TVD Radar: The Podcast with Evan Toth, Episode 9: Peggy Lee Centennial

October 20, 2020

This week on Radar, we visit a truly golden age of Hollywood. Who better to join us on this journey than the always glamorous, sophisticated, beautiful and talented Peggy Lee? 2020 marks Peggy Lee’s 100th birthday—her centennial—and as such there are several projects to discuss: the Grammy museum hosted a panel discussion about Peggy including Billie Eilish, K.D. Lang and others, and many of Peggy’s albums have been reissued, on vinyl of course, particularly the Ultimate Peggy Lee, the forthcoming Ultimate Christmas, and an exciting reissue of Ms. Lee’s much-revered Black Coffee album. [Source: TVD Radar]

Listen to full podcast here.

in News /by David Torresen

Things Only Adults Notice in ‘Lady and the Tramp’

October 1, 2020

Famous celebrities acting in animated features is nothing new, and it dates back at least to 1955, when Lady and the Tramp hit theaters. Headlining the cast: Miss Peggy Lee, an extremely popular American singer in the vocal jazz and traditional pop styles in the pre-rock ‘n’ roll era. Lee lent her voice, with which mainstream audiences were extremely familiar in 1955, to the voices of human Darling and the cats Si and Am, and also helped write six songs on the film’s soundtrack. Adults who saw Lady and the Tramp during its initial release must have enjoyed or at least appreciated Lee’s contributions, while grown-ups who watch it now would at least be more familiar than their kids are with the legendary singer of “Fever,” “Mañana,” and “Big Spender.” [Source: Looper]

Read full article here.

in News /by David Torresen

Missing Jazz in Seattle? Check Out 3 Books About Iconic Female Jazz Musicians to Get Your Fill

October 1, 2020

The great singer Peggy Lee — most famous for her sensual, million-selling 1958 record “Fever” — was not immune to the male chauvinism that saturated the music business then, starting with her days as a star with Benny Goodman in the early 1940s, and it is safe to say that the same chauvinism has prevented her from being recognized as an industry giant comparable to Frank Sinatra or Bing Crosby. Jazz vocalist and teacher Tish Oney’s “Peggy Lee: A Century of Song” tells all about the icon while also offering incisive technical analysis, singer to singer. [Source: Seattle Times]

Read full article here.

in News /by David Torresen

The Incomparable Miss Peggy Lee

September 30, 2020

The incomparable Peggy Lee (1920-2002), American pop and jazz singer, composer, and actress, was born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota. The grandchild of Swedish and Norwegian immigrants, her depression-era childhood was brutal: The sixth of seven children, her mother died when she was four years old; her beloved father, an alcoholic, remarried an abusive woman less than a year later. As a child, she listened to the radio for escape and inspiration, wrote songs, and sang continuously—for herself, for special occasions like birthday parties, in church choirs, glee-clubs and talent shows. [Source: New York Public Library]

Read full article here.

in News /by David Torresen

Peggy Lee, Meredith Willson Named to Songbook Hall of Fame

September 8, 2020

The Great American Songbook Foundation is honoring singer-songwriter Peggy Lee and The Music Man creator Meredith Willson as the 2020 inductees to its Great American Songbook Hall of Fame. The Songbook Foundation will celebrate the legacies of these artists with two weeks of livestreamed tributes, discussions and other activities shared through its Facebook page and YouTube channel. Peggy Lee Induction Week takes place Sept. 10-12, kicking off with a private visit to the Peggy Lee Archives led by her granddaughter Holly Foster Wells. The full schedule is available at TheSongbook.org/PeggyLeeHOF [Source: Great American Songbook Foundation]

Read full article here.

in News /by David Torresen

Peggy Lee’s ‘Ultimate Christmas’ Adds Holiday Flavor to Centennial

September 1, 2020

One of the great vocal stylists in recording history will decorate the 2020 holiday season, with the news that her Ultimate Christmas collection will be out on September 25. The album will be released by the Peggy Lee Estate in conjunction with Ume/Capitol. The new collection will feature 22 holiday classics and is another part of the centennial celebration of Peggy Lee’s birth on May 26, 1920. It joins several other new music releases honoring this highly influential voice in the world of jazz and popular music. [Source: UDiscoverMusic]

Read full article here.

in News /by David Torresen

A ‘Century of Song’ Started in Jamestown

August 25, 2020

The book “Peggy Lee: A Century of Song” by Tish Oney is crafted by a woman who knows the history of the singer as well as her songs. “I felt I needed to write a book to communicate her importance in music,” she said. “Her musicianship was very good and she was a great songwriter.” [Source: Jamestown Sun, North Dakota]

Read full article here.

in News /by David Torresen

100 Years After Her Birth, Peggy Lee Celebrated With a Book on Her ‘Century of Song’

August 22, 2020

Tish Oney was a doctoral student in search of a dissertation when she met the daughter of singer Peggy Lee at a jazz conference in 2004. “Nicki Lee Foster was in a room full of 600 jazz singers and stood up and said, ‘I’m Peggy Lee’s daughter,’ and got this long round of applause,” Oney says from her home in Greenville, S.C. “And she said, ‘I’m here just to say I want you to know that my mother had a legacy of her own as a songwriter, as a composer, and that was the legacy that she wanted people to remember. So if you’re interested, I have those songs, and I will be glad to share them with any or all of you.’” [Source: Orange County Register]

Read full article here.

in News /by David Torresen

Peggy Lee – “The Capitol Transcriptions 1946-1949”

August 17, 2020

Seventy-two restricted Capitol Transcriptions from the 40s constitute a lavish banquet for Peggy Lee admirers… On each song, Lee’s ‘sultry purr’ fuses emotional intensity with unflustered delivery. Her vibrato is tightly controlled. Her intonation and enunciation are precise. Applying unexpected accentuations, she’s able to wrest extra meaning out of almost any lyric. When Peggy Lee sings a song, she owns it. [Source: London Jazz News]

Read full article here.

in News /by David Torresen

That’s Not All There Is: Celebrating the Centennial of Peggy Lee

August 13, 2020

Tish Oney was 8 years old when she first heard Peggy Lee performing on a PBS special. It didn’t take long for Oney to be captivated by the elegant woman she saw on TV. “She was a master at understatement, singing very softly into the microphone, almost whispering, sometimes purring,” Oney says. ““She could hold an audience in the palm of her hand.” [Source: Greenville Journal, South Carolina]

Read full article here.

in News /by David Torresen

Archive for category: News

TVD Radar: The Podcast with Evan Toth, Episode 9: Peggy Lee Centennial

Listen to full podcast here.

Things Only Adults Notice in ‘Lady and the Tramp’

Read full article here.

Missing Jazz in Seattle? Check Out 3 Books About Iconic Female Jazz Musicians to Get Your Fill

Read full article here.

The Incomparable Miss Peggy Lee

Read full article here.

Peggy Lee, Meredith Willson Named to Songbook Hall of Fame

Read full article here.

Peggy Lee’s ‘Ultimate Christmas’ Adds Holiday Flavor to Centennial

Read full article here.

A ‘Century of Song’ Started in Jamestown

Read full article here.

100 Years After Her Birth, Peggy Lee Celebrated With a Book on Her ‘Century of Song’

Read full article here.

Peggy Lee – “The Capitol Transcriptions 1946-1949”

Read full article here.

That’s Not All There Is: Celebrating the Centennial of Peggy Lee

Read full article here.

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