American pop singer (born 1948)
Peggy March
|
---|
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Peggy_March.png/220px-Peggy_March.png) March in 1967
|
Born
| Margaret Annemarie Battavio
(
1948-03-08
)
March 8, 1948
(age 76)
|
---|
Other names
| Little Peggy March
|
---|
Occupation
| Singer
|
---|
Years active
| 1962?present
|
---|
Peggy March
(born
Margaret Annemarie Battavio
, March 8, 1948)
[1]
is an American
pop
singer. In the United States, she is primarily known for her 1963
million-selling
song "
I Will Follow Him
".
[2]
Although she is sometimes remembered as a
one-hit wonder
, she continued to have success in Europe well into the 1970s.
Career
[
edit
]
Born in Lansdale, Pennsylvania to an Italian-American family, March was discovered at age 13 singing at her cousin's wedding
[2]
and was introduced to record producers
Hugo & Luigi
. They gave her the nickname
Little Peggy March
because she was 4 ft 10 in (1.47 m) tall (though she later grew to be 5ft 4in),
[3]
she was only 13, the
record
she did with them was "Little Me", and her birthday was in March.
[4]
On April 24, 1963,
[5]
her single "
I Will Follow Him
" soared to
number one
on the United States
charts
.
[1]
She recorded the song in early January 1963 and it was released on January 22, when she was 14.
[1]
March became the youngest female artist with a number-one hit, at 15, in late April 1963, a record that still stands for the
Billboard
Hot 100
. The recording also reached number one in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa,
Japan
, and
Scandinavia
. It failed to chart in the United Kingdom. It was a translation of the French song "Chariot" recorded a year earlier by
Petula Clark
.
[1]
March also became the first white female solo artist to hit number one on the
Billboard
R&B chart
.
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, leaving her with $500. March graduated from
Lansdale Catholic High School
in 1966.
Billboard
advertisement, July 27, 1963
Although she is remembered in the United States 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 US, with the latter also reaching No. 29 on the
UK Singles Chart
.
[6]
As with many American artists, March's career in her native country was derailed in part by the
British Invasion
, which at the time was pushing many American acts out of popularity, and she had no hits at home once the Invasion began in 1964. Recording for
RCA Victor
, March made 18
singles
from 1964 to 1971. She also cut several albums, none of which sold well in the United States.
[1]
She began having a strong presence in the
European
and
Asian
music markets and moved to Germany in 1969.
[1]
She won the
Deutscher Schlager Contest
in 1965 and her song "Mit 17 hat man noch Traume" ("At 17 you still have dreams") placed No. 2 in the German Singles Chart. This was followed by German songs like "In der Carnaby Street", "Einmal verliebt ? immer verliebt", "Romeo und Julia" ("On Carnaby Street", "Once in Love ? Always in Love", "Romeo and Juliet" ... No. 1 in German Charts), "Der Schuster macht schone Schuhe" ("'The Cobbler Makes Beautiful Shoes"), "Telegramm aus Tennessee", "Die Maschen der Manner" and "Das sind die Traume, die man so traumt". Her commercial success in Germany continued through much of the 1970s;
[1]
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 fur mich". March made another Eurovision attempt in 1975, when she performed the
Ralph Siegel
composition "Alles geht voruber" 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 EMI did not renew her contract, and she moved back to the United States.
[1]
In 1984, however,
Jermaine Jackson
and
Pia Zadora
achieved a major European hit single with the track "
When the Rain Begins to Fall
",
[7]
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
.
March currently works largely in Germany and in the
Las Vegas
music scene and has also performed at
Dick Clark
's American Bandstand Theater in
Branson, Missouri
. In 2004 she was the headliner in
Riff Markowitz
's
Fabulous Palm Springs Follies
at the
Plaza Theater
in
Palm Springs, California
.
[8]
In 2005, she released an album of standards,
Get Happy
, followed by the album
Meine Liebe ist stark genug
(2008).
[9]
In March 2010, March went into the recording studio to record 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. It was followed by a special edition for the German-speaking countries in April 2012,
[10]
including two duets with the Dutch singer
Jose Hoebee
, one of them being a
cover version
of "I Will Follow Him"; which had also been a number-one single in the Netherlands and Belgium for Hoebee in 1982 (March further recorded a subsequent recording in 2012 for a 2013 release to commemorate the song's 50th anniversary). March also recorded another version of "When the Rain Begins to Fall", as a duet with the German singer Andreas Zaron.
Personal life
[
edit
]
In 1969, March married Arnie Harris, her longtime manager. They had one daughter, Sande Ann, born in 1974. After living in Germany since 1969, March and her husband moved to Florida in 1999.
[11]
In 2013, Harris died.
[1]
Discography
[
edit
]
An advertisement for March's 1968 RCA Victor single "If You Loved Me (Soul Coaxing- Ame Caline)"
Singles
[
edit
]
US Singles
Year
|
Title
|
Peak Chart Positions
|
Album
|
US
|
GER
[12]
|
AUS
|
HK
|
FIN
|
PER
|
UK
[13]
|
1962
|
"Little Me"
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
Non-album single
|
1963
|
"
I Will Follow Him
"
|
1
|
6
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
?
|
I Will Follow Him
|
"I Wish I Were a Princess"
|
32
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
"
Hello Heartache, Goodbye Love
"
|
26
|
?
|
?
|
1
|
?
|
?
|
29
|
Non-album singles
|
"The Impossible Happened
|
57
|
?
|
?
|
10
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
"
(I'm Watching) Every Little Move You Make
"
|
84
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
1964
|
"Leave Me Alone"
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
"Oh My What a Guy"
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
10
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
"Can't Stop Thinkin' About Him"
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
1965
|
"Let Her Go"
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
"Losin' My Touch"
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
In Our Fashion
|
"He Couldn't Care Less"
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
Non-album singles
|
1966
|
"He's Back Again"
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
"Try to See It My Way"
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
No Foolin'
|
1967
|
"Foolin' Around"
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
"
Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad
"
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
Non-album singles
|
"This Heart Wasn't Made to Kick Around"
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
1968
|
"If You Loved Me (Soul Coaxing-Ame Caline)"
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
1969
|
"
Boom Bang-A-Bang
"
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
2013
|
"I Will Follow Him (50th Anniversary Edition)"
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
Always And Forever
|
German Singles
Year
|
Title
|
GER
[12]
|
Album
|
1964
|
"Lady Music"
|
12
|
Non-album singles
|
"Wenn der Silbermond"
|
15
|
"Hallo Boy"
|
17
|
Tagebuch Einer 17-jahrigen
|
"Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye"
|
8
|
1965
|
"Er schoss mir eine Rose"
|
23
|
"Mit 17 hat man noch Traume"
|
2
|
Laß Mir Meine Traume
|
"Kilindini Docks"
|
N/A
|
Non-album single
|
"Die schonen Stunden gehen schnell vorbei"
|
25
|
Tagebuch Einer 17-jahrigen
|
1966
|
"Tausend Steine" (with Benny Thomas)
|
?
|
Laß Mir Meine Traume
|
"Hundert Jahre und noch mehr"
|
18
|
"Sweetheart, schenk mir einen Ring"
|
40
|
1967
|
"Memories of Heidelberg"
|
2
|
Hello Boys!
|
"Romeo und Julia"
|
1
|
"Telegramm aus Tennessee"
|
15
|
1968
|
"Canale Grande Number One"
|
18
|
"Das ist der Musik fur mich"
|
21
|
Non-album singles
|
"Mississippi Shuffleboat"
|
30
|
1969
|
"Yesterday Waltz"
|
37
|
"Hey"
|
29
|
"Bahama Lullabye"
|
13
|
"In der Carnaby Street"
|
16
|
Einmal Verliebt - Immer Verliebt
|
"Mister Giacomo Puccini"
|
33
|
Non-album singles
|
1970
|
"Vor dem Buckingham Palast"
|
?
|
"
Einmal verliebt - immer verliebt
"
|
23
|
Einmal Verliebt - Immer Verliebt
|
" Die Maschen der Manner
|
29
|
"Carmen aus Sevilla"
|
?
|
Non-album singles
|
1971
|
"Sing, wenn du glucklich bist"
|
35
|
"Hallo Partner"
|
?
|
1972
|
"Ich weiss, ich verlieb mich noch heute in dich"
|
38
|
"Es ist schwer, dich zu vergessen"
|
30
|
Fur Dich
|
1976
|
"Du, mach mich nicht an"
|
47
|
Costa Brava
|
"Costa Brava"
|
42
|
1977
|
"Fly Away Pretty Flamingo"
|
8
|
Fly Away Pretty Flamingo
|
1978
|
"Oklahoma Bay"
|
44
|
1980
|
"Dreh' die Uhr zuruck zum Anfang"
|
37
|
Non-album single
|
Italian Singles
Year
|
Title
|
IT
|
Album
|
1964
|
"Te Ne Vai"
|
1
|
Little Peggy March
|
"Passo su Passo"
|
?
|
"Gli Occhi Tuoi Sono Blu"
|
?
|
Albums
[
edit
]
US Albums
Year
|
Title
|
Peak Chart
Position
|
US
|
1963
|
I Will Follow Him
|
139
|
1965
|
In Our Fashion
(collaboration with Benny Thomas)
|
?
|
1967
|
No Foolin'
|
?
|
2005
|
Get Happy
|
?
|
2013
|
Always And Forever
|
?
|
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
"Biography by Bruce Eder and Stephen Thomas Erlewine"
. AllMusic.com
. Retrieved
February 25,
2009
.
- ^
a
b
Murrells, Joseph (1978).
The Book of Golden Discs
(2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. pp.
161/2
.
ISBN
0-214-20512-6
.
- ^
"Peggy March, the Youngest Woman to Top the Hot 100, Looks Back on 'I Will Follow Him'
"
.
Billboard
.
- ^
Billboard - May 12, 2001 - Page 60 "... RCA introduced its own teen queen, Little Peggy March. Her first single, a cover version of the song "Little Me" from the Broadway show of the same name, didn't go anywhere, but the follow-up was a different story. "I Will Follow Him" topped ..."
- ^
"This Day in Music"
. Nielsen Business Media, Inc
. Retrieved
March 27,
2009
.
- ^
Roberts, David (2006).
British Hit Singles & Albums
(19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 349.
ISBN
1-904994-10-5
.
- ^
Jermaine Jackson & Pia Zadora ? When The Rain Begins To Fall
. swisscharts.com. Retrieved on 2012-04-15.
- ^
Archerd, Army (March 23, 2004).
"Just for Variety. (Celebrity Gathering)"
.
Daily Variety
. Reed Business Information, Inc. Archived from
the original
on November 5, 2013
. Retrieved
March 29,
2013
– via HighBeam Research.
- ^
Peggy March - Meine Liebe ist stark genug
. swisscharts.com (2009-07-17). Retrieved on 2012-04-15.
- ^
March, Peggy :: Always and Forever - Artnr 876227-2DA MUSIC Deutsche Austrophon GmbH & Co.KG
. Da-music.de. Retrieved on 2012-11-10.
- ^
"March, Peggy- als dem Jungstar die Knie zitterten- Musik & Events- SWR4 Baden-Wurttemberg"
.
swr.online
. March 6, 2018.
- ^
a
b
"Peggy March"
.
Offizielle Deutsche Charts
.
- ^
"Little Peggy March"
.
The Official Charts Company
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Artists
| |
---|
People
| |
---|