Is That All There Is? Contributor(s): Gavin, James (Author) |
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ISBN: 1451641796 ISBN-13: 9781451641790 Publisher: Atria Books OUR PRICE: $17.10 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: October 2015 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Music - Biography & Autobiography | Entertainment & Performing Arts |
Dewey: B |
LCCN: 2014010307 |
Physical Information: 1.8" H x 5.7" W x 8.7" (1.40 lbs) 624 pages |
Themes: - Chronological Period - 20th Century |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Praised by the New York Times Book Review as "fascinating, suspenseful, careful, musically detailed, and insightful," this is a long-overdue biography of recording artist and musical legend Peggy Lee. Miss Peggy Lee cast a spell when she sang. She epitomized cool, but her trademark song, "Fever"--covered by Beyoncé and Madonna--is the essence of sizzling sexual heat. Her jazz sense dazzled Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong. She was the voice of swing, the voice of blues, and she provided four of the voices for Walt Disney's Lady and the Tramp, whose score she co-wrote. But who was the woman behind the Mona Lisa smile? With elegant writing and impeccable research, including interviews with hundreds who knew Lee, acclaimed music journalist James Gavin offers the most revealing look yet at an artist of infinite contradictions and layers. Lee was a North Dakota prairie girl who became a temptress of enduring mystique. She was a singer-songwriter before the term existed. Lee "had incredible confidence onstage," observed the Godfather of Punk, Iggy Pop; yet inner turmoil wracked her. She spun a romantic nirvana in her songs, but couldn't sustain one in reality. As she passed middle age, Lee dwelled increasingly in a bizarre dreamland. She died in 2002 at the age of eighty-one, but the enchantment with Lee has only grown. "Raucously entertaining [and] full of evocative scenes, wry humor and exasperated sympathy" (Publishers Weekly), Is That All There Is? paints a masterful portrait of an artist who redefined popular singing. |
Contributor Bio(s): Gavin, James: - James Gavin is the author of Deep in a Dream, Intimate Nights, and Stormy Weather. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, and Time Out New York, among other publications. He lives in New York City. |