Peggi Griffith

Peggi Griffith (b. 1939-2015) grew up in a very musical family, with everyone singing or playing an instrument. Her father, Ken Griffith, played the guitar and their house was frequently the site of jam sessions for local musicians. Friends included the Mills Brothers and Bill Kenney, lead singer of The Inkspots. As a child, Peggi vividly remembered exploring The Palomar Theater in Seattle, which her father managed, standing center stage and pretending to be Kay Starr or Billie Holiday, the imaginary audience cheering her on. Her first professional experience as a singer was at age 10, performing Kay Starr’s "Side By Side" at the Grange Hall in Bothell, Washington. That was quickly followed around age 13 by a series of performances at banquets, trade shows and USO shows at local military bases with local piano player, Overton Barry. One evening during a show at Fort Lewis, an executive from Seattle television station KING-TV discovered her talent for singing and song writing.

With his help, encouragement, and connections, Peggi was soon performing on several local children’s shows, the afternoon bandstand program, even during commercial breaks for the "afternoon movie."

She continued to play local hotels and taverns. Her longest running gig was at the New Yorker Club with Art Mineo’s band in Tacoma, Washington. All the while, Peggi kept writing fresh material, many times with the help of her father.

The exposure she was receiving led her to begin recording at some of the local independent record labels of the time such as Celestial, Electrocraft, Now and Dalton Records which was purchased by Liberty Records. In 1962, Peggi, under contract with Liberty, recorded two promotional songs for the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle, one recorded under the name of her three-year daughter, Kelly Gates, called “Cafe in the Sky,” about the Seattle Space Needle, and “In the Space Needle” (digital recording soon to come).

Ken wrote the harmony, or chords, while she would write the melody and lyrics. Peggi was a voracious reader and devoted to her writing, which included songs, books and poems. She had many lyrics written in journals and notebooks, many still to be discovered. “You’d hum the tune, I’d write the rhyme, then sing the song, and hope this time, we’d make it big, we never did. Daddy, I miss you.”

Her singing career wound down after marrying in 1958 and becoming a mother of five rambunctious children. She developed a growth on one of her vocal cords and after an unsuccessful surgery in 1971, was no longer able to sing at her full potential. Her voice had a rough husk from then on, and she later was diagnosed with lung cancer after smoking cigarettes for most of her adult life. Her surviving recordings are a tribute to the talent and determination of this wonderful lady.

In the early 2000s, she worked with Dave Elizando to put together some amateur duo recordings of songs she wrote later in life, including “Wouldn’t Take Much,” and “Daddy, I Miss You,” a song she wrote about her father, and musical partner. She passed unexpectedly in late 2015, only 76 years old, leaving many people wishing she had more time with us. You can find her obituary here.

This timeline was written by James Duncan and Alex Baird.