Peggy O'Keefe (7 April 1928 – 31 March 2019) was an Australian-Scottish pianist, bandleader, and television and radio presenter.
Life
Margaret Patricia O'Keefe was born in Fernlea Private Hospital, Preston (a suburb of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
), and raised on a farm in
Wangoom, near the city of
Warrnambool
Warrnambool ( Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Warrnambool had a population of 35,743. Situated on the Princes Highway, Warrnambool (Al ...
, approximately 150 miles (250 kilometers) from Melbourne. After a good academic and musical education at a convent boarding school (
St Ann's College
St Ann's College is a co-residential college in North Adelaide, South Australia. In its early decades, the college had only female boarders. Today it houses 197 tertiary students, both sexes, in single rooms; rooms in the new buildings have ens ...
), she attended the
Melbourne University
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
Music Conservatorium, where she studied violin, piano, singing and harp. Whilst there she was a classmate of
Douglas Gamley
John Douglas Gamley (13 September 19245 February 1998), generally known as Douglas Gamley, was an Australian composer, who worked on orchestral arrangements and on local, British and American films.
Biography
John Douglas Gamley was born on 1 ...
.
Career
On graduating from the Conservatorium in 1949, she had brief spells working in the Post Office, teaching music in a private girls’ school, and working in the piano department of
Myer
Myer (stylised MYER, sometimes known as Myers) is an Australia, Australian mid-range to upscale department store chain. It trades in all Australian states and one of Australia's two self-governing territories. Myer retails a broad range of ...
, the famous Melbourne department store, where she would play the latest hits of the day on the department’s pianos in the hope - if not of selling the piano - of selling copies of the sheet music.
During the 1940s and 1950s,
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
employed a staff pianist by the name of Margot Sheridan, who accompanied singers, instrumentalists and played in ensembles on radio, and later in television. Peggy admired her versatility and musicianship very much, and decided she wanted to be like her. Following a successful audition at ABC in the 1950s (for which she played her own arrangement of
Tico Tico), Peggy started appearing regularly as accompanist and ensemble pianist on broadcasts, while simultaneously playing with her trio in Melbourne nightspots, accompanying cabarets by artistes such as a young
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries (born 17 February 1934) is an Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist. He is best known for writing and playing his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He is also a film prod ...
,
Juanita Hall
Juanita Hall (née Long, November 6, 1901 – February 29, 1968) was an American musical theatre and film actress. She is remembered for her roles in the original stage and screen versions of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals '' South Pacific ...
and a one-off, impromptu performance by
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
.
After the breakdown of her first marriage in 1960, she travelled to London, where she picked up where she had left off in Australia. She had not been there long before she was playing in jazz trios and quartets in establishments such as The Satire Rooms, The Riverside Club and The Stork Rooms (where her "tea break" cover pianist was a young
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writ ...
). It was during this spell that she played for - and rubbed shoulders with - artistes like
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director.
At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...
,
Tony Bennett
Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birth ...
, Dame
Cleo Laine
Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth (born Clementine Dinah Bullock; 28 October 1927)[Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...](_blank)
,
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...
,
, and
Helen Merrill
Helen Merrill (born Jelena Ana Milcetic; July 21, 1930) is an American jazz vocalist. Her first album, the eponymous 1954 recording ''Helen Merrill'' (with Clifford Brown), was an immediate success and associated her with the first generation ...
, while renewing an old and rather special friendship with legendary bass player,
Ray Brown.
During this time she met and teamed up with double bass player Ricky Fernandez and drummer Rudi Celerio, with whom she became "The Peggy O’Keefe Trio."
Always modest and self-effacing, she declined to appear at
Ronnie Scott's
Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a jazz club that has operated in Soho, London, since 1959.
History
The club opened on 30 October 1959 in a basement at 39 Gerrard Street in London's Soho district. It was set up and managed by musicians Ronnie Sco ...
with Cleo Laine on several occasions, and also to appear as a supporting act for Oscar Peterson, who invited her to open his London concert and then perform a two-piano number with him. She declined on the grounds of her not being a "real jazz musician." Laine and Peterson both disagreed, but were unable to convince her.
In 1962, she signed a contract for a residency at the newly-opened nightspot, The Gay Gordon, at 21 Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow - a venue that offered dinner, dancing and cabaret - and, along with Ricky and Rudi, travelled to Glasgow to work the contract for six months. During this time she was also discovered by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
and subsequently presented many live music broadcasts from the restaurant. At the end of this contract, they transferred to
Reo Stakis’ Chevalier Casino (where they were augmented to become "The Peggy O’Keefe Quartet" by the addition of Jimmy Feighan on
vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...
). Again, she also broadcast on television from here with guests from the aforementioned list of stars and others, such as
Dick Haymes
Richard Benjamin Haymes (September 13, 1918 – March 28, 1980) was an Argentinian singer and actor. He was one of the most popular male vocalists of the 1940s and early 1950s. He was the older brother of Bob Haymes, an actor, television host ...
,
Matt Monro
Matt Monro (born Terence Edward Parsons, 1 December 1930 – 7 February 1985) was an English singer. Known as "The Man with the Golden Voice", he performed internationally during his 30-year career. AllMusic has described Monro as "one of the m ...
, and
Mark Murphy.
During this time, this venue and programme‘s popularity was acknowledged by the release of an LP, ''Mood Chevalier'' (EMI/Waverley ZLP2083), which featured the quartet with guests Ian McHaffie on guitar and Dougie Kerr on trumpet. This was an album of jazz standards, on which O'Keefe both sang and played piano.
O’Keefe went on to present a long list of music programmes both on television and radio right through until the 1980s, and continued to play piano in broadcasts through the 1990s. She was undoubtedly one of the busiest pianists used by the BBC and STV, since - as well as her own programmes on television and radio - she was acting as a staff pianist at both stations, accompanying auditions, recitals and broadcasts, as well as playing piano within most of the BBC's ensembles - from jazz trios, through chamber groups and big bands to the BBC Radio Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
Radio
Radio programmes she presented and contributed to were virtually innumerable, but included, "The Perils of Peggy" (a zany, Goons-inspired music-based comedy programme, written by fellow-pianist, Bernard Sumner), "Sweet Sunday" and "A Date with Peggy". She also provided the musical examples from the piano on BBC Radio 2’s quiz show, "Mad About Musicals," presented by
Paul Nicholas
Paul Nicholas (born Paul Oscar Beuselinck; 3 December 1944) is an English actor and singer. He started out with a pop career, but soon changed to musical theatre, playing the lead role in ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' at the West End’s Palace ...
in the mid-1990s.
Television
Television programmes on which she regularly featured included, "Tonight at the Chevalier Casino," "Today Is..." (with John Toye), "A Date with Peggy" (a TV follow-on from the radio programme), "The Art Sutter Show" and "Housecall." She however contributed musically to countless other television specials and episodes.
"One O’Clock Gang" misconception
Contrary to a popular misconception, O’Keefe was never featured on STV’s "One O’Clock Gang:" the resident ensemble was actually The Tommy Maxwell Quartet. This confusion appears to come from the presence on the programme of Moira Briody, who was of similar appearance, of similar Irish extraction, and who also played the piano and sang. In reverse to O'Keefe, she was born in the British Isles and ultimately emigrated to Australia.
This misconception was further perpetuated by O'Keefe's daily appearances (although at 5pm) on "Today Is...," and also by her work as accompanist on "Housecall," which replaced the "One O’Clock Gang" in its timeslot after its demise, and which was also presented by "One O’Clock Gang" member,
Dorothy Paul
Dorothy Paul (born 1937 as Dorothy Pollock) is a Scottish stage and screen actress, comedian, and entertainer. She performed onstage often at the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow.
Acting career
Originating from the Dennistoun area of Glasgow, she ...
.
Personal life
While still residing in Melbourne, she briefly married Edward Myszkowski, a native of Poland who had come to Australia as a student. He was the grandson of a Polish Count and former
Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
prisoner of war. On the breakdown of the marriage in 1960, she travelled to London, and then two years later to Scotland, and remained a British citizen thereafter.
In 1971 she met and married a second husband - a Swedish businessman with whom she had two sons. The marriage ended in 1979.
She is the mother of techno DJ, Lars Sandberg, better known to techno audiences as Funk d'Void.
Former stepmother (via her second marriage) of international jazz pianist and
Acid Jazz recording artist, Ulf Sandberg.
Retirement and later years
In the later years of her career, and after the demise of in-house musicians and music departments in broadcasting, O'Keefe kept working in theatre, recital and concert as an accompanist to artistes such as
Moira Anderson
Moira Anderson (born 5 June 1938) is a Scottish singer.
Life and career
Moira Anderson was born on 5 June 1938 in Kirkintilloch, Dunbartonshire, Scotland. She was educated at Lenzie Academy, She then attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Mu ...
and
Kenneth McKellar, as well as keeping her jazz trio going and being involved playing piano and celeste for light music and film music programmes by larger orchestras, such as the
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) ( gd, Orcastra Nàiseanta Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a British orchestra, based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of the five National performing arts companies of Scotland, national performing arts compa ...
, The Glasgow Pops Orchestra, The City of Glasgow Philharmonic Orchestra, The Arthur Blake Orchestra, The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, The Glyn Bragg Orchestra and the
Gordon Cree
Gordon Charles Cree BMus
Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the major ...
Concert Orchestra.
O'Keefe continued to work leading her trio for corporate functions, as a fixture at Sunday lunch in Gleneagles Hotel and as accompanist to Scottish entertainers (most notably Peter Morrison,
Anne Lorne Gillies
Anne Lorne Gillies ( gd, Anna Latharna NicGillìosa) is a Scottish singer, writer, and activist.
Early life
Gillies was born in Stirling, Scotland in 1944 and moved to Oban at the age of 5. She attended Rockfield Primary School, Oban and ...
and
Gordon Cree
Gordon Charles Cree BMus
Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the major ...
.) Declining health following an unsuccessful knee replacement in 2004 saw an end to her professional career.
Death
Peggy O'Keefe died peacefully in a Glasgow nursing home on 31 March 2019, exactly one week before her 91st birthday, following several years of declining health.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okeefe, Peggy
Australian women pianists
British women pianists
1928 births
2019 deaths
21st-century British pianists
21st-century women pianists