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."
The Old Master Painter
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Painted the violets and the daffodils
He put the purple in the twilight haze
Then did a rainbow for the rainy days
Dreamed up the murals on the blue summer skies
Painted the devil in my darling's eyes
Captured the dreamer with a thousand thrills
The old master painter from the faraway hills
He smiled down from heaven and he gave me you
What a beautiful job on that wonderful day
The old master painter from the hills faraway
The old master painter from the faraway hills
Painted the violets and the daffodils
He put the purple in the twilight haze
Then did a rainbow for the rainy days
Dreamed up the murals on the blue summer skies
Painted the devil in my darling's eyes
Captured the dreamer with a thousand thrills
The old master painter from the faraway hills
Then came his masterpiece and when he was through
He smiled down from heaven and he gave me you
What a beautiful job on that wonderful day
The old master painter from the hills faraway
Faraway, faraway
The song "The Old Master Painter" is a romantic ballad that describes how the old master painter, who resides in the faraway hills, created the beauty of nature with his paintbrush. The first verse describes how the painter painted the violets and daffodils, as well as the purple twilight haze and the rainbow for the rainy days, depicting the beauty of nature. The painter's imagination and creativity were not only limited to nature, but he also dreamed up the murals on blue summer skies.
The second verse mentions how the painter captured the devil in the darling's eyes, signifying that love can be both beautiful and alluring but also possess a slightly dangerous quality. However, the painter did not only paint nature and love but also captured the dreamer with a thousand thrills, which could be interpreted as the various joys and inspirations in life.
The chorus focuses on the masterpiece of the old master painter, which was the creation of the person the singer loves. The song ends with the singer thanking the old master painter, who smiled down from heaven and gave the world this beautiful person. Overall, "The Old Master Painter" is a song which seeks to convey the beauty of nature and love that the old master painter has created through his imagination and creativity.
Line by Line Meaning
The old master painter from the faraway hills
The highly skilled painter who lived in a distant land
Painted the violets and the daffodils
Created stunning works of art depicting beautiful flowers
He put the purple in the twilight haze
Added subtle shades of purple to the fading light of dusk
Then did a rainbow for the rainy days
Crafted a vibrant rainbow to brighten up gloomy days
Dreamed up the murals on the blue summer skies
Created intricate designs on the clear blue skies of summer
Painted the devil in my darling's eyes
Drew the wickedness in the eyes of the one he loves
Captured the dreamer with a thousand thrills
Portrayed a dreamer with an array of emotions and sensations
Then came his masterpiece and when he was through
Finally completed his greatest work of art
He smiled down from heaven and he gave me you
It was a gift from a higher power who was pleased with his work
What a beautiful job on that wonderful day
It was a remarkable achievement on a special occasion
The old master painter from the hills faraway
The talented artist who lived in a remote place
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Downtown Music Publishing
Written by: Beasley Smith, Haven Gillespie
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@loismasouris4444
At 90 this remains my favorite!
@henridelagardere264
The old master painter from the faraway hills painted the violets and the daffodils. He put the purple in the twilight haze, then did a rainbow for the rainy days, dreamed up the murals on the blue summer skies, painted the devil in my darling's eyes, captured the dreamer with a thousand thrills - the old master painter from the faraway hills. Then came his masterpiece and when he was through, he smiled down from heaven and he gave me you. What a beautiful job on that wonderful day - the old master painter from the hills faraway.
@ismailveli3631
One of my favourite old songs
@nickellodeon55
Great duet from Peggy and Mel!
@connielinker2546
Eliminate the negative