Peggy Lee to receive star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars
The Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce will honor entertainer and songwriter Peggy Lee with the 467th star on the Palm Springs Walk of the Stars.
Lee’s star will be unveiled at 100 S. Palm Canyon Dr. in Downtown Palm Springs on Friday, March 8th, at 2:00 p.m.
Lee was nominated by Palm Springs community leader and award-winning TV host and personality, Scott Nevins
The star dedication ceremony will feature guest speakers, including Nevins, Michael Feinstein, Wink Martindale, and Peggy Lee’s granddaughter and President of Peggy Lee Associates, Holly Foster Wells, with a special performance by the Palm Springs Gay Men’s Chorus
“We are honored to recognize and celebrate the legendary Peggy Lee with the 467th star on the Palm Springs Walk of the Stars,” said Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce CEO, Nona Watson.
One of the most important musical influences of the 20th century, Peggy Lee, helped redefine what it meant to be a female singer and artist, breaking barriers for generations of artists who followed her.
Dubbed “the female Frank Sinatra” by Tony Bennett, she was a trailblazing entertainer who did something few of her male counterparts attempted: she wrote songs. As one of the first contemporary singer-songwriters in American popular music, she wrote over 270 songs, recorded over 1,100 masters, and had over 100 chart hits.
In 1941, at the beginning of her seven-decade career, she performed at The Doll House in Palm Springs, where she developed what became her signature singing style – “softly, with feeling” – to quiet a raucous crowd.
Palm Springs Life Magazine noted that performance: “She sang low and sultry, barely above a whisper. The yelling in the nightclub subsided, conversations ceased, patrons who hadn’t even noticed Peggy Lee take the stage were craning their necks, silent as judges, trying to hear every note.”
On that same night, she caught the attention of the co-owner of Chicago’s East and West Ambassador Hotels, Frank Bering, who arranged for her to travel to Chicago, where she was discovered by band leader Benny Goodman – a moment that led her to international stardom, from a moment that began in Palm Springs.
“I am so thrilled that my grandmother will forever have a place in Palm Springs on their Walk of the Stars. Palm Springs held a special place in her heart. It was the city that helped put her career on the map, and it was also the place she came to rest, recover, and celebrate. She would be so touched by this honor, as I am,” said Holly Foster Wells.
Click here for more information on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.
