Is That All There Is?: The Strange Life of Peggy Lee

Is That All There Is?: The Strange Life of Peggy Lee

From the author of the â€œdefinitiveâ€ (Vanity Fair) biography of Lena Horne, Stormy Weather, comes a brilliantly written portrait of recording artist and musical legend Peggy Lee.

â€œShe made you think that she knew who you were, that she was singing only to you...â€

Miss Peggy Lee cast a spell when she sang. She purred so intimately in nightclubs that couples clasped hands and huddled closer. She hypnotized, even on television. Lee epitomized cool, but her trademark song, â€œFeverâ€â€”covered by BeyoncÃ© and Madonnaâ€”is the essence of sizzling sexual heat. Her jazz sense dazzled Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong. She was the voice of swing, the voice of blues, and she provided four of the voices for Walt Disneyâ€™s Lady and the Tramp, whose score she co-wrote. But who was the woman behind the Mona Lisa smile?

With elegant writing and impeccable research, including interviews with hundreds who knew Lee, acclaimed music journalist James Gavin offers the most revealing look yet at an artist of infinite contradictions and layers. Lee was a North Dakota prairie girl who became a temptress of enduring mystique. She was a singer-songwriter before the term existed. Lee â€œhad incredible confidence onstage,â€ observed the Godfather of Punk, Iggy Pop; yet inner turmoil wracked her. She spun a romantic nirvana in her songs, but couldnâ€™t sustain one in reality. As she passed middle age, Lee dwelled increasingly in a bizarre dreamland. She died in 2002 at the age of eighty-one, but Leeâ€™s fascination has only grown since.

This masterful account of Peggy Leeâ€™s strange and enchanting life is a long overdue portrait of an artist who redefined popular singing.
Country USA
Brand Atria Books
Manufacturer Atria Books
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber 16-pg 4-C insert; b&w art thru-out
ReleaseDate 2014-11-11
UnitCount 1
UPCs 787721969532
EANs 9781451641684

Country	USA
Brand	Atria Books
Manufacturer	Atria Books
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	16-pg 4-C insert; b&w art thru-out
ReleaseDate	2014-11-11
UnitCount	1
UPCs	787721969532
EANs	9781451641684

Is That All There Is?: The Strange Life of Peggy Lee

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