The Peggy Lee Estate, in conjunction with UMC, announces the September 25 release of Ultimate Peggy Lee Christmas, a new collection featuring 22 holiday classics.
The release of Ultimate Peggy Lee Christmas continues the centennial celebration of Peggy Lee’s birth—May 26, 1920—which has seen several new music releases honoring one of the 20th century’s most important musical influences in the world of jazz and popular music. Drawing from her Capitol and Decca catalogs, as well as Disney’s Lady and the Tramp soundtrack, the album also features the digital debut of “Peace on Earth,” written by Lee and Sonny Burke (the version in the film was not recorded by Lee). Including 10 tracks from Lee’s much-admired 1960 Christmas album, along with several holiday singles, Ultimate Peggy Lee Christmas also presents two duets with Bing Crosby—“Little Jack Frost Get Lost” and “Here Comes Santa Claus.” Six songs on the album were written or co-written by Lee, including “Christmas Carousel,” “Here’s To You,” and “My Dear Acquaintance.” With liner notes from Holly Foster Wells, Peggy’s granddaughter, and Iván Santiago-Mercado, author of the Peggy Lee Discography, the album art offers several never-before-seen holiday photos from Miss Lee’s personal archives.