Peggy March

Little Peggy March a/k/a Peggy March was born Margaret Annemarie Battavio on 3/8/48 in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. She was five years old when she won her first singing contest, which led to her becoming a regular on Rex Trailor’s Stars of Tomorrow, a popular TV show in the Philadelphia area. She was discovered at age thirteen singing at a wedding and was introduced to the record producer duo Hugo & Luigi. They gave her the nickname Little Peggy March because of her 4’10” height, the fact that she was thirteen, her birthdate was in March and the first record she did with them was “Little Me.”
In April 1963, her single “I Will Follow Him,” soared to number one on U.S. charts. Recorded in early January 1963 and released January 22 of that year, it made Peggy March the youngest female singer with a number one hit at age fifteen. The record also took the number one spot in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Scandinavia.

RCA heard about Peggy’s way with language and the fact she had a phenomenal ear and could pick up a language in a very short time. They decided to go after a worldwide market. With “I Will Follow Him” number one in the U.S., Peggy recorded ths song in French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Japanese and German. She litterally had the number one record in the world! Since her professional poise was far beyond her years, it was hard to believe that Peggy would be unable to take advantage of the appearance offers coming in from all over the country. But strict laws prohibiting minors from performing in establishments that served alcohol stopped her. She had to go abroad to show what she was capable of doing in the world of entertainment and her performances in every country in Europe were tremendous successes.

Peggy’s singles “I Wish I Were a Princess” and “Hello Heartache, Goodbye Love” made the Top 30 in the United States and the United Kingdom. “The Impossible Happened” and “(I’m Watching) Every Little Move You Make” written by Paul Anka also charted in the U.S.

Peggy was not only making a name for herself in the U.S., but she began creating a very strong presence in the European and Asian music markets, and she moved to Germany in 1969, were she lived until 1981.

While competing in a Majorca song festival in 1971, a man from France introduced himself and thanked her for “I Will Follow Him.” A puzzled Peggy asked why, and Paul Mauriat who had also written “Love Is Blue,” revealed for the first time that he had written the song as an instrumental under the nom-de-plum Del Roma. Peggy speaks fluent German and is always in demand there as an entertainer. Peggy began songwriting in 1979. She’s had two European number one singles: “Manuel Goodbye,” co-written and sung by Audrey Landers (who played Afton Cooper in “Dallas”) and “When The Rain Begins To Fall” by Jermaine Jackson and Pia Zadora.

Peggy has had literally hundreds of 45s, LPs and CDs released around the world.

The cult film Hairspray featured “I Wish I Were A Princess” in 1988, and her song “I Will Follow Him” was featured in the 1980 movie The Hollywood Knights and in the 1992 movie Sister Act.

From The Perry Como Show in 1963 to Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project 2007, Peggy has appeared in numerous TV shows and movies.
In 2011 Peggy wrote the lyrics for all of the songs on her “Always and Forever” CD. Andreas Zaron wrote the melodies and did two duets with Peggy for the CD.

Today Peggy lives in Florida and travels the world performing her hits for her faithful followers and winning new fans. She can be found on cruise ships, at outdoor festivals and in concert halls around the world singing her heart out.

In a recent e-mail from Nelson Davis, he told of attending a lecture at the Palm Springs Art Museum’s Annenberg Theater by photographer and Andy Warhol friend Michael Childers which is featuring an extensive display of Warhol prints. There was also a Warhol documentary and in it there’s a photo of Peggy’s early album cover and a mention that Warhol obsessed over Peggy’s song at times! The film had a section focused on Warhol’s days of having his studio called “The Factory” in NY. In the documentary it was said that as he worked there back in the 60’s (before tape cassettes existed) he would sometimes play Peggy’s recording of “I Will Follow Him” for hours at a time!