New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The
Peggy Lee Estate, in conjunction with UMe/Capitol/Universal Music, announces the
September 25 release of Ultimate
Peggy Lee Christmas, a new collection featuring 22 holiday classics.
The release of Ultimate
Peggy Lee Christmas continues the centennial celebration of Peggy Lee's birth—May 26, 1920—which has seen several new music releases honoring one of the 20th century's most important musical influences in the world of jazz and popular music.
Drawing from her Capitol and Decca catalogs, as well as Disney's Lady and the Tramp soundtrack, the album also features the digital debut of "Peace on Earth," written by Lee and
Sonny Burke (the version in the film was not recorded by Lee). Including 10 tracks from Lee's much-admired 1960 Christmas album, along with several holiday singles, Ultimate
Peggy Lee Christmas also presents two duets with Bing Crosby—"
Little Jack Frost Get Lost" and "Here Comes
Santa Claus." Six songs on the album were written or co-written by Lee, including "Christmas Carousel," "Here's To You," and "My Dear Acquaintance."
With liner notes from Holly Foster Wells, Peggy's granddaughter, and Iván Santiago-Mercado, author of the
Peggy Lee Discography, the album art offers several never-before-seen holiday photos from Miss Lee's personal archives.
Fever: The
Music of Peggy Lee, which originally aired in 2004, has been newly updated for the centennial commemoration. The 60-minute PBS program, which explores her life and songs as told in her own words through vintage interviews and performances, is currently airing nationwide. Featuring her biggest hits and most famous signature songs, spanning the 1940s through the 1980s, Fever: The
Music of
Peggy Lee offers a wealth of rare footage and images, including photographs and home movies. Check local listings for air dates and times.
Previously released new music releases celebrating her centennial year include:
Ultimate Peggy Lee, a new 22-track career retrospective that features her hits, five songs she co-wrote, as well as the previously unreleased "Try A
Little Tenderness," which makes its world debut 57 years after it was recorded.
Peggy Lee Decca Rarities, a 31-song digital-only collection of artistically and commercially successful recordings from her period with Decca Records. Eleven of the featured tracks were co-composed by Lee, among these are seven songs co-written by Lee and
Sonny Burke for Disney's Lady and the Tramp, some of which did not make the final film. Though long associated with Capitol Records,
Peggy Lee recorded with Decca for five years (1952-1956).
The Capitol Transcriptions 1946-1949, a 72-track collection with 55 songs making their worldwide digital debut and includes two
Peggy Lee compositions, "Don't Be So Mean To Baby" and "I Don't Know Enough About You." During the 1940s, Capitol's Transcription Library Service produced records exclusively for radio airplay and not commercial sale. From 1946-1949, Peggy Lee, backed mostly by a small jazz group, recorded masters for the Capitol Transcription Library Service.
And, two premiums for Public Television pledge drive;
Something Wonderful:
Peggy Lee Sings the Great American Songbook, a new 2-CD set with dozens of never-before-released recordings from Lee's radio series and among them performances with guest songwriters Hoagy Carmichael, Matt Dennis, Frank Loesser and Johnny Mercer. This premium for Public Television pledge drive.
Peggy Lee, Things Are Swingin': Her Greatest Songs, an exclusive new DVD featuring a color television special from 1967, plus several previously unavailable bonus performances from each decade from 1940s to the 1970s, plus a new featurette with Michael Feinstein titled, Singing Peggy's Praises.
Born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, she was christened
Peggy Lee in 1937 by a local North Dakota deejay. A 13-time GRAMMY Award-nominee,
Peggy Lee helped redefine what it meant to be a female singer with her captivating voice, which continues to resonate with audiences of all ages. Her compositions and recordings, including "It's A Good Day," "I Don't Know Enough About You" and "I Love Being Here With You," can be heard today in countless television shows and feature films.
Best known for such songs as "Is That All There Is?," "Fever," "Why Don't You Do Right," and "I'm A Woman," which made her a jazz and pop legend, she recorded over 50 albums and amassed over 100 chart entries. She won the GRAMMY® for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance for her 1969 hit "Is That All There Is?" In 1995, she received the GRAMMY's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Coined "the female Frank Sinatra" by Tony Bennett, Lee did something few of her male counterparts ever attempted: she wrote songs. As one of the foremothers of the singer-songwriter school, Lee ranks among the most successful female singer-songwriters in the annals of American popular music. Over her remarkable seven-decade career, singer, songwriter and composer
Peggy Lee wrote over 250 songs and recorded over 1,100 masters.
Her vast and varied catalog of compositions have been covered by Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole,
Natalie Cole, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Diana Krall,
Queen Latifah, Barry Manilow, Bette Midler, Janelle Monae, Nina Simone,
Regina Spektor and
Sarah Vaughan.
Peggy Lee, Ultimate Christmas [CD/LP/Digital]
Winter Wonderland
The Christmas Waltz
Here Comes
Santa Claus (with Bing Crosby)
The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)
Ring Those Christmas Bells
Happy Holiday
The Christmas Spell
Deck the Halls
Christmas Carousel
Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
Don't Forget To Feed The Reindeer
White Christmas
The Star Carol
I Like A Sleighride (Jingle Bells)
The Tree
It's Christmas Time Again
Little Jack Frost Get Lost (with Bing Crosby)
The
Little Drummer Boy
Peace On Earth
Song At Midnight
My Dear Acquaintance (A Happy New Year)*
Here's To You
*Not available digitally
One of the most important musical influences of the 20th century,
Peggy Lee wrote over 250 songs, recorded over 1,100 masters, and had over 100 chart hits throughout her seven-decade career. As one of the world's first female contemporary singer-songwriters, she co-wrote and sang many of her own hits, most notably "He's A Tramp" for Disney's Lady and the Tramp as well as "It's A Good Day" and "Mañana." She's best known for hits "Why Don't You Do Right?" "Fever," "I'm A Woman," and "Is That All There Is?," for which she won the GRAMMY® for Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance. A 13-time GRAMMY® nominee, she received Lifetime Achievement awards from NARAS, ASCAP and The Society of Singers, was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in Pete Kelly's Blues.
