CD Release Dates

- USA release date: 26th October, 2005
- UK release date: 7th November, 2005
- Australia release date: 5th December, 2005

CD Trivia

- Bette's first CD to be released in Dualdisc format

Notes From Bette

My thanks to Don Lenner and Michele Anthony, my darling Martin and Sophie, and especially to Jill Hattersley, without whom I couldn't have sung a note... because I wouldn't have known where to go or how to get there! In addition, I would like to throw myself at the feet of Barry Manilow, who has given me the opportunity to record such wonderful music... how lucky I am that you keep on dreaming.

More from inside the album cover...

For all great performers, there comes a time, long after they have paid their dues, when they begin to pay their respects. For Bette Midler, that moment arrived in 2003, with the Gold certified, Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook.

Following in the footsteps of Ella Fitzgerald, who spent many of her finest hours in the studio committing the canon of tunes known as The American Songbook to vinyl, Midler gave a new voice to the great compositions that Clooney had winningly transformed into standards. Joining forces with her old friend Barry Manilow, who called after having a dream about producing and arranging a Clooney tribute with his favourite female vocalist, they revived a great tradition of popular music, this time focusing on a single performer. With the instinctive verve and musical subtlety of a singer at the peak of her powers, Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook effortlessly carried the torch of unabashed romance and sophisticated 1950s pop into the 21st century.

Chapter Two: "Shortly after recording The Rosemary Clooney Songbook, Barry had another dream," Bette says.

This time, it was about a singer who, like Midler, had music in her DNA, the woman who was always introduced as "Miss Peggy Lee."

Wait a minute. A Scandinavian lass born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, who became a sultry postwar jazz and pop legend and a Jewish girl from Honolulu named after a screen star who starting in the rockin' 1970's unleashed a string of hits from big band bugle pop to big ballads. These are musical sisters?

On the surface, Peggy Lee and Bette Midler seem as alike as night and day. Lee, who was called "The Queen" by Duke Ellington, was the epitome of low-key detachment, as cool and intoxicating as a gin martini. The "Divine Miss M" is a high-octane performer who bares her soul with heartfelt emotion, a bracing, addictive run and Coca Cola gal.

Dig a little deeper, however and the similarities are striking. Both Lee and Midler are consummate vocalists, who not only hit the requisite musical notes, but also imbue each song with a personal resonance. Each developed their own unique style, finding success even when they swam fearlessly ahead of the curve and against the currents of pop. Worldly and witty, Peggy and Bette put their indelible stamp on whatever they sang, making a wide range of genres unforgettable for generation after generation of listeners. With a self-effacing integrity, they forged unique stage personae, both vamp and camp, that along with their nuanced handling of mood and lyrics brought Grammy® accolades and opened the door to rich and varied Hollywood roles and Academy Award nominations.

Despite these similarities, it was slightly daunting for Bette to take on the legacy of Peggy Lee. Happily, Manilow was again there to guide the project, along with a dream team of musicians and arrangers including Tony Award winner Don Sebesky and the legendary Ray Ellis, who orchestrated Billie Holiday's masterpiece "Lady In Satin." Whether the songs required lush soundscapes or more stripped down and revved up roadhouse blues backbeats, Manilow and company set the stage for this ambitious follow-up to their Grammy® nominated collaboration honoring Rosemary Clooney.

For all the cool bravado she displayed, Peggy Lee was at heart a romantic. She had a girlish side that was as sweetly convincing as her tartest declarations. The same could certainly be said for Bette Midler who has ripened into a gifted interpreter of standards and like Lee is also a standard-bearer for pop, jazz and rhythm and blues.

Some may recall that Miss Peggy Lee often closed her later day concerts with one of The "Divine Miss M's" signature tunes, "The Wind Beneath My Wings." It was certainly a compliment that Bette is now all too happy to repay.

"As much as this album is a way of honouring Peggy Lee," Bette concludes, "it is also an honor to be part of. Singing these tunes keeps them very much alive. My dearest hope is that this tribute to one of my inspirations, will encourage listeners to explore more of the music Peggy so graciously and generously shared with the world."

David Keeps with Jay Landers
September 2005