by Joseph Wershba Jazz historian Leonard Feather has already written the definitive critique of Peggy Lee: “If you don’t feel a thrill when Peggy sings, you are dead, Jack.” But this doesn’t completely explain how a nice, shy, flaxen-haired, Gretchen-faced Swedish-Norwegian girl from the plains of North Dakota became a[…]

by Alfred T. Hendricks Now it’s Peggy Lee’s turn to wail the blues. Friday night a sneak thief hit her dressing room at Basin Street East and made off with $21,000 worth of gowns. The caper had a familiar ring. Only the day before, a larcenous gent paid a similar[…]

by Lou Levy I don’t know of two more generous and understanding singers to work for than Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee. Peggy presents more of a thoroughly planned act, usually doing the same show during an entire engagement. Ella’s concert or nightclub performance is carefully planned, but she makes[…]

by Sidney Fields Peggy Lee has earned enduring and increasing acceptance as a music maker with a unique style that combines silk, fire, and ice. These are the gifts of her durability. What is the key to them? She has sung and sorrowed and loved much, and knows she must[…]

by George T. Simon One Christmas Eve, after she’d finished work with Benny Goodman’s band, Peggy Lee went to a friend’s house, ostensibly to celebrate. And you know what the glamorous doll did? She spent a good part of the evening making a home recording of some blues lyrics she’d[…]

by Sinclair Traill Britain these past few weeks became a kind of haven for American vocalists. Although most of them were of the glamorous variety, we did hang out the welcome sign to two men, namely Bing Crosby and a blues man from Chicago, Jimmy Cotton. Bing didn’t sing, not[…]