Who is peggy lee

Nationwide popularity and chart-hitting success first came to her in after being hired as the singer with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. Peggy and Dave were married in , and though the marriage only lasted eight years, she considered him to be the love of her life and greatest musical collaborator. She established her solo career by joining the then-emerging Capitol Records and ranks as the female act with the longest stay at that renowned label, her musical alma mater: 24 years.

She also spent five very productive years at Decca Records in the s, and recorded albums with several other major and independent labels starting in the mids. Throughout, Lee continued to work extensively on television, radio and in concert up until the mid s. Her vast and varied catalog of songs flourished from such longevity in the music business: she recorded more than 1, masters and over 50 original albums.

Her total number of radio broadcast performances is over , and her television appearances surpass the mark. One of the foremothers of the singer-songwriter school, Lee ranks among the most successful female singer-songwriters in the annals of American popular music. Lady and the Tramp was not her only work in film. It was also during the early '50s that she hosted her own radio show, often showcasing composers she loved, including Johnny Mercer , Hoagy Carmichael , Matt Dennis , and others. She spent only five years at Decca, however, before moving back to Capitol.

There, she distinguished herself through recording a wide variety of material, including songs -- and occasionally, entire LPs -- influenced by the blues, Latin, cabaret, and pop. Barbour 's problems with alcoholism ended their marriage, though they remained good friends until his death in Peggy Lee was an early advocate of rock and made a quick transition into rock-oriented material.

It was her last LP for Capitol, however. She returned in with two LPs for Musicmasters that revisited her earlier successes. Her last album, Moments Like This , was recorded in for Chesky. Her voice was effectively silenced after a stroke, and she died of a heart attack at her Bel Air home in early AllMusic relies heavily on JavaScript.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to use the site fully. Blues Classical Country. Electronic Folk International. Jazz Latin New Age. She really proved in those early recordings that she had the technique to sing any number of different styles extremely well. She started recording with smaller ensembles, which allowed her to adopt a more expressive way of singing that aided storytelling and conveyed intimacy. In , she returned to Capitol for a second, much longer stint, that took her up to She respected current songwriters in whatever decade she was in, so she strove to record very new music even until her old age.

Oney, whose new book on Lee is an exploration of her music rather than a standard biography, says the singer discovered a vocal niche that nobody else was occupying.

She also mastered understated singing. According to Dr. With its mix of flavors, it blurs genres. And it was jazz, too. So it was very difficult to categorize. She pared it down to just voice, bass and finger-snaps.

She had a very clear idea of what she wanted, and so its simplicity and the minimalist approach made it universal.