Los Angeles, CA – May 15, 2026 – Peggy Lee Associates today announces the release of a previously unheard recording of Peggy Lee performing Noël Coward’s classic “Mad About the Boy.” Captured on Lee’s personal reel-to-reel tape recorder in 1952, this intimate, one-take performance is now available for the first time as part of the ongoing From the Peggy Lee Archive series. The digital-only single is available now at all digital service providers.
Taken during an informal living room jam session with musician friends, the performance finds Lee working through the song in a single impromptu take. Originally written by Noël Coward for the 1932 revue Words and Music, “Mad About the Boy” has been interpreted by many artists over the decades. Notably, it is a song Peggy Lee never recorded commercially or included in her live repertoire, making this newly discovered performance an especially rare addition to her catalog.
The recording has been newly restored by multi-GRAMMY® Award-winning mastering engineer Michael Graves at Osiris Studio, preserving the warmth and intimacy of the original tape. Accompanying the release is a new visualizer featuring rare and previously unseen film footage and photos of Peggy Lee and her first husband and songwriting partner, guitarist Dave Barbour. The cover image is from their 1943 wedding, captured just after they shared their first kiss as husband and wife.
“Finding this home recording of my grandmother singing ‘Mad About the Boy’ stopped me in my tracks. She often said that when she sang, she would see a little ‘play’ unfolding in her mind, and listening to this performance, I couldn’t help but feel that ‘the boy’ in this particular play was my grandfather, Dave Barbour,” said Peggy Lee’s granddaughter, Holly Foster Wells, President of Peggy Lee Associates, LLC. “Knowing this was recorded just a year after their divorce gave it a deeper context. Although their marriage didn’t last, she always said he was the love of her life. In creating the visualizer, we wanted to honor that love and the hope she held that they might one day find their way back to each other.”
The release continues the From the Peggy Lee Archive series, drawn from a collection of previously unheard recordings preserved on Lee’s personal reel-to-reel tapes. This performance originates from the same 1952 living room session that produced “La Vie en Rose,” released by Peggy Lee Associates in February 2026. Together, these recordings capture moments of artistic exploration, offering a rare glimpse into Lee’s creative world beyond the recording studio.