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."
Sugar
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He doesn't know it but he needs me!
And so, no matter where he goes,
Though he doesn't care,
He knows I'm there.
He needs me,
I ought to leave him but he needs me!
Just to tag along,
Oh, but right or wrong,
I'm his, and I'm here.
And I'm gonna be his friend or lover,
'Cause my one ambition is
To wake him and may, hey hey hey, he'll discover
That he needs me!
I've got to follow where he leads me,
Or else he'll never know that I need him,
Just as he needs me!
The lyrics of Peggy Lee's song "Sugar" are about a woman who is helplessly in love with a man who doesn't love her back. The woman feels that the man needs her even though he doesn't realize it yet. She is willing to follow him anywhere he goes and be his friend or lover, just to be close to him. She acknowledges that she's not very bright for being so devoted to him, but she can't help herself. Her one ambition is to wake him up and make him realize that they need each other.
The song is a sad commentary on unrequited love and the lengths people will go to be near their object of affection. It speaks to the idea that sometimes love is not rational, and people will put themselves through pain and heartache just to be near the person they love. The woman in the song is not blinded by the fact that the man doesn't love her back, but she feels that she can't help herself, and she's willing to do anything for him.
Overall, Peggy Lee's "Sugar" is a melancholy yet beautiful song that captures the heartache and devotion of unrequited love. It is a timeless classic that still resonates with music fans today.
Line by Line Meaning
He needs me,
The person being referred to needs me in their life though they may be unaware of it
He doesn't know it but he needs me!
The person being referred to is unaware of their need for me
And so, no matter where he goes,
I will always be there for him regardless of where he goes
Though he doesn't care,
Even though he may not reciprocate my feelings or care about me in the same way, I will still be there for him
He knows I'm there.
The person being referred to knows that I am present in their life
I ought to leave him but he needs me!
Although it may be in my best interest to leave the person being referred to, they still need me in their life
I know that I ain't very bright
I am aware that I may not be the most intelligent person
Just to tag along,
I am simply following the person being referred to, even if it means being a mere follower
Oh, but right or wrong,
Regardless of whether my actions are correct or not
I'm his, and I'm here.
I belong to the person being referred to and I will always be present in their life
And I'm gonna be his friend or lover,
I am willing to be either a friend or a romantic partner to the person being referred to
'Cause my one ambition is
My sole goal or aspiration is
To wake him and may, hey hey hey, he'll discover
To help the person being referred to realize or discover
That he needs me!
That they truly need me in their life
I've got to follow where he leads me,
I will follow the person being referred to and go wherever they go
Or else he'll never know that I need him,
If I do not follow the person being referred to, they may never realize that I also need them in my life
Just as he needs me!
Just like how the person being referred to needs me, I also need them in my life
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: CHRISTOPHER YOUNG
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Spainiswonderful
To me Peggy ALWAYS sounds wonderful. Muchas gracias por compartir esta joya y saludos cordiales a todo el Perú.
@fdobbs37
This is one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies of all time. Have it on DVD. Loved Ella Fitzgerald doing the title song. Thanks!
@Zandi5
lovely !!!! she is simply divine!!!!
@magni2073
Cool, great voice.
@kenh8274
Fabulous. Thanks. Unfortunately before my time, I wish I could have experienced this music live. The music seems more refined back then.
@elvidinck
Oh yeah....she is ultimate cool...a real jazzy treat...love her style...5*****!
@Toracube
It doesn't get much better than this. Great film too. Didn't notice it before (until this clip actually), but I think B Holliday had a big influence on her. It is just my opinion. I am not saying one is better... I know what jazz fans are like.. Great vid. Thanks for posting it.
@SoulSir
Peggy sounds, wonderful in this clip. Thanks, "TheJazzStreet".
@schlettstadt
Lady was a class act -- and smooth a sugar herself!
@DeeTrumpet
Interesting! I should have thought of looking up the film, which I see now was directed by Jack Webb, who also played the title role of Pete Kelly. Still, I can't help but wonder whether he was doing his own playing on this track. The Wiki article on the film names the band members who provided the music, including Dick Cathcart on trumpet. Still, it's a wonderful video, and I can't wait to see the entire film. Thanks to The Jazz Street for posting it!