Tish Oney's Music Blog

For several years I have been entertaining the idea of authoring a book on a topic I researched extensively when I was a doctoral student at the University of Southern California. The book is finally here! Peggy Lee: A Century of Song , I am pleased to announce, is available for purchase at the website of my publisher Rowman & Littlefield. This volume celebrates the one hundredth birthday of Peggy Lee, a pillar of twentieth-century American popular music, jazz, and blues. It recounts her expansive work as a film composer, actress, radio host, songwriter of 270 songs, voiceover artist, live performer, and recording artist of 1100 recorded masters. Lee's contributions to American music run the gamut from a large catalog of recorded music and original songs (many which became hits), exceptional stagecraft and performance practice, exemplary musicianship, nuance, authentic style in a wide palette of genres, music advocacy, and much more. Her pioneering work as a female bandleader/...

As I put the month of November away, I am glad to see some promising things and experiences on the horizon... December will bring an always-welcome opportunity to return to the gorgeous island of Oahu to enjoy Christmas Eve singing at the First Baptist Church of Honolulu! In February I will perform my inaugural jazz concert at the Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg, SC with the wonderful commercial music faculty from University of South Carolina Upstate, of which I am now a proud member. I'll return to that stage with my Peggy Lee Project in April, following a soprano soloist appearance in Schubert's Mass in G at the USC Upstate Performing Arts Center. June will bring more touring, this time in Nashua, NH, among other places, and the summer promises some new recording possibilities. Reviewing the year enables a working artist to reconnect with her goals and aspirations, revisit her career priorities and solidify yet-unmade plans to keep moving forward. Life can and w...

I am pleased to be joining acclaimed pianist Michael Royal for my next tour performance May 6 at 2pm at The Glenridge Performing Arts Center in Sarasota, FL. Michael is a dynamite musician who has built quite a resume of performing experience. I am excited to explore Peggy Lee's music with him for this one-afternoon-only matinee! The Peggy Lee Project is a celebration of the songwriting talents of the late pop/jazz diva, Peggy Lee. While Lee was well-known for countless major hits including "Fever," "Is That All There Is?" and "Big Spender," she also contributed 270 original songs to the Great American Songbook, collaborating with songwriting giants Duke Ellington, Johnny Mandel, Harold Arlen, Victor Young, Quincy Jones and Sonny Burke, among many others. I am proud to announce that this production is the only Peggy Lee tribute concert in the world endorsed by The Peggy Lee Foundation, Peggy Lee Enterprises, Peggy Lee Associates and the family of...

It was a wonderful whirlwind of singing and traveling...exhausting perhaps, but very worthwhile. I began on July 25 at Feinstein's in New York--superstar Michael Feinstein's elite Park Avenue nightclub where every singer in the world (it seems) dreams of performing. This experience was all it was cracked up to be! I was there in an absolutely gorgeous Kay Unger gown performing with Grammy-winning jazz pianist, Bill Cunliffe . We were premiering "The Peggy Lee Songbook," a celebration of the songwriting talents of iconic singer Peggy Lee . The audience was very receptive and appreciative and I will treasure the memory always... The best part? Getting asked back by the club's manager before the gig, after only hearing our sound check! Here is what fellow cabaret singer and writer Jenna Esposito had to say about the show on BroadwayWorld.com ... Far too early the next morning I boarded a plane for Los Angeles where I spent two sunny days in Redondo Beach. I...

April 15 I conducted a master class for jazz students and voice majors at Syracuse University 's Setnor School of Music in conjunction with a concert I performed on April 18: " Tish Oney--The Peggy Lee Project " featuring esteemed guitarist John Chiodini . Having directed collegiate-level vocal jazz ensembles for a number of years, I most often am asked to provide coaching for an entire collective group at once. However, since the SU Vocal Jazz Ensemble (directed by pianist Bill DiCosimo ) had already completed its final concert of the school year, I instead offered a soloist's master class and worked with individual students in the jazz combo setting (accompanied by piano, bass and drums). We focused on jazz stylization, interpretation, mic technique, improvisation and whatever else I felt the students needed in the short twelve minutes I had with each. Most of these students had almost never worked one-on-one with a microphone, which was a...