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 Only Have Eyes For You
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I can't see anyone but you
And dear, I wonder if you find love
An optical illusion, too?
Are the stars out tonight?
I don't know if it's cloudy or bright
Cause I only have eyes for you, dear
But I can't see a thing in the sky
Cause I only have eyes for you.
I don't know if we're in a garden
Or on a crowded avenue
You are here, so am I
Maybe millions of people go by
But they all disappear from view
And I only have eyes for you
The song "I Only Have Eyes For You" by Peggy Lee & Four Of A Kind is a beautiful love song that highlights the depths of true, blind love. The opening lyrics "My love must be a kind of blind love, I can't see anyone but you" convey the idea that the singer's love is so strong that they are unable to see anyone else but their beloved. The next line, "And dear, I wonder if you find love an optical illusion, too?" suggests that perhaps the singer's beloved is experiencing the same kind of blindness and can only see them.
The chorus of the song reinforces the idea of the singer's single-minded devotion. They don't even notice the stars or moon because they are so focused on their partner. The lyric "Maybe millions of people go by, but they all disappear from view" emphasizes the idea that the singer sees nobody else but their beloved. In the end, the singer repeats that they "only have eyes" for the person they love.
Overall, the song is a moving tribute to the power of love to make us feel like we are the only two people in the world. It conveys a sense of wonder at the intensity of emotion that love can create.
Line by Line Meaning
My love must be a kind of blind love
I love you so much that it seems like I am blinded by it. I cannot think of anyone but you.
I can't see anyone but you
You are everything to me. I cannot imagine a life without you.
And dear, I wonder if you find love
I wonder if you feel the same way about me. Are you blinded by love as well?
An optical illusion, too?
Is this love real or just a trick of the mind? I hope it is real because I want to spend my life with you.
Are the stars out tonight?
I do not know if the stars are out because you are the only thing I am focused on.
I don't know if it's cloudy or bright
I do not care about the weather as long as I am with you.
Cause I only have eyes for you, dear
My attention is solely on you because you are the one that I love.
The moon may be high
The moon can be up in the sky, but it does not matter because I am with you.
But I can't see a thing in the sky
The sky can be full of stars or empty, but it does not matter because I am only focused on you.
Cause I only have eyes for you.
My love for you is so strong that nothing else can distract me. You have all of my love and attention.
I don't know if we're in a garden
I do not know where we are because my mind is only focused on you.
Or on a crowded avenue
We could be on a packed street, but I only see you and everything else fades away.
You are here, so am I
As long as we are together, nothing else matters because you are the only one that I want and need.
Maybe millions of people go by
There could be millions of people around us, but they do not matter because my heart only sees you.
But they all disappear from view
Everyone else fades away because my love and focus is solely on you.
And I only have eyes for you
I love you so much that you are the only thing I see. You have all of me.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Al Dubin, Harry Warren
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@rosmerylue9762
My love must be a kind of blind love
I can't see anyone but you
And dear, I wonder if you find love
An optical illusion, too?
Are the stars out tonight?
I don't know if it's cloudy or bright
Cause I only have eyes for you, dear
The moon may be high
But I can't see a thing in the sky
Cause I only have eyes for you.
I don't know if we're in a garden
Or on a crowded avenue
You are here, so am I
Maybe millions of people go by
But they all disappear from view
And I only have eyes for you
@jmontarsi
I believe the guitarist was Peggy Lee's first husband, David Barbour (1943 to 1952) N American guitarist, banjoist, and songwriter. .He was wonderful! Together made some incredible recordings.
Born: 28 May 1912 in Long Island, New York, USA.
Died: 11 December 1965 in Malibu Beach, California, USA (aged 53).
@skarath
Wow, such mastery of her soft voice.
These kind of soft timbres are a lost art. I'm glad I watched this.
@nomiharper
The astounding artist, Miss Peggy Lee
@TheHenrygene
I was born in the same city & hospital in Jamestown ND, (37 years later) as Peggy. I was able to see her live in Toronto in 1988–simply marvelous!
@wjv2011
First time I've heard her sing this- what a bonus it's on video too! Sublime!
@theodenking7504
God she was gorgeous.
@johnruggles7739
I would love to know who is behind this channel. The film & tv clips are rare enough but the home movie clips are highly personal and surely could only have the backing of Miss Lee's grand--daughter or great-grandchildren? There is so little 'live' material for us see that this channel s most welcome. PLEASE, keep it coming !!!!!!
@marceloruarte444
Beautiful singer Peggy
@PeggyLeeofficial
✨💐✨
@marceloruarte444
Maravillosa Peggy Lee