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Hillbilly-Music.com—The People. The Music. The History.
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About The Artist Peggy Upton was a native of Oklahoma. At the time she arrived on the country music scene, she was still attending Souteast High School in Oklahoma City, back around 1956. Peggy started singing at a young age as singers sometimes do. She appeared at the local church and other similar venues entertaining the local audiences. At the age of eleven, she won a contest of some sort on KBYE radio. And that apparently set in motion a chain of events in her musical career. Television was becoming a factor back then. Peggy auditioned by singing a song on KMP in Oklahoma City. The local audiences responded to her "poise and sweet simplicity of her performances before the camera" according to a 1956 article in Cowboy Songs magazine. She soon became a regular cast member of the "Oklahoma Hayride" show on that same station. A one-hour show that aired each Saturday night. She stayed with KMPT or that show until it went off the air in 1954. The article was unclear as to whether it was the show or the station that went off the air. Even though KMPT and/or the Oklahoma Hayride were not on the scene, she readily found work with other Oklahoma mainstays of the time. She worked with such stars as Wiley and Gene when they were on WKY, Merl Lindsey and The Night Riders, Bob Warford and the Ranch Boys on KTEN, Danny and Harold, the Country Cousins on KTVQ, Jack Beasley's show on KWTV, Billy Gray, Wanda Jackson and Don Boots among others. Peggy traveled a bit beyond Oklahoma as well - performing in California, Colorado and Kansas. She also found time to do shows in not so mainstream venues such as benefit shows for hospitals or convalescence homes. Peggy had a disc jockey friend at KOMA in Oklahoma City, Jack Beasley, that helped her record a record that created a bit of a stir - "My Prince Charming" b/w "Say You Love Me". A 1957 article seems to be a repeat of the earlier one, but does at least provide an extra detail or two. In this one, it tells us that Peggy wrote her own tunes. In addition, she also deisgned her own western costumes. She had a fan club back then that was headed up by a Mrs. Blanche Trinajstick in Pueblo, Colorado. The folks at Starday records took notice of Peggy and in 1957. Hal Cochran in his section of the "Here'n There'n Everywhere" column in Rustic Rhythm wrote that she teamed up with Danny Buck cutting "Our Love Is Not the Same" b/w "Watcha Gonna Do Tonight". Credits & Sources
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Recordings (78rpm/45rpm)
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