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-fiancΓ©e, 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, "MaΓ±ana", 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."
When the Sun Comes Out
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And that rain stops beatin' on my window pane
When the sun comes out
There'll be bluebirds 'round my door, singin' like they did before
That ol' storm broke out
And my man/gal walked off and left me in the rain
Though he's/she's gone I doubt
If he'll/she'll stay away for good,I'd stop livin' if he/she should Love is funny, it's not always peaches, cream and honey
Just when everything looked bright and sunny
Suddenly the cyclone came, I'll never be the same
Til that sun comes out
And the rain stops beatin' on my window pane
If my heart holds out
Let it rain and let it pour, it may not be long before
There's a knockin' at my door
Then you'll know the one I love walked in
When the sun comes out
The lyrics to Peggy Lee's song "When The Sun Comes Out" is a depiction of a person's optimistic outlook towards their future after a devastating heartbreak. The song suggests that the singer is feeling blue, probably after a fight with their lover. The rain is continuously pouring on their windows and their lover has abandoned them. However, they believe that when the sun comes out, things will be different. The singer seems to be eagerly waiting for the sun to come out so their problems can go away.
Love is the central theme of this song, and Peggy Lee has written the song in such a way that anyone who has experienced heartbreak can relate to it. The song conveys that even though love can be tumultuous and bring about cyclones, it can also bring about calm and sunshine. The song suggests that waiting patiently for the sun to come out and embracing the love that has left, can bring about a new day. This song accentuates the sentimental universalism concept, which states that music communicates universal emotions that everyone can connect with.
Line by Line Meaning
When the sun comes out
When the situation improves and becomes positive.
And that rain stops beatin' on my window pane
When the difficult times have passed and life becomes easier again.
When the sun comes out
When a new and positive phase of life starts.
There'll be bluebirds 'round my door, singin' like they did before
Life will regain its happiness and peacefulness, just like before.
That ol' storm broke out
The difficult times started suddenly, taking me by surprise.
And my man/gal walked off and left me in the rain
My partner abandoned me, leaving me alone to deal with the difficult times.
Though he's/she's gone I doubt
Although my partner left me, I still have hope that he/she will come back to me.
If he'll/she'll stay away for good,I'd stop livin' if he/she should
If my partner doesn't return, I may not be able to continue living.
Love is funny, it's not always peaches, cream and honey
Love can be unpredictable, it's not always easy and pleasant.
Just when everything looked bright and sunny
Just when life seemed to be going well, something unexpected happened.
Suddenly the cyclone came, I'll never be the same
The difficult times had a big impact on me, and I will never be the same again.
Til that sun comes out
Until the situation improves, and life becomes positive again.
And the rain stops beatin' on my window pane
And the difficult times and challenges stop impacting me.
If my heart holds out
If I am strong enough to endure the difficult times.
Let it rain and let it pour, it may not be long before
Even if the difficult times continue for a while longer.
There's a knockin' at my door
Hope and positivity are just around the corner.
Then you'll know the one I love walked in
And I will know that my partner has returned to me.
When the sun comes out
When life becomes happy and positive again.
Lyrics Β© Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC, S.A. MUSIC
Written by: HAROLD ARLEN, TED KOEHLER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@loubricano7444
I always end up bawling when I watch this. My mom was the same age as Peggy Lee, and lived an unhappy life. When this song came on the radio in 1969, my mom always became very angry. She didn't want to believe that that's all there is, but the reality is, that's all there was β my mom's life didn't get better. She deserved better, and didn't get it.
@ria1636
π₯π§‘π
@glendahalpert6590
God, Iβm So sorry to hear about your mom and her suffering,,
My Dad and I used to listen to Peggy Lee, especially this song, he passed away from alcoholism π’
We were Very close
@loubricano7444
@@glendahalpert6590 Thanks for the thoughts. My mom also fell into heavy alcoholism, and it was a major factor in her demise. She suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke at age 64, and lived nearly all the next six years in nursing homes before dying a few months after turning age 70. Above I said that she lived an unhappy life, but it only became unhappy when the wheels came off my parents' marriage in the late 1950s.
@Winston-op5de
Lou, Sorry to hear that but rest assured she must be in heaven as the earth was a nightmare to her. God Bless you.
@iancopestick6757
I'm so sorry
@jupiterlegrand4817
Never screamed. Never busted a blood vessel trying to sing as loud as possible. No histrionics, no nudity or vulgarity...and Peggy Lee makes more of a lasting impact with almost a whisper than all the screechers combined. Gosh she was good.
@rogerturner5504
And no vocal fry like most American women speakers since 2005.
@dannyodell6378
I agree 100%.
@yumemidoli
γγ‘γγγ‘γγγγ