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 Hear Music
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Mighty fine music
The murmur of a morning breeze up there
The rattle of the milkman on the stair
Sure that's music
Mighty fine music
The singing of a sparrow in the sky
That's my favorite melody
You my angel, phoning me
I hear music
Mighty fine music
And anytime I think my world is wrong
I get me out of bed and sing this song
The lyrics of Peggy Lee's "I Hear Music" are an expression of the beauty and joy that can be found in everyday sounds. The verse describes the different sounds that the singer hears, including the morning breeze, the milkman on the stair, the singing of a sparrow, and the perking of coffee. The chorus emphasizes the idea that all of these sounds are music, and that singing this song can bring a sense of comfort and joy to the listener.
The first verse of the song focuses on the sounds of the natural world, including the breeze and the sparrow. These sounds are characterized as "music" because of their melodic quality and the sense of harmony they provide. The second verse shifts to more mundane sounds, such as the milkman on the stair and the perking of coffee, but still insists that these sounds are music. The final section of the song emphasizes the importance of music as a way of finding solace in difficult times.
Overall, "I Hear Music" is a celebration of the beauty of everyday life and the power of music to elevate the mundane into something magical.
Line by Line Meaning
I hear music
I'm surrounded by sounds that make me feel happy and alive
Mighty fine music
The sounds I'm hearing are of high quality and pleasing to my ears
The murmur of a morning breeze up there
I can hear the gentle rustle of leaves in the trees as the wind blows by
The rattle of the milkman on the stair
I can hear the distinct sound of the milk bottles as the milkman climbs up the stairs
Sure that's music
These everyday sounds are just as much music to me as any orchestral piece
The singing of a sparrow in the sky
The sweet chirping of a small bird flying high above adds to the symphony of sounds in my world
The perking of the coffee right near by
The sound of the coffee brewing is like music to my ears, signaling the start of a new day
That's my favorite melody
These sounds are my personal favorite, as they represent comfort, familiarity, and happiness
You my angel, phoning me
Even the sound of my loved one's voice over the phone can be considered music to me
And anytime I think my world is wrong
Whenever I feel down or lost, I can always turn to music to lift me up
I get me out of bed and sing this song
This song is my go-to for feeling good and finding joy in the simple things of life
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: BURTON LANE, FRANK LOESSER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@life02ab
This song and Ms Peggy make life Better!!!!
@cinnamonandclove
My favorite rendition of the song!
@vladimirdorta6692
Yes! She was the top in this song!
@monicabella7894
BILLIE HOLIDAY RULES
@djmush1
Top bebop trumpeter Fats Navarro quotes this in one of his iconic solos on Blue Note ❤️
@carolynzaremba5469
She is just so GOOD!
@adelineschuyler4842
..and Peggy
@user-ts4uq5nu7j
душевно поет,аж со шконки упал
@jeffpiegari4942
What year on it