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 over 1,100 masters and composed over 270 songs.
Nina Simone was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, composer, arranger and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop. In 2023 Rolling Stone ranked Simone at No. 21 on their list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
"Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" is a popular song which was published in 1944. The music was written by Harold Arlen and the lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 18th Academy Awards in 1945 after being used in the film Here Come the Waves.
"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is a show tune written by American composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach for the 1933 musical comedy Roberta. The song was sung in the Broadway show by Tamara Drasin. Its first recorded performance was by Gertrude Niesen, who recorded the song with orchestral direction from Ray Sinatra, Frank Sinatra's second cousin, on October 13, 1933. Niesen's recording of the song was released by Victor, with the B-side, "Jealousy", featuring Isham Jones and his Orchestra. The line — When your heart's on fire, smoke gets in your eyes — apparently comes from a Russian proverb.
Nina Simone and Her Friends is an album released by the Bethlehem Records label that compiled songs by jazz singers Nina Simone, Carmen McRae and Chris Connor. All three artists had left the label and signed with other companies by the time Bethlehem released this album. The numbers by Simone - with the exception of her 1959 hit single 'I Loves You, Porgy' were "left overs" from the recording sessions for her debut album Little Girl Blue (1959) and released without her knowledge. The tracks by Chris Connor and Carmen McRae were already issued together this way as Bethlehem's Girlfriends in 1956 accompanied by the debut recording session of Julie London.
Nina Simone in Concert is an album by the jazz singer Nina Simone. It is her first album for the record label Philips, composed of three live recordings made at Carnegie Hall, New York City, in March and April 1964. Simone recorded Nina Simone at Carnegie Hall in 1963 for Colpix.
Little Girl Blue: Jazz as Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club is the debut studio album by Nina Simone. Recorded in late 1957, it was eventually released by Bethlehem Records in February 1959. Due to the length of time the album had taken to be released and the lack of any promotional single either immediately before or alongside the album, Simone would become disillusioned with Bethlehem and sign with Colpix Records in April 1959. She recorded the tracks for her second album - what would become The Amazing Nina Simone - the same month. However, in May Bethlehem finally released a single, "I Loves You, Porgy" and gave Simone her first hit later that year, peaking at number 18 on the pop charts, and number 2 on the R&B charts. Helped by the profile of the single, the album too went on to become a chart success.
Hal Mooney, born Harold Mooney, was an American composer and arranger.
Willard Robison was an American vocalist, pianist, and composer of popular songs, born in Shelbina, Missouri. His songs reflect a rural, melancholy theme steeped in Americana and their warm style has drawn comparison to Hoagy Carmichael. Many of his compositions, notably "A Cottage for Sale", "Round My Old Deserted Farm", "Don't Smoke in Bed", "'Taint So, Honey, 'Taint So" and "Old Folks", have become standards and have been recorded countless times by jazz and pop artists including Peggy Lee, Nina Simone, Nat King Cole, Billy Eckstine, Bing Crosby and Mildred Bailey. "A Cottage for Sale" alone has been recorded over 100 times.
"Mañana " is a popular song that was written by Peggy Lee and her first husband Dave Barbour and published in 1947. Peggy Lee recorded the song on November 25, 1947, with Dave Barbour's orchestra as backing. Released by Capitol Records, it became her biggest chart hit. For the week ending January 23, 1948, the single entered Billboard's Best Sellers chart, where it spent 21 weeks, nine of those at number one.
"I Get Along Without You Very Well" is a popular song composed by Hoagy Carmichael in 1939, with lyrics based on a poem written by Jane Brown Thompson.
"A Cottage for Sale" is a popular song. The music was composed by Willard Robison, and the lyrics were written by Larry Conley. The song was first published in 1929, and over 100 performers have recorded versions of "A Cottage for Sale." The first versions of the song were released by The Revelers in January 1930 and Bernie Cummins with the New Yorker Orchestra in March 1930.
"Four Women" is a song written by jazz singer, composer, pianist and arranger Nina Simone, released on the 1966 album Wild Is the Wind. It tells the story of four African American women. Each of the four characters represents an African-American stereotype in society. Thulani Davis of The Village Voice called the song "an instantly accessible analysis of the damning legacy of slavery, that made iconographic the real women we knew and would become."
Around Midnight is an LP album by Julie London, released by Liberty Records under catalog number LRP-3164 as a monophonic recording in 1960, and later in stereo under catalog number LST-7164 the same year. It was released a number of times on CD from 1998.
"Don't Explain" is a song written by jazz singer Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog Jr. It was Billie Holiday’s final song.
David Michael Barbour was an American jazz guitarist. He was married to singer Peggy Lee and was her co-writer, accompanist, and bandleader.
"Sea Lion Woman" is a traditional African American folk song originally used as a children's playground song.
Is That All There Is? is a 1969 studio album by Peggy Lee, featuring arrangements by Randy Newman. The eponymous title track won Lee the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, Female at the 12th Grammy Awards.
Think Well of Me is a 1962 studio album by trombonist/vocalist Jack Teagarden, performing songs by Willard Robison, accompanied by an orchestra arranged and conducted by Bob Brookmeyer or Russ Case, that was released by the Verve label.
Rendezvous with Peggy Lee is the debut solo album by Peggy Lee, released on Capitol Records in 1948 on three 78-rpm shellac records. Backed by husband Dave Barbour and His Orchestra, the original record featured five jazz standards and one original composition, "Don't Smoke in Bed", which itself later became a standard. The original tune was co-penned by Lee, Barbour, and Willard Robison, but was credited only to Robison after he fell seriously ill. The album reached number two on the Billboard Best-Selling Popular Record Albums chart.
