Fever

"I learned courage from Buddha, Jesus, Lincoln, and Mr. Cary Grant." So said Miss Peggy Lee. Albert Einstein adored her; Duke Ellington dubbed her "the Queen." With her platinum cool and inimitable whisper, Peggy Lee sold twenty million records, made more money than Mickey Mantle, and presided over music's greatest generation alongside pals Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. Drawing on exclusive interviews and never-before-seen information, Peter Richmond delivers a complex, compelling portrait of an artist that begins with a girl plagued by loss, her father's alcoholism, and her stepmother's abuse. One day she boards a train, following her muse and hoping her music will lead her someplace better. And it does: to the pantheon of great American singers. Peter Richmond has been an award-winning reporter and feature-writer for "GQ" magazine for two decades. He has covered everything from Rosemary Clooney to sports, and his work has also appeared in "The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, "and" Rolling Stone." He has appeared many times on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition." He lives in Dutchess County, New York. "I learned courage from Buddha, Jesus, Lincoln, and Mr. Cary Grant," said Miss Peggy Lee. Albert Einstein adored her; Duke Ellington dubbed her "the Queen." With her platinum cool and inimitable whisper, Peggy Lee sold twenty million records, made more money than Mickey Mantle, and presided over music's greatest generation alongside pals Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. Drawing on exclusive interviews and never-before-seen information, Peter Richmond delivers a complex, compelling portrait of an artist that begins with a girl plagued by loss, her father's alcoholism, and her stepmother's abuse. One day she boards a train, following her muse and hoping her music will lead her to the pantheon of great American singers. "Entertaining . . . Richmond] is a fan who has immersed himself in Lee's music deeply enough to understand it to the core . . . He grasps every nuance of an artist who was all about nuance and minute calculation . . . The book comes alive in its descriptions of the grueling two years Lee] spent on the road with Benny] Goodman . . . A real person . . . emerges from this book."--Stephen Holden, "The New York"" Times Book Review"
"Comprehensive . . . Peter Richmond avidly traces the evolution of that signature sexy hush . . . Incisively pinpoints the emergence of her semi-spoken approach to lyrics . . . Well-rendered . . . Richmond] takes us . . . to that disembodied voice, to those vibrations hanging in the air. In the end, that is all there is, and it is what matters most."--Liz Brown, "Newsday"
"A very engaging book presented with as much style and aplomb as Lee delivered in her many classic songs. The legendary Ellington, with whom Lee wrote the delightful 'I'm Gonna Go Fishin', once said, 'If I'm the Duke, man, Peggy Lee is Queen.' With "Fever," she finally gets an elegantly written biography fit for royalty."--"Boston Globe""" "Richmond's research is impeccable. So, too, is his ability to appreciate and dissect the many odd-fitting parts . . . that made up the crazy-quilt Lee pastiche . . . This biography] is several degrees better than any other Lee tome that has surfaced to date."--Christopher Loudon, "Jazz Times" "Affectionate, readable biography . . . Richmond writes smoothly and researches diligently . . . For those who only know Peggy Lee as the voice behind the Siamese cats in Disney's "Lady and the Tramp," Richmond's biography is a gorgeous, eye-opening corrective. "Fever" is a perfect title for music lovers."--"Cleveland Plain Dealer" "Who would think that the very cool Miss Peggy Lee started out in North Dakota as Norma Deloris Egstrom? Or that the shy and insecure little girl with an alcoholic father and an abusive stepmother would rise to the musical pantheon and earn ten times what Mickey Mantle did? Richmond, an award-winning writer for "GQ" magazine, reveals these and other facts in this well-researched but dryly written biography. Lee, musical and driven from a young age, hopped a train after finishing high school, hoping her singing talents would better her life. She found work fronting bands right away, but it was her stint with the Benny Goodman Band that sealed her fame and resulted in a career spanning more than 50 years; her life included four marriages and one daughter. Other than her own memoir, "Miss Peggy Lee," published in 1989, and this biography, surprisingly little has been written about the iconic singer who has influenced k.d. lang, Norah Jones, and Diana Krall . . . Richmond's book is recommended for all music collections."--Rosellen Brewer, Sno-Isle Library, Marysville, Washington, "Library Journal" "American popular culture is filled with people who claim to have reinvented themselves. North Dakota's Norma Egstrom puts most such claimants to shame. She invented Peggy Lee with Dickensian precision, not to mention a voice that could cool down a volcano. In this definitive biography, Peter Richmond honors her story with equal precision, and with a generosity and insight that had me cheering her onward, every step of the way."--Gary Giddins, author of "Natural Selection" and "Bing Crosby": "A Pocketful of Dreams" "Peter Richmond's lovely and big-hearted biography of Peggy Lee is not only chockfull of fascinating jazz stories, it is scintillatingly insightful about the fate and destiny of a small-town girl and the dreams that came true to claim her."--Wil Haygood, author of "In Black and White": " The Life of Sammy Davis Jr." "At long last there's a full-length biography of one of American music's most crucial cultural icons. I learned a lot I didn't know about Peggy Lee in this well-researched volume, and I am certain that anybody who cares about this great singer, or about American music in general, will find it essential reading."--Will Friedwald, author of "Sinatra The Song is You": " A Singer's Art"