NAT KING COLE - NEW BOOK EXPOSES PEGGY LEE AS HYPOCHONDRIAC

NEW BOOK EXPOSES PEGGY LEE AS HYPOCHONDRIAC

Late jazz legend PEGGY LEE's darkest secrets are set to be exposed in a revealing new biography linking her romantically to NAT KING COLE and FRANK SINATRA and detailing the extent of her painful stage fright. The FEVER singer is portrayed as a hypochondriac control freak, who was so afraid of being alone she romanced a string of unsuitable suitors, in PETER RICHMOND's new biography FEVER: THE LIFE + MUSIC OF PEGGY LEE. Richmond claims much of Lee's public persona was a facade and when she slipped up fans were shocked to see she was just a mumbling, stumbling wreck. Lee's longtime drummer GRADY TATE remembers the singer was "miserable," and no amount of accolades or success could shake the depression that haunted her. He tells Richmond, "She only came to life when she was preparing for that stage." And the biographer unearthed one lost interview, where Lee, who died a virtual recluse in 2002, talked about her secret stage fright, admitting it was like "a freight train bearing down on me". In her later years, Lee spent days in bed and insisted on using a motorised wheelchair to get around - even though she had no problem walking, according to the writer.