Songtress Peggy Lee dead at 81

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Peggy Lee, a singer-songwriter whose career covered six decades, more than 650 songs and some 60 record albums, including hits such as "Fever" and "Is That All There Is?" has died. She was 81.

Family members said Lee had a heart attack on Monday and died at her home in Bel Air, Calif.

Lee was nominated for 12 Grammy Awards -- losing six times to jazz queen Ella Fitzgerald -- and won for "Is That All There Is" in 1969. While she was hardly an unknown when she made the recording, the song Lee was perhaps most recognized for was her rendition of "Fever," which earned her two Grammy nominations in 1958 and was performed in a much different style than "Manana," which was her first hit.

Early in her career, she made recordings with Benny Goodman, including "Why Don't You Do Right." It was the beginning of a long career as one of America's top popular singers.

While "Manana" was an upbeat number with a Latin lilt, Lee had a voice she could adapt to blues and ballads as well as sultry rhythms. Her voice carried, and she was never forced to belt a tune.

Peggy Lee was born Norma Deloris Engstrom in Jamestown, N.D., May 26, 1920. She started her career as a singer in nightclubs before moving to radio. She married Dave Barbour, a guitarist who helped her record "Manana" and "Golden Earrings." That marriage ended in divorce in 1951 and she married Brad Dexter, shortly after. That union ended in 1953. Her third marriage, to Dewey Martin in 1956, lasted two years. In 1964 she took a fourth husband, Jack Del Rio, a bongo player.

Among her later hits were "It's a Good Day," "What More Can a Woman Do?" "Lover" and "Fever." In 1969 "Is That All There Is" won two Grammys for Lee.

She first appeared on screen as a guest singer in the wartime movie "Stage Door Canteen" in 1943 and first appeared as an actress in "Mr. Music" with Bing Crosby in 1950. Her first dramatic role was the 1953 version of "The Jazz Singer" with Danny Thomas. Another dramatic role two years later, as a boozy nightclub singer in "Pete Kelley's Blues" with Jack Webb, earned her an Oscar nomination.

Although she never appeared in films after that, she wrote lyrics and performed soundtrack voices for such movies as Disney's "Lady and the Tramp." Lee sang several songs and provided the voices for four characters in "Tramp," and when Disney released the hit movie on videocassette, she sued for breach of contract, claiming the studio sold the cassettes without her permission under terms of a 1952 contract. A jury awarded her several million dollars.

Because of her fame as a singer, her work as a lyricist was not generally known but she wrote lyrics for Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Victor Young and Quincy Jones.

She wrote a string of hits, mostly in the '40s, many with Barbour. They included "You Was Right, Baby," "It's a Good Day," "Manana," "What More Can a Woman Do" and "I Don't Know Enough About You."

She also co-wrote several movie songs, including the score to Walt Disney's "Lady and the Tramp," and collaborated with Duke Ellington on "Goin' Fishing" and with Cy Coleman on "Then Was Then and Now is Now."

In "Stormy Weather: the lives and music of a century of jazzwomen," author Linda Dahl associated Lee with "effortless-sounding, impeccably phrased, relaxed readings of popular songs with jazz inflections. ... She had an easy, intimate and earthy delivery."

Lee was no musical snob and could adapt her tastes for music to changing times. She shunned rock 'n' roll, however, explaining it was too informal for her style and "I don't look good in blue jeans."

"People will respond to good songs if they have a good basic rhythm," she said.

Lee had a daughter, Nikki, by her marriage to Barbour.