Publication date:
05 July 2020Length of book:
250 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781538128473
A June 2020 Library Journal Starred Review
Lee stood out among her peers as an exquisite singer possessing a cool vocal style, a songwriter frequently collaborating with leading composers of American jazz and film music, and a globally-loved entertainer with star quality. Tish Oney sheds new light upon this Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner’s impressive musical talents while guiding the reader through the best of Lee’s fifty-plus albums, radio and TV performances, creative contributions to the film industry, and over half a century of finely-polished live performances.
Oney focuses on the evolution of Peggy Lee’s recorded music, vocal development, artistic achievements, and contributions to American music while interviews with Lee’s family, friends, and music colleagues reveal new insights and memories of this musical icon. Peggy Lee enables readers to discover a brilliant artist’s inimitable legacy in the history of American popular music.
Lee stood out among her peers as an exquisite singer possessing a cool vocal style, a songwriter frequently collaborating with leading composers of American jazz and film music, and a globally-loved entertainer with star quality. Tish Oney sheds new light upon this Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner’s impressive musical talents while guiding the reader through the best of Lee’s fifty-plus albums, radio and TV performances, creative contributions to the film industry, and over half a century of finely-polished live performances.
Oney focuses on the evolution of Peggy Lee’s recorded music, vocal development, artistic achievements, and contributions to American music while interviews with Lee’s family, friends, and music colleagues reveal new insights and memories of this musical icon. Peggy Lee enables readers to discover a brilliant artist’s inimitable legacy in the history of American popular music.
On the centenary of Peggy Lee’s birth, professor, musicologist, and international jazz recording artist Oney chronicles the protean musical talents and accomplishments of this gifted composer, lyricist, arranger, actor, and vocalist whose prodigious catalog of 50-plus albums encompassed jazz, blues, pop, and R&B. Oney details Lee’s six-decade-long improbable journey from a farm in rural North Dakota to enshrinement as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Avoiding salacious gossip or indiscreet stories, Oney states her purpose is to focus 'exclusively on Lee’s musical footprint and artistic legacy.' The arrangement is largely chronological, with distinct chapters devoted to Lee’s involvement with film, television, and Broadway. Oney’s musical exegesis is thorough and sure to satisfy music scholars. Those seeking the skinny on personal information, such as Lee’s four marriages and subsequent divorces, should look elsewhere, but those wanting to geek out on the subtleties of Lee’s jazz slides, phrasing, and vocal interpretive prowess will be richly rewarded.