The daughter of Scandinavian parents, Peggy Lee had a difficult childhood,
raised by an alcoholic father and a cruel stepmother in North Dakota. She had
her first big break singing on a local radio station, getting her own radio
series while still at school when a colleague at the station persuaded her to
change her name from Norma Egstrom to Peggy Lee. She developed her trademark
sultry purr singing in night clubs and hotel residencies and was discovered in
1941 by bandleader Benny Goodman, who installed her in his band as a replacement
for departed singer Helen Forrest. Lee sta...