The documentary tracks the diva's difficult progress as she emerges from the tough, testosterone-fuelled world of the big bands of the 30s and 40s, to fill nightclubs and saloons across the US in the 50s and early 60s as a force in her own right. Looking at the lives and careers of six individual singers (Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Nina Simone and Annie Ross), the film not only talks to those who knew and worked with these queens of jazz, but also to contemporary singers who sit on the shoulders of these trailblazing talents without having to endure the pain and hardship it took for them to make their highly individual voices heard above the prejudice of mid-century America.
Bette Midler performs four songs from her recording "Bette Midler Sings The Peggy Lee Songbook". Selections include "I'm A Woman," "He's A Tramp," "Fever," and an alternate take version of "Is That All There Is?" The program also includes interviews with Bette, along with Nicki Lee Foster and Holly Foster Wells (Peggy Lee's daughter and granddaughter.) along with never before seen vintage home movies from the Peggy Lee estate. A highlight is a home movie montage scored to Bette's recording of "Folks That Live on the Hill." This program was created as the exclusive DVD content for the Dual Disc release of Bette's Peggy Lee tribute.
Judy performs beloved musical numbers with Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, and more in this series of classic duets from The Judy Garland Show.
A celebrity benefit for The Actors' Fund of America, featuring music, songs, dance and comedy.
Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer and actress, in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and performer. She wrote music for films, acted, and created conceptual record albums—encompassing poetry, jazz, chamber pop, and art songs. In 1952 Lee starred in The Jazz Singer, a Technicolor remake of the early Al Jolson part-talkie 1927 film of the same name. In 1955, she played an alcoholic blues singer in Pete Kelly's Blues, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 1955 Lee did the speaking and singing voices for several characters in Disney's Lady and the Tramp: she played the human "Darling", the dog "Peg", and the two Siamese cats "Si and Am". In 1957, Lee guest starred on the short-lived ABC variety program, The Guy Mitchell Show.
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