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Singer Peg LaCentra is most famous for her work with Artie Shaw in the late 1930s. LaCentra grew up in Boston and briefly attended the New England Conservatory of Music. Her main ambition in life though was to become an actress, and she concluded her studies at the Katharine Gibbs Finishing School and the Fenway Academy of Dramatic Art. She worked briefly as an announcer at Boston radio WNAC before moving to New York in 1929, where she found employment at NBC. She soon became a popular singer and dramatic actress, appearing on various radio programs and making the cover of fan magazines.

LaCentra eventually caught Shaw`s ear, who hired her for the 1936 incarnation of his orchestra. When Shaw disbanded the following year she went to work for Benny Goodman as a replacement for Frances Hunt. She stayed only a few weeks, unable to get along with Goodman, and returned to Shaw, who had formed a new orchestra. LaCentra also recorded with Johnny Green and Victor Young. Over the years she made 41 recordings, her last under her own name in 1938.

From the late 1940s through the late 1950s LaCentra appeared in several films and dubbed vocals on several more, including for Ida Lupino in The Man I Love. She also made frequent guest appearances on television and co-starred in the short-lived 1957 comedy The Marge and Gower Champion Show (which also co-starred Jack Whiting and Buddy Rich). Peg LaCentra passed away in 1996 after suffering a heart attack.