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."
That Old Black Magic
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Old black magic that you weave so well
Those icy fingers up and down my spine
The same old witch craft when your eyes meet mine
Same old tingle that I feel inside
Then the elevator starts it ride
Down and down I goRound and round I go
Like a leaf caught in a tide
I should stay away but what can I do
I hear your name and I'm a flame
Flame, flame of desire
Only your kiss can put out the fire
Oh you're the lover I have waiting for
Your the mate that fate had me created for
And every time your lips meet mine
Down and down I go
Round and round I go
In a spin, lovin' the spin I'm in
Under the old black magic called love
In a spin lovin' the spin I'm in
Under the old black magic called love
In a spin lovin' the spin I'm in
Under the old black magic called love
I should stay away but what can I do
I hear your name and I'm a flame
Flame, flame of desire
Only your kiss can put out the fire
Oh you are the lover I have waited for
Your the mate that fate had me created for
Down and down I go
Round and round I go
In a spin, lovin' the spin I'm in
Under the old black magic called love
The lyrics to That Old Black Magic by Peggy Lee describe the feeling of being under the spell of love, comparing it to magic. The song begins with the singer being entranced by the power of the "old black magic" that the object of her affection weaves. The feeling is a physical one, as she describes the sensation of "icy fingers up and down my spine" and the "same old tingle that I feel inside." It's a feeling that she cannot resist, even though she knows she should stay away.
The chorus emphasizes the all-consuming nature of this love, as she goes "down and down" and "round and round" like a leaf caught in a tide. But despite this feeling of being overwhelmed, she is still in love and cannot help but feel the flame of desire that only the object of her affection can put out. The song ends with the singer acknowledging that she is "lovin' the spin" she's in, caught up in the old black magic of love.
Line by Line Meaning
Old black magic has me in its spell
I am under the control of a powerful, irresistible force beyond my understanding or control, commonly known as love
Old black magic that you weave so well
You possess a skill and charm in your actions and words that draws me in and keeps me entranced, despite my better judgement
Those icy fingers up and down my spine
I am acutely aware of your presence and how it affects me, it is as if a cold sensation is running through my entire being
The same old witch craft when your eyes meet mine
You have a way of looking into my eyes that feels like you are casting a spell on me, and those feelings are just as strong and mystifying as they were from the beginning
Same old tingle that I feel inside
When I am near you, I still feel the same magical buzz in my stomach as I did when we first met, that spark of excitement and anticipation
Then the elevator starts its ride
As our connection intensifies and we become more intimate, the sensations I feel become even more exhilarating and dizzying
Down and down I go
I am falling deeper and deeper into my emotions and my attachment to you
Round and round I go
My thoughts and feelings are swirling around as if caught in a vortex, and I cannot escape
Like a leaf caught in a tide
I am caught up in the powerful current of love, unable to resist its pull, like a helpless leaf being carried away by the ocean's waves
I should stay away but what can I do
Despite the obvious danger and risks to my emotional health, I cannot resist the pull towards you, it is too strong
I hear your name and I'm a flame
Even the mere mention of your name is enough to reignite the fiery passion I feel for you
Flame, flame of desire
The intense feelings and yearning for you are like a blazing fire, impossible to ignore or extinguish
Only your kiss can put out the fire
The only way to satisfy this intense desire and quell the longing I feel for you is through physical intimacy and closeness with you
Oh you're the lover I have waiting for
You are the person I have been longing for and searching for, and my heart belongs only to you
You're the mate that fate had me created for
It is as if we were made for each other, and fate has directed us towards each other for a greater purpose
And every time your lips meet mine
The emotions and sensations are amplified to an even greater degree when our lips meet and we share a kiss
In a spin, lovin' the spin I'm in
I am caught up in a whirlwind of emotions and sensations, and despite the fact that it is overwhelming, I am enjoying every moment of it
Under the old black magic called love
All of these intense feelings and sensations are the result of the age-old force of love, a powerful and mysterious connection between two people
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Anonymous
on Why Don't You Do Right (Get Me Some Money Too)
Why Don't You Do Right - Casey Abrams - Lyrics
You had plenty money 1922
You let other women make a fool of you
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too?
You're sitting there wondering what it's all about
You ain't got no money, they will throw you out
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too?
Musical Interlude
You had plenty money 1922
You let other women make a fool of you
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too?
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?