MISS PEGGY LEE AND ME

In 1980 I had the honour to tour Miss Peggy Lee in the UK and also to book her onto the Royal Variety Command Show in front of her Majesty the Queen. This was an extraordinary time for me - a former professional drummer and passionate about jazz and all kinds of music - I had been presenting a wide range of artists - most of whom I revered and idolised - these tours were a labor of love for me and looking back at those years incredibly included Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson, Tom Waits, Michael Jackson, Joe Pass, Woody Herman, Deniece Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, The Drifters, The Temptations, Billy Eckstine, Judy Collins, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra with Buddy Morrow, The Great Guitars (Charlie Byrd, Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis), Miles Davis, Willie Nelson to name a few. This was heady stuff for a young producer  - I was 34 years old in 1980 and you can imagine how thrilling it was to be working with these artists - BUT nothing prepared me for MISS PEGGY LEE!

I have just finished reading a new biography on the life of Miss Peggy Lee - the book by James Gavin  titled "Is That All There Is" - "The Strange Life of Peggy Lee" - this book is excellent and digs deep into her extraordinary life and experiences. Peggy appears to have been deeply disturbed by her childhood and in particular the death of her mother when she was very young. Anyone interested in the life of this fascinating singer must read this book - it is a deeply interesting introspective of an era that has sadly passed. It also explores the massive insecurities and psychological issues that Peggy Lee faced and how she dealt with these over the decades. I wish I had read a book like this before I toured Peggy - but more about that later!

Miss Peggy Lee was a star - of that there is no doubt or question - she thrilled her legions of fans (me included) around the world from the 1940's until she passed away on January 21, 2002 aged 81. Peggy (real name Norma Deloris Egstrom) was born on May 28, 1920 in Jamestown, North Dakota. Her family were Lutherans - her father was Swedish/American and her mother Norwegian/American.

Peggy Lee's career took her from singing for small sums on local radio stations until she moved eventually to Los Angeles. You need to read the book to understand the peregrinations and struggles during that period - but her big time chance came when the King of Swing Benny Goodman signed her up in 1941 and after initial ups and downs she scored her first big hit "Why Don't You Do Right", which sold over a million copies. You can see Peggy singing this great track on YouTube.

It is not my intention to write a mini biography of Peggy Lee you should read the James Gavin book for the full story - However, it would have helped me to deal with her and understand a bit more when I brought her to the UK nearly 35 years ago (where have the years gone to?)

I had been flying back and forth from London to New York and Los Angeles - I seemed forever to be sitting on an aeroplane going somewhere (the travel issue got much worse later when I was managing the US and other international tours of the Bolshoi Ballet and Opera and the other major Russian -Soviet companies and artists) however, during this time all my travels were to the USA and I have to say I loved every minute of it :)

I had been working with the Los Angeles based agent/manager Irvin Arthur who was representing Peggy Lee and I was very keen to bring her to the UK for a tour. Of course, Peggy had toured Britain and Europe before, but I felt the time was right for her to come back. On a personal note, I had always loved Peggy's singing and her album "Black Coffee" was one of my all time favourites - I had always believed that Peggy Lee loved Billie Holliday as much as I did and interestingly James Gavin fully confirmed this in his book.

I had been speaking to London Management's Managing Director, Billy Marsh about artists for the annual Royal Variety Command Show at the famous theatre the London Palladium, which takes place  in front of the Queen and the Royal Family. Irving Arthur thought that Peggy Lee would be thrilled to perform at this event and therefore we began working on building a tour around this date.

After some fairly difficult negotiations we agreed on the dates and number of concerts but I wanted to meet Peggy before bringing her to the UK and a meetings was arranged. I few into LAX - hired a car and after checking into the hotel I went later that afternoon to Miss Lee's palatial home in Bel Air.

I was met at the door by a charming lady (I wish I could remember her name) and led into a beautiful room where Miss Peggy Lee was draped along a chaise longue in what appeared to be a full evening gown with jewellery glittering in the afternoon sun. It was superbly surreal and momentarily quite daunting. Peggy with full majesty emanated a truly royal air and I felt I was in the presence of someone unique - which of course was true. I have been fortunate to meet and work with many artists but Peggy Lee was different in so many ways. There was immense warmth and kindness but also a steeliness which seem to suddenly pounce if you said something she didn't agree with. Having said that I was thrilled to be with her and we talked excitedly about the Royal Command Show at the London Palladium and also the tour dates - one of which was to be her own full concert at this revered venue. I left her home feeling that we had really achieved a great rapport and I felt good about the upcoming tour.

The great day arrived and I went to Heathrow Airport in London to meet Miss Lee. In those halcyon days we were allowed to meet a VIP off the plane, subject to security clearance and therefore I was at the arrival gate of the plane from Los Angeles and there in splendid apparel which included an enormous fur coat (at least it looked like fur to me) - and it was hugs and kisses - Miss Lee had arrived. We slowly walked to the passport control and went through a VIP entrance - very smooth so far - all was looking good until we got to the stairs to go to the baggage area and exit - "I don't walk down stairs - where's the elevator"? No elevator - all hell broke loose - 'my breathing, my health, my this and that' - we eventually got down the stairs but the mood now was dark.

At last we were out of the terminal building followed by a number of large trunks and suite cases, which were expertly packed into an estate car - and with impeccable precision the Rolls Royce we had hired driven by the hire car managing director who adored Peggy Lee's singing, drew up ready for Miss Lee to enter. "What is this" exclaimed Miss Lee - I was expecting the type of car that the Queen Uses" - I said the Queen regularly uses a Rolls Royce - anyhow we eventually got Miss Lee into the car - she immediately hated the driver because she said "his after shave smelled terrible" - and we hadn't left the airport yet! HELP!

We arrived at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane - one of London's premier hotels and was met by the Managing Director of the Hotel with keys waiting for her suite and so forth. We arrived at the door of the King George IV suite, which was the best in the hotel and suddenly Peggy said - I'm not staying here and sat on one of the Louis Vuitton trunks that had followed us to the room. Irvin Arthur tried to help by saying that "if its good enough for King George it must be good enough for the Queen of song" - that earned him a shouted retort! Anyhow, we eventually managed to get Miss Lee into the suite (which was lovely) and I sighed a sigh of relief - but was very worried about the forthcoming tour as this was only the first day!

During the night I got calls from the hotel management and from Miss Lee herself - she hated the room - the bath room was dangerous, she had slipped on the floor - she was going to sue the hotel, me and half the world - this was becoming a nightmare. The next day was a day of rest and was quieter but I was in a state of high nerves waiting for the next explosion.

The following day was her concert at the London Palladium.  I had employed a well known UK comedian to warm up the audience but Peggy didn't want that so he had to be paid off - we arrived at the theatre in the afternoon for the rehearsals with the orchestra I had booked to back Peggy - the cream of British session players and some the best jazz musicians in Europe plus a full string section from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Under the terms of the contract with both Peggy and the musicians we had a three hour rehearsal programme fixed and if it overran then I was going to have to pay serious overtime money. The rehearsals went nearly an hour over the allotted time - I was having to pay something like 60 musicians their overtime fees for this and the manager of the Palladium wanted us off the stage to let in the sell out audience into the theatre.

I managed to get Miss Lee back into her dressing room, when she started hyperventilating - a doctor was immediately on hand (the contract demanded one be at the theatre) and oxygen produced - whilst this was all taking place Peggy's hair stylist was doing her hair and said "don't worry she'll be fine - its always like this on first night"!!

Peggy went on stage to rapturous applause and gave a sensational performance - it was like watching a rejuvenated super star - her singing marvellous and her rapport with the musicians, which had been completely absent during rehearsals, was fantastic.  The audience wouldn't let her off the stage - it was a triumph for her (and as you can imagine, I was sighing huge sighs of relief).

After that very tough initial three days, Peggy Lee was a delight to be with and I never saw again the same person who had reeked havoc at the hotel when she arrived. It was as though there were two or more people living under the name of Miss Peggy Lee - you never knew which one you would be meeting. However, I have to say that she was wonderfully professional on stage and gave everything to her public, who loved her and worshipped her. I loved to hear her sing those hits - "The folks who live on the hill", "Is that all there is" and of course the sensational finger clicking "Fever".

One of the concerts on her tour was at Hatfield (about an hours drive outside of London) and we had Louie Bellson and his Big Band Explosion to open the show. We were touring Louie at the same time and I felt these two musical legends would be brilliant together - and of course, we sold out in minutes. On the day of the concert Peggy asked Louie, his bass player George DuVivier and pianist Frank Strazzeri to back her for her spot. This was difficult because we had employed a superb British rhythm section to play with Peggy and she was very happy with them - but you can hardly blame her for wanting Louie, George and Frank to work with her - they were some of the greatest jazz musicians alive! The performances were sensational - standing ovations and my biggest regret is that it wasn't filmed or recorded.

The tour was a big success, even if my nerves were shot to pieces at the start of the tour - Peggy finished back at the London Palladium where she performed royally for Her Majesty The Queen and met her afterwards on stage. It was a magical moment for Miss Lee and me.

I never worked with Peggy again - my path went in a different direction when we negotiated the rights to represent the Bolshoi Ballet and Opera and the Kirov (Mariinsky) Ballet and Opera and many other famous companies and artists - but I will never forget the majesty and glory of seeing and hearing Miss Peggy Lee singing live to packed audiences. She had an ability to communicate with her fans and they simply adored her. Peggy Lee was truly unique - I was thinking about the other singers I loved like Billie Holiday, Anita O'Day, Julie London, Sarah Vaughan, Mel Torme and those that I had worked with like Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Billy Eckstine and Nina Simone - all of whom were wonderful, but Peggy Lee had something different about her - she stands out as one of the greatest exponents of the American Song Book and of course as a superb songwriter and lyricist. Even when we have worked with today's pop icons like Beyonce or Shakira  (both very fine performers on stage) they don't exude that special quality that was Peggy Lee.

I last saw Peggy Lee at the Hilton Hotel in New York - she was a sad sight as she sang sitting on that stage - her health had deteriorated significantly but despite this she still reached out to her audience and communicated with them in a way that only she could achieve - they loved her and so did I.

I went backstage after the show and kissed her - she smiled and we spoke for a few minutes - I never saw Peggy again - but I am immensely grateful that I was able to work with this great artist - one of the all time greats MISS PEGGY LEE

Peggy Lee with Benny Goodman