Tish Oney - Peggy Lee: A Century of Song

Peggy Lee

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

Lanham Boulder New York London

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With my whole heart I thank God for fostering this vision and for giving me the strength, health, and necessary diligence to complete it. I offer sincerest thanks to John Chiodini for our years of collaborating onstage and off. He remains a joy to perform with and a dear friend, and I am tickled to consider this yet another collaboration we have created together. I sincerely wish to thank Holly Foster-Wells, Nicki Lee Foster, and Peggy Lee Associates, LLC, for their wealth of information, generosity, and encouragement to see this project through. I offer thanks to Mike and Peter Stoller for their time, insights, feedback, and contributions to this book. Ivn Santiago-Mercados online discography and videography provided a plethora of invaluable facts and detailsthank you, Ivn. Both Will Friedwalds and David Torresens various writings, including liner notes within Lees albums, supplied valuable insights and observations. I warmly thank my editors, Natalie Mandziuk, Michael Tan, and John Cerullo, for their guidance and help transforming this project from a long-incubating set of ideas into a published book. I lovingly thank my mother for introducing me to Peggy Lees music when I was particularly impressionable. I extend sincerest thanks to my husband, George, for his support and sustaining encouragement. I thank the hundreds of professional musicians with whom I have worked over the yearsthank you for the magic we have co-created and continue to create together! I thank all my teachershow blessed I have been to have been shaped intellectually and musically by some of the most outstanding minds and talents on the planet. Finally, I thank the thousands of audiences that have enjoyed and supported my music and the many fans who urged me to write this book. This is for you.

John Chiodini

Tish called me one day and asked for an interview. I did not know her at the time. She was attending the University of Southern California and writing her doctoral dissertation on the lyrical genius of Peggy Lee. She asked if we could talk about my experiences working with Ms. Lee in the studios on recording projects and live performances. Her focus was on Peggy Lees creativity as a songwriter. We got together, and that led to the creation of not only the Peggy Lee Project, a touring show that highlights Peggy Lee as a songwriter, but also a wonderful friendship and professional partnership. In the ensuing years, Tish and I have recorded four CDs together and performed for live audiences nationally. The latest album, Tish Oney with the John Chiodini Trio: The Best Part, includes three songs that I co-wrote with Peggy Lee but that were never recorded by Peggy or anyone else.

I started working with Peggy Lee in 1979, recording a few tracks on her DRG Close Enough for Love album. I was subbing for another guitar player who couldnt make a certain date. I was recommended by Peggys longtime friend, bassist Max Bennett. To promote the album on TV, it was sent to The Tonight Show and The Mike Douglas Show, among others, and the producers of those shows chose It Was Just One of Those Things as the song they wanted Peggy to perform. I had come up with a funky rhythm lick that Peggy liked, so I was invited to join her band to perform the song on the TV shows. After that, we played an engagement at the Westwood Playhouse. The band was greatMike Renzi, Grady Tate, Jay Leonhart, and Mark Sherman. It was wonderful to play for Peggy Lee and be a part of that band. I stayed with Peggy for about ten years. There were many tours and three more albums, but the special part was co-writing songs and creating music with Peggy Lee.

Tish could have called this book Anatomy of a Singer. Anatomy, according to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, is a study or examination of a process in order to understand and explain how it works. This is what Tish has done in this book, what makes it unique: no gossip, no rumorsjust enough personal information to propel the story of how Peggy Lee created her amazing music by connecting one period of her life to the next.

In the midst of studying the anatomy of Peggy Lees music, how it was actually created, Tish reveals the recording industry at that particular time, especially how male dominance caused female artists to have a much smaller role. Peggys approach would take decades to accomplish, although radio broadcasts helped her craft her skills as a pop diva, jazz singer, and concert and recording producer. Tish shows how Peggy always fought for musical artists and songwriters to receive the proper royalties for their work, from jukeboxes to film. Any one of us who collects royalties from the film industry has to acknowledge Peggy Lees commitment and victory.

Tish details Peggys sense of adventure. In film, as a singer, actor, composer, lyricist, and voiceover artist (as both a performer and a music creator), she always went her own way. She created her own music videos. She sang and collaborated with the other singers and songwriters of her timejust about everyone you could think of.

This book is like a series of short stories. Sometimes you hear about this or learn that. At other times something historic is happening. There are many surprises in these chapters. Tishs attention to detail is very compelling, and you want to keep reading.