The sultry-voiced singer-songwriter behind 'Fever' and 'Is That All There Is?', who helped define the American songbook across seven decades.
MOODS · sultry · intimate · smoky · sophisticated · jazzy · understated · sensual · timeless · breezy · dramatic
BIOGRAPHY
Born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, Peggy Lee took her stage name in 1937 from Fargo radio host Ken Kennedy. She found her signature sound at a Palm Springs club called The Doll House, choosing subtlety over volume to cut through noisy crowds, a choice that became her trademark sultry purr.
She joined Benny Goodman's band in 1941, then built her best-known work at Capitol Records with hits like 'Why Don't You Do Right?', 'Fever', and 'Is That All There Is?', the latter two earning her Grammy Awards. Over her career she recorded more than 1,100 masters and wrote over 270 songs, including co-writing 'He's a Tramp' and 'La La Lu' for Disney's Lady and the Tramp.
WHY THEY'RE COOL
Peggy Lee was one of the earliest and most successful singer-songwriters in popular music, co-writing hits like 'It's a Good Day' and 'Mañana' at a time when vocalists rarely penned their own material. Her intimate, phrasing-driven voice moved fluidly between jazz, blues, and the Great American Songbook, earning 13 Grammy nominations, a win for Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance, Lifetime Achievement honors from the Recording Academy, ASCAP, and Society of Singers, induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and an Academy Award nomination for Pete Kelly's Blues.
GEORGE'S PLAYS
First time on the station.
PLAYED ON WOKE1
