She wrote music and lyrics for motion pictures. Critic George Hoefer of "Downbeat" magazine has called her "the greatest white female jazz singer since Mildred Bailey." Leonard Feather in "The Encyclopedia of Jazz" has described her as "one of the most sensitive and jazz oriented singers in pop field." Peggy Lee was 1946 polls as best female vocalist of both "Metronome" and "Downbeat" magazine. She appeared on televised musical variety shows starring Perry Como, George Gobel, Steve Allen and Bin Crosby. In September 1962, Peggy reached her "hotspot" in her career. She was selected to appear in Philharmonic Hall of New York's Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, an auditorium available to those whom the management considers as serious artists. Peggy was such a perfectionist that she was hospitalized with virus pneumonia in July 1958. This made her cut down her shows. Now Peggy Lee lives with her daughter, Nicki, in Coldwater Canyon, near Hollywood, California. She is very interested in Ralph Waldo Emerson's writings. One of them said, " God will not have his work done by Cowards." To her this means, Don't let your personal problems get in the way of your life's work. " I have had to remember that rule several times during my career," states Peggy Lee. .
Janis Joplin, another well known female artist, was born January 19, 1943 and died October 4, 1970. During that time, she led a triumphant and tumultuous life blessed by an innate talent to convey powerful emotion through heart stomping rock-and-roll singing (Joplin 2). Janis Joplin was born in Port Arthur, Texas, where she followed artistic interests drawn by her parents Seth and Dorothy Joplin. Janis began singing in a coffee house. She started copying the styles of Bessie Smith, Odetta and Leadbelly She was singing at college and was getting lost in her experiments with drugs and alcohol, especially speed. The San Francisco Community offered a singing position in obscure group "Big Brother and Holding Company.
