept a wink I walk…
Black Coffee - Single Version I'm feelin' mighty lonesome Haven't slept a wink I walk the …
Black Coffee Black Coffee I'm feelin' mighty lonesome Haven't slept a wink I walk…
Black Coffee Love Me or Leave Me Love me or leave me and let me be lonely You…
Black Coffee My Heart Belongs to Daddy I used to fall in love with all those boys…
Black Coffee When the World Was Young They call me coquette, and mademoiselle, And I must admit I…
Bless You Oh oh oh Bless you for the good that's in you,…
Blue Moon Blue moon you saw me standing alone Without a dream in…
Blue Prelude Let me sigh Let me cry When I'm blue Let me go away…
Blue Skies Blue skies smilin' at me Nothin' but blue skies do I…
Blues in the Night Strangers in the night Exchanging glances Wandering the nigh…
Bluest Kind Of Blues It's the bluest kind of blues, my baby sings It's the…
Born To Be With You Every kiss Every hug Seems to act Just like a drug You're ge…
Boston Beans I took a trip to Boston I was feeling in…
Bouquet of Blues Have you seen the girl of great regret, Looking for the…
Boy from Ipanema Tall and tan and young and lovely The girl from Ipanema…
Bridge Over Troubled Water When you're down and out When you're on the street When even…
Brother Love Hot August night and the leaves hanging down and the grass…
Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show Hot August night and the leaves hanging down and the grass…
But Beautiful Love is funny or it's sad, Or it's quiet or…
Button Up Your Overcoat Listen, big boy Now that you got me made Goodness, but I'm…
By The Time I Get To Phoenix By the time I get to Phoenix she'll be rising. She'll…
Bye I got a big surprise when I saw you smile I…
Bye Bye Blackbird No one here can love or understand me Oh, what hard…
Bye Bye Blues I got a big surprise when I saw you smile I…
Bye-Bye Blackbird No one here can love or understand me Oh, what hard…
C'est magnifique When love comes in And takes you for a spin, Ooh-la-la-la, c…
Call Me If you're feelin' sad and lonely There's a service I can…
Call Me Darling Call me darlin', call me sweetheart, call me dear, Thrill me…
Call Me Darling Call Me Sweetheart Call Me Dear If you're feelin' sad and lonely There's a service I can…
Can Ahhhhhh, oooooo This is the way I always dreamed it would b…
Can I Change My Mind Aww, she didn't bat an eye As I packed my bags…
Can I Change My Mind? Aww, she didn't bat an eye As I packed my bags…
Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man Oh listen, sister I love my mister man and I can't…
Caramba ! It's the Samba Tonight is my night out for dancing, There's a guy that…
Caramba! It’s The Samba Tonight is my night out for dancing There's a guy that…
Careless Love was the thing that you wanted That's why we answered…
Carimba It's the Samba Tonight is my night out for dancing, There's a guy that…
Cheek To Cheek Heaven, I'm in heaven And my heart beats so that I…
Chi baba chi baba (Chi-baba, chi-baba) Many a year ago in old Sorrento A cert…
Christmas Carousel Christmas is a carousel And round and round we go Busy doin'…
Christmas Song Chestnuts roasting on an open fire Jack Frost nipping at you…
Circle In The Sky The ghost riders in the sky An old cow polk went…
Close Music play something dreamy for dancing while we're here r…
Come Back to Me You went away I let you We broke the ties that bind I…
Come Dance With Me Hey there cutes, put on your dancin' boots And come dance…
Come Rain or Come Shine I'm gonna' love you, like nobody's loved you Come rain or…
Cottage For Sale Our little dream castle with every dream gone, Is lonely and…
Crazy He Calls Me I say I'll move the mountains And I'll move the mountains …
Crazy In The Heart I left my heart in San Francisco. High on a hill…
Crazy She Calls Me I say I'll move the mountains And I'll move the mountains If…
Dance Only With Me Hey there cutes, put on your dancin' boots And come dance…
Dancing On The Ceiling The world is lyrical Because a miracle Has brought my lover …
Dancing With Tears Those who dance and romance while they dance They seem so…
Day In Day in, day out That same old voodoo follows me about That…
Days Of Wine And Roses The days of wine and roses laugh and run away…
Dear Heart Dear Heart, wish you were here to warm this night. My dear…
Deck the Hall Deck the halls with boughs of holly Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-l…
Deed I Do Do I want you? Oh my! Do I Honey, deed I…
Deep Purple Woo, Wo-o-oo-wo-wo, Wo-o-oo-wo-wo, Wo-o-oo-wo-wo When the…
Didn Didn't wanna have to do it Didn't wanna have to break…
Didn't Want To Have To Do It Didn't wanna have to do it Didn't wanna have to break…
Do I Hear A Waltz Do I hear a waltz? Very odd but I hear a…
Do I Hear A Waltz? Do I hear a waltz? Very odd but I hear a…
Do I Love You Beyond the shadow of a dove As the mighty river…
Do I Love You? Beyond the shadow of a dove As the mighty river…
Dock of the Bay Sittin' in the mornin' sun I'll be sittin' when the evenin'…
Don Ever since the lucky night I found you I've hung around…
Don't Be So Mean To Baby Just because I'm kind and gentle, Slightly sentimental, Hone…
Don't Be So Mean To Me Baby Just because I'm kind and gentle, Slightly sentimental, Ho…
Don't Blame Me Ever since the lucky night I found you I've hung around…
Don't Ever Leave Me Don't ever leave me, now that you're here Here is where…
Don't Explain Hush now don't explain I know you raise Cain I'm glad you're…
Don't fan the flame Don't fan the flame, don't fan the flame Don't fan the…
Don't Forget To Feed The Raindeer Have you been a good little angel Santa Claus soon will…
Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight Do me wrong, do me right Tell me lies, but hold…
Don't Smoke in Bed I left a note on his dresser And my old wedding…
Don't Smoke In Bed - 2002 Digital Remaster I left a note on his dresser and my old…
Don't Smoke In The Bed I left a note on his dresser And my old wedding…
Don't Worry 'Bout Me Don't worry 'bout me I'll get along Forget about me Just be …
Dont Be So Mean To Baby Just because I'm kind and gentle, Slightly sentimental, Hone…
Dont Blame Me Ever since the lucky night I found you I've hung around…
Dont Ever Leave Me Don't ever leave me, now that you're here Here is where…
Dont Smoke In Bed I left a note on his dresser And my old wedding…
Dream Midnight, you heavy laden, it's midnight Come on and trade i…
Easy Does It You said you needed love to warm you in the…
Easy Evil Well you are Such an easy evil You're such a sensuous sin So…
and many more tracks by Peggy Lee.
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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Anonymous
on Why Don't You Do Right (Get Me Some Money Too)
Why Don't You Do Right - Casey Abrams - Lyrics
You had plenty money 1922
You let other women make a fool of you
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too?
You're sitting there wondering what it's all about
You ain't got no money, they will throw you out
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too?
Musical Interlude
You had plenty money 1922
You let other women make a fool of you
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too?
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?