Peggy Connelly born 25 September 1931

Peggy Connelly (September 25, 1931 – June 11, 2007) was a singer and actress.

Peggy Lou Connelly was born September 25, 1931 in Shreveport, Louisiana, but she grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. By the time she was 15, she had a lovely voice that won her jobs singing with competitive big bands in her hometown—including Harvey 

Anderson’s orchestra. She also tried the beauty contest route (Miss Texas Beauty, Miss Palomino, etc.). She won the first Fort Worth Press-Majestic Theatre Talent Tournament in September 1947, and graduated from Polytechnic High School in 1949.

When she was 18, she went in search of work as a model and singer, work that she combined with being the secretary of Ted Steele, an American band leader and host of several radio and television programs in New York. In the end it was singing, which became Peggy’s ticket to fame. She moved to Hollywood, where she found the going somewhat easier in securing her kind of work. Singing with Jerry Gray, Maynard Ferguson and Dave Pell became part of her background, and subsequently she invaded West Coast TV where she was a featured performer on many of the most important shows.

Peggy Connelly as a Floradora Girl

In  Girl in the Red Velvet Swing 1955

She was a comely young Texan lass who had set her sights on stardom and had already taken two giant steps in that direction. The first was in motion pictures, that all-too-elusive medium of show business which is notorious for its heart-breaking lack of opportunity. Peggy was assigned to the cast of the Universal-International film, “The Girl on the Red Velvet Swing” (1955), and, although not under contract to any studio, expected to be similarly
employed in several productions scheduled by the industry. The 
second, and to her the more important step, would jump-start her career as a singer.

In November 1954 she signed with Hollywood’s Nocturne Records, but the songs she recorded remained unissued until 1989, when Fresh Sound Records bought the masters and released them on LP. Shortly after this frustrating first experience, Red Clyde, who was the West Coast chief producer for Bethlehem, offered Peggy an opportunity to record an album for the label, which she agreed to. So in 1956 in addition to choosing her own tunes for the date, Peggy found herself in the musically astute company of Russell Garcia which resulted in an album of standards, Peggy Connelly with Rusell Garcia – That Old Black Magic.

                                  

She became the talk of the city after she started a relationship with Frank Sinatra. They had met in March 1955, and grown closer over time. The singer was fond of her and of her voice, and it didn’t hurt that she resembled Ava Gardner, whom he had married in 1951 and divorced in 1957. 

For over two years, Peggy was Sinatra’s 

girlfriend, and she accompanied him to numerous public acts and film sets.

Meanwhile, Peggy had won enough admiration (at Top’s, a cafe in San Diego) to take her to the Blue Angel in New York, and to Mister Kelly’s in Chicago in October 1956, where she established her reputation as a singer of unusual talent. In 1957, her skills as a singer earned her a movie contract with Paramount—they hired her to sing in movies, even though she only appeared in brief roles on two pictures —“Houseboat,” and “The Matchmaker.”

She then married Dick Martin, the wacky half of the popular comedy team of “Rowan and Martin,” that played in nightclubs across the United States and overseas. They had a son together, Cary, but their marriage only lasted until 1965.

In November 1958, Peggy was Saga Magazine Girl of the Month. A few months later she started working with comedian, actor, and writer Ernie Kovacs. In 1962, after a couple of years devoting most of her time to her family, she returned to the stage to sing again. Her return was different this time, she did not show up alone, but as a member of The New Christy Minstrels, a vigorous folk chorus focused on the performance and perpetuation of the great American tradition of balladry. Peggy, together with Jackie Miller, were the female voices of the chorus. She recorded two albums with the group in 1962: “Presenting” and “In Person.”

During 1970-1971 she appeared singing on the NBC TV series “Words and Music” as herself. She then moved to Europe in 1972, where she settled for several years in Germany appearing on TV, and recording as a single act until the mid-1990s, when she, Sarah Tullamore and Wendy Taylor formed a trio called The Jazzberries. The trio played extensively in Paris and throughout Europe until they disbanded in 2000. She then returned to her hometown, where she passed away on June 11, 2007.

(Edited mainly from Fresh Sound Records)