Born: 17 January 1905, United States
Died: 12 February 2007
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Margaret Fern Knechtges
American jazz saxophonist and bandleader Peggy Gilbert founded her all-woman jazz band in 1933. The Sioux City, Iowa had started performing with her father’s band, playing piano and violin from the time she was 7 years old. Later taking up the saxophone and jazz, she performed in local theatres and resorts and on radio and television. Moving to Hollywood in 1928, she appeared in films and toured with vaudeville shows, singing and playing saxophone, vibes and piano.
In the 1930s and ’40s, Gilbert and her band performed at the most high-profile Hollywood nightclubs, including the Cocoanut Grove. She continuted to appear in films, toured Alaska with a USO troupe during World War II and advocated for women in the music industry.
Following a difficult period after the war, Gilbert found renewed success on radio and television in the 1950s. In 1974, she formed her last great all-woman band, The Dixie Belles, performing on TV, – including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson – at jazz festivals and in the 1980 Rose Bowl Parade. They recorded the album Peggy Gilbert & the Dixie Belles in 1985.
In October 1944, she met the vaudevillian and contortionist Kay Boley, forming an instant attachment. After divorcing her husband, Gilbert and Boley moved in together, spending the remainder of their lives as loving partners until Gilbert’s 2007 death at 102 (Boley died a few months later).