Peggy Lee
Actrice

Américaine

“Wouldn't you like to know what's goin' on in my mind?” 😉

Miss Peggy Lee performing "Big Spender" (Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields) from the musical ‘Sweet Charity’ on her 1967 TV special 'Something Special.'

#PeggyLee #BigSpender #Shorts #VintageTV #1960s #Broadway #ClassicMusic

🎶 Not a soul to tell our troubles to 👥

The success of “Is That All There Is?” overshadowed Peggy Lee’s recording of “Me And My Shadow” during the same 1969 sessions for Capitol Records.

Widely covered with varying degrees of orchestral swing and wistfulness (and first made popular in the 1930s by Al Jolson), Peggy’s final take features a spare arrangement: piano, bass, drums, and guitar.

Sound engineer Bill Halverson remembered that night in Hollywood:

"Me And My Shadow” was recorded by me at Wally Heider's Studio 3. I sat Miss Lee down next to the piano player with a set of headphones. A couple of takes and we had it. One of the best moments of my career."

#PeggyLee #MeAndMyShadow #Jazz #MusicHistory #StudioStories

Peggy Lee was paid $10 to record “Why Don’t You Do Right?”
 
A Top Ten hit for the Benny Goodman Orchestra, Peggy Lee’s signature recording of “Why Don’t You Do Right?” stayed on the charts for nearly five months in 1943.
 
It all started because Peggy couldn’t stop playing Lil Green’s version on a “funny little wind-up phonograph” in her dressing room. Benny came over from his room next door and offered to come up with an arrangement for their live sets.
 
The audience response was immediate. The recording followed, along with a scene in 'Stage Door Canteen' that put a face to the name, propelling the 23-year-old into national stardom.
 
“Benny paid me $10,” she later recalled, “and no royalties.” That was the standard deal at the time, when big band singers were often treated as “vocal instruments,” not true partners in the success of recordings.
 
So when she launched her solo career, Peggy Lee did something almost unheard of for a woman in music at the time. She took back control.
 
In a move that prefigured the Taylor Swift playbook by a couple generations, Peggy re-recorded “Why Don’t You Do Right?” for the nascent Capitol Records. Peggy’s version, with a fresh arrangement by Billy May, earned her a percentage from every record sold.
 
🎶 Get outta here… and get me some money too 💸

The Peggy Lee Discography has a detailed look into the origins of the song and links to Peggy’s many recordings and performances:
 
https://www.peggyleediscography.com/p/LeeResearchWhyRight.php

#PeggyLee #BennyGoodman #FemaleSingers #WomeninMusic #ArtistRights #WhyDontYouDoRight #MusicHistory #WomenInJazz

Peggy Lee's granddaughter, Holly Foster Wells, reflects on a recently uncovered recording of "La Vie en Rose" from 1952.

This recording wasn't made in a studio — it was captured in her living room on a reel-to-reel tape machine during an impromptu jazz session with friends.

Peggy Lee was a lifelong admirer of Édith Piaf and performed this song for years — on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1950, at the Copacabana, and later with Charles Aznavour.

But she never recorded it commercially... until we uncovered this tape in the archive.

Now, for the first time, you can hear it exactly as it happened, nearly 75 years ago.

#PeggyLee #LaVieEnRose #VintageJazz #MusiqueFrançaise #JazzVocals #EdithPiaf #EdSullivan #LostRecordings #BehindTheScenes #1950s