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."
What Child Is This?
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Leading a life apart
When love flew in through my window wide
And quickened my humdrum heart
Love flew in through my window
I was so happy then
But after love had stayed a little while
Love flew out again
This funny thing
Called love
Just who can solve it's mystery
Why should it make
A fool of me?
I saw you there
One wonderful day
You took my heart
And threw it away
That's why I ask the Lord
In heaven above
What is this thing
Called love?
What is this thing called love
This funny thing
Called love
Just who can solve it's mystery
Why should it make
A fool of me?
I saw you there
One wonderful day
You took my heart
And threw it away
That's why I ask the Lord
In heaven above
What is this thing
Called love?
In Peggy Lee's song "What Is This Thing Called Love?" the lyrics depict the singer's experience of love and its effects on their life. At the beginning, the singer describes themselves as a "humdrum person," leading a mundane and unexciting existence. However, their life takes a delightful turn when love unexpectedly enters their life, almost as if it flew in through their window. This love awakens their previously humdrum heart, bringing happiness into their life. Yet, just as abruptly as love came, it departs, leaving the singer to question the nature and power of this elusive emotion.
The singer's curiosity about love is reflected in the repeated question, "What is this thing called love?" They are perplexed by its enigmatic nature, wondering who can solve its mystery and why it has the ability to make a fool out of them. The tone of the lyrics takes a somber turn in the second half as the singer recalls a specific experience where they encountered someone who had the power to capture their heart. However, this person ultimately discarded their affection, leading the singer to turn to the Lord in search of answers about the complexities of love.
Overall, the lyrics convey a sense of wonder, confusion, and heartbreak in the face of love. The singer's journey from a humdrum existence to the fleeting joy and subsequent disappointment demonstrates the bittersweet and unpredictable nature of love.
Line by Line Meaning
I was a humdrum person
I used to be a boring and ordinary individual
Leading a life apart
Living a life separate from excitement and passion
When love flew in through my window wide
Suddenly, love entered my life unexpectedly
And quickened my humdrum heart
It awakened and enlivened my previously dull heart
Love flew in through my window
Love entered my life with great intensity
I was so happy then
At that moment, I experienced pure happiness
But after love had stayed a little while
However, once love began to fade after some time
Love flew out again
Love departed from my life as quickly as it had arrived
What is this thing called love
I ponder the true essence of this complex emotion known as love
This funny thing
This perplexing and unpredictable phenomenon
Called love
Named love
Just who can solve its mystery
Who possesses the ability to understand its enigmatic nature
Why should it make
What is the reason behind it causing
A fool of me?
Me, a person who acts foolishly in its presence?
I saw you there
Once upon a time, I laid eyes on you
One wonderful day
On a truly remarkable day
You took my heart
You captured my emotions and affection
And threw it away
Only to discard and abandon it
That's why I ask the Lord
Hence, I seek guidance from the divine entity
In heaven above
Residing in the celestial realm
What is this thing
What truly defines this intangible concept
Called love?
Known as love?
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Cole Porter
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@anthonymarando7046
One of my absolute favorites.
@shelbymunro8941
This is my new favourite Christmas song, even though it's from the 50s.
@Oldiesmann
I'm surprised this wasn't/isn't more popular. I've only been able to find two other versions of this song (Fred Waring in 1957 and Lawrence Welk in 1959). Still a fun song 70 years later.
@dianaandrews5168
Haven't heard this song in years!
@johnpatterson4816
Not too bad.
@_Mulberrystreetgirl01_
🎁