Peggy Lee

Genres:	Big Band & Swing • Blues • Documentaries • Drama • Easy Listening • Foreign Films • Holiday & Seasonal • Holiday & Seasonal • Jazz • Kids & Family • Music & Radio • Musicals & The Arts • Pop / Rock • Television • Vocals
Descriptive "tags":	jazz • female vocalists • swing • blues • oldies
Decades Active:	1950s • 1960s • 1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s

Biography

Norma Deloris Egstrom, 26 May 1920, Jamestown, North Dakota, USA, d. 21 January 2002, California, USA. Peggy Lee was of Scandinavian descent, her grandparents being Swedish and Norwegian immigrants. She endured a difficult childhood and her mother died when she was four; when her father remarried she experienced a decidedly unpleasant relationship with her stepmother. Her father took to drink, and at the age of 14 she found herself carrying out his duties at the local railroad depot. Despite these and other hardships, she sang frequently and headed out to Hollywood in 1938, but despite a singing engagement at the Jade Room on Hollywood Boulevard the trip was not a success.

Leaving California, Egstrom relocated to Fargo in her home state where she appeared on the local radio station WDAY. The manager of the station changed her name to Peggy Lee and her career took an upswing when she moved to Minneapolis, landing several engagements on the...

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