Peggy Lee was Born Norma Dolores Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, on May 26, 1920. At age four her mother died. Peggy's father, a railroad station agent, remarried but later left home, leaving Peggy's care entrusted to a stepmother who physically abused her. Peggy later memorialized this in the calypso number "One Beating a Day", one of 22 songs she co-wrote for the autobiographical musical "Peg", in which she made her Broadway debut in 1983 at the age of 62. As a youngster Peggy worked as a milkmaid, later turning to singing for money in her teens. While singing on a local radio station in Fargo, the program director there suggested she change her name to Peggy Lee. Peggy's big break came when Benny Goodman hired her to sing with his band after hearing her perform. Peggy shot to stardom when she and Goodman cut the hit record "Why Don't You Do Right?" and went out on her own to record such classics as "Fever", "Lover", "Golden Earrings", "Big Spender" and "Is That All There Is?" - the latter winning her a Grammy Award in 1969. Peggy's vocal style provided a distinctive imprint to countless swing tunes, ballads and big band numbers. She was considered the type of performer equally capable of interpreting a song as uniquely as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Bessie Smith. Her 1989 album, "Peggy Sings the Blues", was a Grammy Award nominee. Peggy was a prolific songwriter and arranger and her 1990 "The Peggy Lee Songbook" contained four songs she wrote with guitarist John Chiodini. Peggy also wrote for jazz greats Duke Ellington, who called her "The Queen", and Johnny Mercer, and composer Quincy Jones. Also in 1990 Peggy was awarded the coveted Pied Piper Award presented by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). She made her mark in Hollywood as an actress, winning an Academy Award nomination for her role as the hard-drinking singer in the jazz saga, Pete Kelly's Blues and composed songs for the 1955 Walt Disney animated classic Lady and the Tramp. The animated film featured a character named Peg, a broken-down old showgirl of a dog, whose provocative walk was based on the stage-prowl of Peggy Lee. Later she sued Disney and won a landmark legal judgment for a portion of the profits from the videocassette sale of the film. Peggy's private life was racked by physical ailments, a near-fatal fall in 1976, diabetes and a stroke in 1998. She was married four times, all ending in divorce. She and first husband, guitarist Dave Barbour, had a daughter, Nicki, her only child. Peggy and Dave were on the verge of a reconciliation in 1965, but he died of a heart attack before the couple got back together. Peggy has left a vast legend of music that is constantly finding new generations of fans.
Suffered stroke. [27 October 1998] Received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award in 1987. Has one daughter, Nicki Lee Foster, from her marriage to late guitarist Dave Barbour. A diabetic, Lee was often troubled by weight and glandular problems. In 1961, she was felled by double pneumonia and in 1976, she had a near-fatal fall in a New York hotel. She was again seriously injured in another fall in Las Vegas in 1987. In early 1985, she underwent four angioplasties - balloon surgery to open clogged arteries - and resumed her singing tour. While appearing in New Orleans in October 1985, she underwent double-bypass heart surgery. In 1998, she suffered a stroke which impaired her speech, requiring therapy to recover. Her work on the 1955 Disney film, Lady and the Tramp led to a landmark legal judgment 36 years later when a California court awarded her $2.3 million after she sued for a portion of the profits from the videocassette sale of the movie. The case hinged on a clause in her pre-video-era contract barring the sale of "transcriptions" of the movie without her approval. She decided to become a singer at age 14, when she earned 50 cents a night at gigs for local PTAs. A few years later she traveled to Fargo where she sang on a local radio station. The WDAY program director suggested a name change, and she became Peggy Lee. Has a rose named after her. The "Peggy Lee" rose is pink with a touch of peach. Voiced four different characters in Lady and the Tramp: Darling, Peg, and both the Siamese cats. Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1992. In addition to her accomplishments as a singer, she was a very fine songwriter, with several hit songs to her credit, many of them written in collaboration with her first husband, Dave Barbour. Her song writing credits include: "It's a Good Day," "Manana," "I Don't Know Enough About You" (all with Barbour), "Bella Notte," "Peace on Earth" (both with Sonny Burke), "Don't Forget to Feed the Reindeer," and "So, What's New?" (with John Pisano and Ervin "Bud" Coleman). Ranked #93 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock N Roll At the time of her death, she was leading a potentially groundbreaking class-action lawsuit vs. Universal Music, a unit of Vivendi Universal. In early January 2002, the music giant agreed to pay $4.75 million in back royalties to as many as 300 performers to settle the suit. She had pneumonia when she gave birth to her daughter and almost died. She became engaged to her ex-husband David Barbour, who divorced her because he felt his drinking was not good for his daughter, four days before he died. He claimed he had been sober thirteen years by then and was ready to re-marry her. Is portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow in Infamous