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."
Stormy Weather
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There's no sun up in the sky
Stormy weather
Since my man and I ain't together
Keeps raining all the time
Life is bare
Gloom and misery everywhere
Just can't get my poorself together
I'm weary all the time
The time, so weary all the time
Since he went away
the blues walked in and met me
If he stays away
Old rocking chair will get me
All I do is pray
That the lord above will let me
Walk in the sun once more
Can't go on
Everything I had is gone
Stormy weather
Since my man and I ain't together
Keeps raining all the time
Keeps raining all the time
I can't go on
Everything I had is gone
Stormy weather
Since my man and I ain't together
Keeps raining all the time
Keeps raining all the time
Since my man and I, we ain't together
Keeps raining all the time
The song "Stormy Weather" by Peggy Lee is a slow, sultry ballad that deals with the theme of heartbreak and loneliness. The first stanza paints a picture of dreary weather conditions, with no sunshine in the sky, as a metaphor for the singer's emotional state after her man left her. She feels lost and overwhelmed by the "gloom and misery everywhere." Even though she tries to gather herself, she can't seem to get her poor self together, and is always "weary all the time."
The second stanza echoes the same feelings of desolation and despair, as she pleads with the lord above to allow her to walk in the sun once more. She cannot seem to move on from the love she once had and is stuck in a place of perpetual mourning. The chorus repeats this sentiment, emphasizing the impact that the absence of her lover has had on her life. The bridge serves as a reminder of what she stands to lose if her man does not return, with her only solace being prayer.
Overall, the lyrics of "Stormy Weather" are simple yet poignant, capturing the essence of heartbreak and the pain that comes from love lost. Peggy Lee's haunting voice adds to the melancholic atmosphere of the song, making it an unforgettable classic.
Line by Line Meaning
Don't know why
I don't understand why
There's no sun up in the sky
The sky is dark and gloomy, lacking sunshine
Stormy weather
The weather is tumultuous
Since my man and I ain't together
My partner and I are separated
Keeps raining all the time
It continues to rain constantly
Life is bare
My life is empty
Gloom and misery everywhere
Everywhere I look is full of sadness and misery
Stormy Weather
The tumultuous weather is symbolic of my emotional state
Just can't get my poor self together
I am unable to emotionally recover from my current situation
I'm weary all the time
I am constantly tired and fatigued
The time, so weary all the time
Time passes slowly and I remain consistently weary
Since he went away
My partner left me
the blues walked in and met me
Sadness and depression are now a constant presence in my life
If he stays away
If my partner doesn't return
Old rocking chair will get me
I'll be so lonely that I'll end up sitting in a rocking chair all day
All I do is pray
My only hope is to pray
That the lord above will let me
I hope that God will give me
Walk in the sun once more
The chance to experience happiness again
Can't go on
I am unable to continue living life as it currently is
Everything I had is gone
I have lost everything that was important to me
Since my man and I ain't together
The source of my pain and loss is the separation from my partner
Keeps raining all the time
Symbolic of the constant pain and sadness I feel
I can't go on
I feel completely defeated
Everything I had is gone
I've lost so much that I don't feel like I have anything left
Since my man and I ain't together
The separation from my partner is a constant presence in my life
Keeps raining all the time
There is no end to my sadness and hardship
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BMG Rights Management, S.A. MUSIC
Written by: Harold Arlen, Ted Koheler
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@KendraLou
Jazz Street.... thank you for this one. Makes me wanna weep.. I love this lady to the bone. Haven't felt like this 'bout a singer since I was 14 & heard Billie Holiday for the first time.. Peggy Lee is a huge inspiration & I am putting a show up in Denmark called "Kendra Lou sings Peggy Lee". My take on some of her songs & hits. I will be filming it and putting it up here in December or January. Be well & merry christmas
@thedifferent14
My favorite song by her.
@Izabelahoneybunny
=] Soooooo romantic