Peggy March
Encyclopedia
Peggy March is an American
pop
singer
. She is primarily remembered for her 1963 million-selling
song "I Will Follow Him
".
's wedding and was introduced to the record producer
partnership Hugo & Luigi
. They gave her the nickname Little Peggy March because she was only tall, she was only 13, the record
she did with them was "Little Me
," and her birthday was in March.
On April 24, 1963, her single "I Will Follow Him
" soared to number one on the U.S.
charts
. Recorded in early January 1963 and released January 22, March was only 14 at the time. March became the youngest female artist with a number one hit, a record that still stands for the Billboard Hot 100
. The recording also took the number one spot in Australia
, New Zealand
, South Africa
, Japan
, and Scandinavia
. It was a translation of the French song "Chariot" recorded a year earlier by Petula Clark
.
March's success also came with financial trouble. She was a minor
and the Coogan Law prevented her parents from managing her money. The responsibility was placed on her manager, Russell Smith. It was discovered in 1966 that he had squandered the fortune away, leaving her with $500. Peggy graduated from Lansdale Catholic High School
in 1966. She soon had a new manager, Arnie Harris, who later became her husband. They had one daughter, Sande, born in 1974.
Although she is remembered by some as a one-hit wonder
, her singles "I Wish I Were a Princess" and "Hello Heartache, Goodbye Love" made the Top 30 in the United States, with the latter also reaching #29 on the UK Singles Chart
. She recorded
18 singles
for RCA Victor between 1964 and 1971 and several album
s as well, none of which charted well in the United States
. She began making a strong presence in the Europe
an and Asia
n music markets and moved to Germany in 1969. Her commercial success in Germany continued through much of the 1970s; she tried her luck in representing Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
in 1969, only to be placed second in the national final with the song "Hey! Das ist Musik für Mich". March made another Eurovision attempt in 1975, when she performed the Ralph Siegel
composition "Alles geht vorüber" in the German national contest. Again she was placed second.
In 1979 she experimented with disco
on the album Electrifying, but it failed to achieve commercial success. By 1981 record companies did not renew her contracts, and she moved back to the United States. In 1984, however, Jermaine Jackson
and Pia Zadora
achieved a major European hit single with the track "When the Rain Begins to Fall
", co-written by March. Although not a hit in the UK or in the US, it went to #1 in Germany, France, The Netherlands and Switzerland. In 1998, the song entered the German Top 10 again when covered by rapper Pappa Bear. The cult
film
Hairspray
featured "I Wish I Were a Princess" in 1988, and a retro fad in Germany brought her some continuing success starting in the mid 1990s with the album Die Freiheit Frau zu sein (1995). Her song "I Will Follow Him" was featured in the 1992 movie Sister Act
. Currently she works largely in the Las Vegas
music scene and has also performed at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater in Branson, Missouri
. In 2005, she released an album of standards, Get Happy, and most recently the album Meine Liebe ist stark genug (2008).
In March 2010, Peggy March went into the studio to lay down vocals for her first album of new, original material in English in over 30 years. A collaboration with Scandinavian songwriter and producer, Soren Jensen, the album Always and Forever was released on October 13, 2010.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pop
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
. She is primarily remembered for her 1963 million-selling
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
song "I Will Follow Him
I Will Follow Him
"I Will Follow Him" is a song recorded by Little Peggy March. The music was written by Franck Pourcel and Paul Mauriat . It was adapted by Arthur Altman...
".
Career
She was discovered at age thirteen singing at her cousinCousin
In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term . The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of...
's wedding and was introduced to the record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
partnership Hugo & Luigi
Hugo & Luigi
Hugo & Luigi were an American record producing team, made up of songwriters and producers Luigi Creatore and Hugo Peretti, who shared an office in New York's Brill Building...
. They gave her the nickname Little Peggy March because she was only tall, she was only 13, the record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
she did with them was "Little Me
Little Me (musical)
Little Me is a musical written by Neil Simon, with music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Carolyn Leigh. The original Broadway production was memorable with Sid Caesar in multiple roles with multiple stage accents playing all of the heroine's husbands and lovers...
," and her birthday was in March.
On April 24, 1963, her single "I Will Follow Him
I Will Follow Him
"I Will Follow Him" is a song recorded by Little Peggy March. The music was written by Franck Pourcel and Paul Mauriat . It was adapted by Arthur Altman...
" soared to number one on the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
charts
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
. Recorded in early January 1963 and released January 22, March was only 14 at the time. March became the youngest female artist with a number one hit, a record that still stands for the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. The recording also took the number one spot in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
. It was a translation of the French song "Chariot" recorded a year earlier by Petula Clark
Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
.
March's success also came with financial trouble. She was a minor
Minor (law)
In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...
and the Coogan Law prevented her parents from managing her money. The responsibility was placed on her manager, Russell Smith. It was discovered in 1966 that he had squandered the fortune away, leaving her with $500. Peggy graduated from Lansdale Catholic High School
Lansdale Catholic High School
Lansdale Catholic High School is a secondary school that is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia. It is located in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, United States.-History:...
in 1966. She soon had a new manager, Arnie Harris, who later became her husband. They had one daughter, Sande, born in 1974.
Although she is remembered by some as a one-hit wonder
One-hit wonder
A one-hit wonder is a person or act known mainly for only a single success. The term is most often used to describe music performers with only one hit single.-Characteristics:...
, her singles "I Wish I Were a Princess" and "Hello Heartache, Goodbye Love" made the Top 30 in the United States, with the latter also reaching #29 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. She recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
18 singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
for RCA Victor between 1964 and 1971 and several album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s as well, none of which charted well in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. She began making a strong presence in the Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n music markets and moved to Germany in 1969. Her commercial success in Germany continued through much of the 1970s; she tried her luck in representing Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
in 1969, only to be placed second in the national final with the song "Hey! Das ist Musik für Mich". March made another Eurovision attempt in 1975, when she performed the Ralph Siegel
Ralph Siegel
Ralph Siegel is a German record producer and songwriter. He is married to the opera singer Kriemhild Jahn. He has three daughters, one of them Giulia Siegel divorced from German entrepreneur Hans Wehrmann....
composition "Alles geht vorüber" in the German national contest. Again she was placed second.
In 1979 she experimented with disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
on the album Electrifying, but it failed to achieve commercial success. By 1981 record companies did not renew her contracts, and she moved back to the United States. In 1984, however, Jermaine Jackson
Jermaine Jackson
Jermaine La Jaune Jackson is an American singer, bassist, composer, a member of The Jackson 5, older brother of American pop stars Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson and occasional film director...
and Pia Zadora
Pia Zadora
Pia Zadora is an American actress and singer. After working as a child actress on Broadway, in regional theater, and in the film Santa Claus Conquers the Martians , she came to national attention in 1981 when, following her starring role in the highly criticized Butterfly, she won a Golden Globe...
achieved a major European hit single with the track "When the Rain Begins to Fall
When the Rain Begins to Fall
"When the Rain Begins to Fall" is a 1984 song recorded by singers Jermaine Jackson and Pia Zadora, and released as a single at the end of 1984. The song was performed in the movie Voyage of the Rock Aliens in which Zadora played a lead role...
", co-written by March. Although not a hit in the UK or in the US, it went to #1 in Germany, France, The Netherlands and Switzerland. In 1998, the song entered the German Top 10 again when covered by rapper Pappa Bear. The cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
Hairspray
Hairspray (1988 soundtrack)
Hairspray: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is a soundtrack of the 1988 John Waters film, Hairspray. It features one original song and rock and roll and rhythm and blues songs by other artists that were used in the film...
featured "I Wish I Were a Princess" in 1988, and a retro fad in Germany brought her some continuing success starting in the mid 1990s with the album Die Freiheit Frau zu sein (1995). Her song "I Will Follow Him" was featured in the 1992 movie Sister Act
Sister Act
Sister Act is a 1992 American comedy film released by Touchstone Pictures. Directed by Emile Ardolino, it features musical arrangements by Marc Shaiman and stars Whoopi Goldberg as a Reno lounge singer who has been put under protective custody in a San Francisco convent and has to pretend to be a...
. Currently she works largely in the Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
music scene and has also performed at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater in Branson, Missouri
Branson, Missouri
Branson is a city in Taney County in the U.S. state of Missouri. It was named after Reuben Branson, postmaster and operator of a general store in the area in the 1880s....
. In 2005, she released an album of standards, Get Happy, and most recently the album Meine Liebe ist stark genug (2008).
In March 2010, Peggy March went into the studio to lay down vocals for her first album of new, original material in English in over 30 years. A collaboration with Scandinavian songwriter and producer, Soren Jensen, the album Always and Forever was released on October 13, 2010.
Singles
| Release Date | Title | US Billboard Hot 100 Chart Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
German Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 1963 | "I Will Follow Him I Will Follow Him "I Will Follow Him" is a song recorded by Little Peggy March. The music was written by Franck Pourcel and Paul Mauriat . It was adapted by Arthur Altman... " |
|
|
|
| June 1963 | "I Wish I Were a Princess" | |
|
|
| September 1963 | "Hello Heartache, Goodbye Love" | |
|
|
| November 1963 | "The Impossible Happened" | |
|
|
| February 1964 | "(I'm Watching) Every Little Move You Make" | |
|
|
| May 1965 | "Er schoss mir eine Rose" | |
|
|
| July 1965 | "Mit 17 hat man noch Träume" | |
|
|
| November 1965 | "Die schönen Stunden gehen schnell vorbei" | |
|
|
| July 1966 | "Hundert Jahre und noch mehr" | |
|
|
| December 1966 | "Sweetheart schenk mir einen Ring" | |
|
|
| March 1967 | "Memories of Heidelberg" | |
|
|
| September 1967 | "Romeo und Julia" | |
|
|
| January 1968 | "Telegramm aus Tennessee" | |
|
|
| March 1968 | "Canale Grande Number One" | |
|
|
| July 1968 | "Das ist Musik fûr mich" | |
|
|
| September 1968 | "Mississippi Shuffle Boat" | |
|
|
| January 1969 | "Yesterday Waltz" | |
|
|
| April 1969 | "Hey" | |
|
|
| August 1969 | "Bahama Lullabye" | |
|
|
| November 1969 | "In der Carnaby Street" | |
|
|
| December 1969 | "Mister Giacomo Puccini" | |
|
|
| September 1970 | "Die Maschen der Mānner" | |
|
|
| August 1970 | "Einmal verliebt—immer verliebt" | |
|
|
| August 1971 | "Sing, wenn du glücklich bist" | |
|
|
| February 1972 | "Ich weiss, ich verlieb mich noch heute in dich" | |
|
|
| July 1972 | "Es ist schwer, dich zu vergessen" | |
|
|
| January 1976 | "Du, mach mich nicht an" | |
|
|
| June 1976 | "Costa Brava" | |
|
|
| September 1977 | "Fly Away Pretty Flamingo" | |
|
|
| April 1978 | "Oklahoma Bay" | |
|
|
| August 1980 | "Dreh' die Uhr zurück zum Anfang" | |
|
|
External links
- Official site
- fan site
- Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater
- [ Little Peggy March biography] provided by Allmusic