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."
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Lives a life that isn't necessarily sunny
Likewise the man who works for fame
There's no guarantee that time won't erase his name
The fact is, the only work that really brings enjoyment
Is the kind that is for girl and boy meant
Fall in love and you won't regret it
Holding hands at midnight
'Neath a starry sky
Nice work if you can get it
And you can get it if you try
Strolling with the one girl
Sighing sigh after sigh
Nice work if you can get it
And you can get it if you try
Just imagine someone
Waiting at the cottage door
Where two hearts become one
Who could ask for anything more?
Loving one who loves you
And then taking that vow
It's nice work if you can get it
And if you get it, won't you tell me how?"
Just imagine someone
Waiting at the cottage door
Where two hearts become one
Who could ask for anything more?
Loving one who loves you
And then taking that vow
Nice work if you can get it
And if you get it, won't you tell me how?"
In Peggy Lee's song Nice Work If You Can Get It, she muses about the nature of work and what truly brings enjoyment in life. The first stanza describes men who dedicate themselves to either making money or achieving fame, but acknowledges that these goals do not guarantee a happy life. Instead, the chorus offers a more fulfilling alternative - falling in love. Holding hands at midnight and strolling with a loved one are presented as the "nicest work" one can have.
Lee continues to explain the joys of love as she imagines a couple at a cottage door, where two hearts become one. She concludes that loving someone who loves you and taking a vow to cherish each other is the ultimate "nice work" one can achieve in life.
Overall, the song serves as a reminder to prioritize love and human connections over materialistic pursuits, and that finding someone to love and cherish is the most rewarding "work" of all.
Line by Line Meaning
The man who only lives for making money
A person whose only goal is acquiring wealth
Lives a life that isn't necessarily sunny
Doesn't lead a fulfilling life, despite having money
Likewise the man who works for fame
Similar to the person who strives for wealth, someone who wants to be famous
There's no guarantee that time won't erase his name
Fame doesn't last forever, and memories of famous people can also fade
The fact is, the only work that really brings enjoyment
This is the truth: the only work that brings happiness
Is the kind that is for girl and boy meant
It's work involving love and companionship
Fall in love and you won't regret it
If you find love, you'll be happy it happened
That's the best work of all, if you can get it
This is the most fulfilling type of work if you're able to find it
Holding hands at midnight
Gently gripping one another's fingers
'Neath a starry sky
Underneath the vast, glowing expanse of stars
Nice work if you can get it
This is an enjoyable experience
And you can get it if you try
If you put the effort in, you can have this positive experience
Strolling with the one girl
Casually walking with a female companion
Sighing sigh after sigh
Taking a deep breath and exhaling a long, audible exhalation to express feelings of happiness or contentment
Just imagine someone
Close your eyes and picture this scenario
Waiting at the cottage door
Standing outside a quaint, humble building waiting for someone to arrive
Where two hearts become one
A place where two people in love come together
Who could ask for anything more?
What more could someone want in life?
Loving one who loves you
Being in love with someone who loves you back
And then taking that vow
Making the commitment to spend your life together through marriage vows
And if you get it, won't you tell me how?
Asking for advice on how to find lasting love
Lyrics © RALEIGH MUSIC PUBLISHING, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
BG McPike
This was one of the hippest songs of the era - and this version is fabulous!
Y100819116
My favorite version :)
Rajiv - Max ROY
All time great!
Roger Alsop
Great song.
dena tucker
love her thanks