Ann Hampton Callaway to Release Peggy Lee Celebration Album Tomorrow

With her artist legacy series, pop/jazz vocalist and songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway paid homage to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan on two critically-acclaimed CDs while staying true to her artistic aesthetic. Callaway continues that series with Fever: A Peggy Lee Celebration!, which highlights the songwriting talents of Lee, who wrote or co-wrote over 270 songs in her lifetime, and features two of Lee's compositions that have never before been recorded.

The new album will be released tomorrow, February 10. Pre-save the new recording here.

One, a poem written by Lee titled "Clair De Lune," Callaway composed music for; the other, a premiere of "The Other Part of Me," a song written by Lee and Paul Horner for the 1983 autobiographical Broadway musical, Peg. Featured on two tracks is special guest John Pizzarelli, another connection to Lee, whose favorite guitar player, after her husband, Dave Barbour, was John's father, Bucky Pizzarelli.

The recording came on the heels of Callaway's show, Fever: The Peggy Lee Century, a 100th birthday celebration of the singer at the New York City supper club 54 Below for which she just received a BroadwayWorld nomination for Best Celebrity Show.

Callaway comes from an artistic background-her parents were John Callaway, a legendary TV and radio journalist, and Shirley Callaway, a pianist, performer and revered voice teacher. She writes in her liner notes: "I like to say I was raised on milk and 'Fever' because Peggy's iconic hit came out the year I was born and pulsed through our little Chicago walk-up like a welcoming heartbeat." Lee's many records were spinning on her parent's turntable, sparking Callaway's lifelong love of the pop/jazz icon.

As Callaway matured, she especially appreciated how Lee's less-is-more approach to her singing lent her songs beauty, mystery and vulnerability. And, when she discovered what a brilliant and prolific songwriter Lee was, she became an even more defining inspiration to her.

Curious and genetically-inclined to do her research like her father, who "knew more about the people he interviewed than the people themselves," according to Callaway, she was inspired to explore beyond Lee's world-facing persona and the hit songs such as "Fever." She was also fortunate to have access to the deeply personal stories behind the music through her friendship with Holly Foster Wells, sole granddaughter of Peggy Lee and administrator for the estate.

Their friendship led to the enviable once-in-a-lifetime creative opportunity for Callaway, bestowed upon her by Wells, resulting in the recording debut of the two new Lee works, hidden gems entrusted by Wells to Callaway, that make this legacy project unique.

With these 14 spellbinding tracks on Fever: A Peggy Lee Celebration, Callaway provides a deeper look into the prodigious songwriting talent of Lee, who some regard as the first female singer-songwriter, burnishing her legacy as a trailblazer for women in the music business.

Throughout the month of February, in celebration of the new release, SiriusXM will be airing a special on Siriusly Sinatra hosted and produced by Charles Pignone, featuring an interview with Callaway and Wells and a curated mix of tracks from both the new album and Lee recordings. Taped in Los Angeles, the idea for the show grew out of the format of Callaway's live show, Fever: The Peggy Lee Century, in which she peppered her performance with stories and anecdotes behind the songs, and a Q&A with Wells followed.

"The audience was enamored with the stories about the songs and you could see them resonate to that," says Pignone, who witnessed many performances of the show and shares a long history with both Wells and Lee's family, as well as with Callaway. "I wanted to replicate that with this special and have Ann talk about the music and the songs and why she picked them. Ann is one of the preeminent female vocalists and we're always happy to have new material and play her on Siruisly Sinatra."

Callaway says Lee has often been called "the female Frank Sinatra." "Frank and she were long-time friends who both catapulted to stardom in the '40s with their big band associations," she says. "They both made significant recordings for Capitol Records, knew how to tell a story and inhabit a song, knew how to swing, knew how to entertain, and they both had the devotion of millions of people across the world, which continues to this day. This interview is a celebration of great talents who endure, and I am proud to be a long-standing keeper of the flame."

2022-23 Tour Dates

2/13/2023 Edison Rooftop New York, NY "Ann Hampton Callaway & Liz Callaway - NYCGMC Presents Harmony 2023"

2/18/2023 Sacred Heart University Community Theatre Fairfield, CT "Ann Hampton Callaway & Liz Callaway - Broadway the Callaway!"

2/24-25/2023 Purple Room Supper Club Palm Springs, CA "Ann Hampton Callaway - "Fever: A Peggy Lee Celebration!" - BOTH NIGHTS SOLD OUT

3/2/2023 to 3/4/2023 54 Below New York, NY "Ann Hampton Callaway & Amanda McBroom: Divalicious"

3/4/2023 Livestream from 54 Below New York, NY "Ann Hampton Callaway & Amanda McBroom: Divalicious"

3/10/2023 The University of Central Oklahoma Jazz Lab Edmond, OK "Ann Hampton Callaway: The Linda Ronstadt Songbook"

3/26/2023 Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society Half Moon Bay, CA "Ann Hampton Callaway Trio"

3/26/23 Livestream from Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society Half Moon Bay, CA "Ann Hampton Callaway Trio"

3/30 - 4/1/2023 Segerstrom Center For The Arts Costa Mesa, CA "Ann Hampton Callaway & Liz Callaway - Broadway the Calla-way!"

4/7/2023 The Music Room Cape Cod West Yarmouth, MA "Ann Hampton Callaway - "Fever: A Peggy Lee Celebration!"

4/8/2023 Scullers Jazz Club Boston, MA "Ann Hampton Callaway - "Fever: A Peggy Lee Celebration!"

4/21-22/2023 Blue Strawberry St. Louis, MO "Ann Hampton Callaway - "Fever: A Peggy Lee Celebration!"

4/23/2023 City Winery Chicago, IL "Ann Hampton Callaway - "Fever: A Peggy Lee Celebration!"

6/9/2023 to 6/11/2023 Seattle Symphony Seattle, WA "Ann Hampton Callaway w/ Seattle Symphony - The Linda Ronstadt Songbook"

6/30-7/7/2023 Seth's Big Fat Broadway Cruise Seattle, WA "Ann Hampton Callaway solo"