Norma Deloris Egstrom, known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, Lee created a sophisticated persona, writing music for films, acting, and recording conceptual record albums combining poetry and music. Called the "Queen of American pop music," Lee recorded more than 1,100 masters and composed over 270 songs.
Lee in 1950
Peggy Lee, famous for her sultry singing voice, featured in a cigarette ad in 1953
Photo of Peggy Lee and Danny Thomas from The Jazz Singer
The Peggy Lee bench-style burial monument
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in European harmony and African rhythmic rituals.
Albert Gleizes, 1915, Composition for "Jazz" from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Ethel Waters sang "Stormy Weather" at the Cotton Club.
Al Jolson in 1929
Dance in Congo Square in the late 1700s, artist's conception by E. W. Kemble from a century later