Ryan: The death of Michael Jackson reminds us how celebrities serve as bench-marks in our lives, and how their deaths remind us of our own mortal natures. I was saddened by the deaths of my two favorite female singers: Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee. The first popular song I remember hearing – as a toddler – was Ella’s “A Tisket-A-Tasket,” a number that introduced me to the vagaries of words (I could visualize a “yellow basket,” but a “tisket” and a “tasket?”)
Peggy Lee came into my life by song years later, and I found her delightful. I was doubly impressed by her when, not that many years ago, I saw her on the old “Dinah Shore” TV show, along with another female vocalist from the “big-band” era. Dinah and the other singer were discussing their earliest professional years, and how they had been “taken advantage of” by recording hit songs for which they were paid only $50 apiece, while the record companies made millions. Peggy couldn’t put up with this self-pity, and reminded her friends how well the three of them were now living, the luxurious homes they now owned, the career successes they have had. She then asked whether they thought any of this would have been possible had they not had the opportunity, in their youths, to record songs for only $50 each!
One rarely hears voices like Peggy Lee’s anymore!
