Stacy Sullivan’s show ‘It’s a Good Day: A Tribute to Miss Peggy Lee’ opens the Café Carlyle’s new series, ‘Second Act’
Sullivan’s show combines biography and song to tap into the fragile but tough survivor that was the legendary Miss Peggy Lee.
Stacy Sullivan’s tribute to the legendary Miss Peggy Lee, “It’s a Good Day: A Tribute to Miss Peggy Lee,” combines a biographical journey through Lee’s remarkable life and six-decade career — one that left an indelible mark on American music — with Lee songs from Sullivan’s new album of the same name.
Says Sullivan, “Twenty years ago, I did a show with one of Peggy’s co-writers, Paul Horner. I loved her songs. About five years ago, Sydney Myer came up to me after a show and said, “You have to do a Peggy Lee show.” I didn’t ask questions…I got to work. I was only familiar with the “later” Peggy Lee. When I started digging up the old footage of her from the 40’s and 50’s, I was hooked for life.”
Sullivan’s show opened the new Carlyle “Second Act series,” as the legendary venue for cabaret calls its late Friday and Saturday night shows. Cabaret fans that missed her recent show will get a second chance to catch her show when it returns on May 2, 3 and 4.
The News had a chance to catch up with her at the Carlyle show and ask her about her life, her art and the great Miss Peggy Lee:
News: Can you talk about growing up and coming from a large and musical family?
Sullivan: I was born in Boggy Depot, Oklahoma, but my family moved to the “big city,” Norman, Oklahoma, when I was five years old. As the seventh child in an extremely musical family, I sang before I could talk. We did family concerts all through my childhood in Oklahoma and performing was such a positive experience for me that I don’t think I ever seriously considered another profession. My sister, Heather is also a professional musician and composer. I remember watching my mom sing in church as a kid. She took everyone to another place when she sang. She is definitely my greatest inspiration as a singer.
News: Can you share some of the key moments your recall about the “family concerts” that you sang together as kids?
Sullivan: I remember getting to go out to dinner after the shows! Eating out in restaurants wasn’t something we did a lot of as a family of ten. Usually, the churches took “love offerings” for our fee. Depending on how well we sang and how generous the audience, we ate everything from steak to pizza!