Part One by Alfred G. Aronowitz Peggy Lee smoked her first cigarette when she was 14. She was singing for 50 cents a night with Doc Haines and His Orchestra, a band of students working their way through college one-nighters in North Dakota. It was 1934 and she thought she[…]

author unknown Our enthusiasm for show business is such that we still like to watch TV reruns of The Glenn Miller Story and of movies in which Dan Dailey quits the act so that he won’t keep his girlfriend-partner from making it big as single, and even of movies in[…]

by John Lissner The musically-motivated singer, jazz or otherwise, is all about passe in our contemporary musical climate. The meticulous musicianship of Jo Stafford, Helen O’Connell or Anita O’Day in their swing band or post-Big Band days is, unhappily, an anachronism. To capture the public’s attention today, a gal singer[…]

by Charles Mangel The first time she got up to sing, she almost undressed the performer in front of her. It was Jamestown, North Dakota, and Norma Egstrom, five, was waiting to sing in a church play. “We were in a row, and each of us had to sing. All[…]

by Peggy Lee I love prom kids. That’s one night when they’re all dressed up – brushed and combed and squeaky clean. I’m happy to say that a lot of them come to see me when I’m playing a club at prom time. And I usually am. I remember a[…]

by Roy Hemming You can count on one hand the number of singers who were popular 20 or 25 years ago and who still are – especially with “the kids” who determine the Top 40. Peggy Lee is one of them. Last year she won a Grammy award for her[…]