For over a decade actress/singer Katey Sagal would become synonymous with the vulgar, brazen, undomesticated "Peg Bundy" TV persona on "Married...with Children." Somehow she managed to achieve the impossible by completely sidestepping the damaging stereotype with her portrayal of a much more responsible parent in her latest sitcom "Eight Simple Rules." Co-starring the late John Ritter until his sudden passing in 2003, Katey valiantly moved front-and-center with successful results. Born Catherine Louise Sagal in 1954, her father was Boris Sagal, the noted TV and sometime film director (1965's "Girl Happy" with Elvis Presley was one.) He died tragically on May 22, 1981, while on the set for "World War III," when he accidentally walked into a helicopter rear rotor. Katey's mother, Sara Zwilling, was a director and singer who died earlier in 1975 at the age of 47 from heart disease. A singer/songwriter who began performing by age 5, Katey studied voice and acting at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA. A singing waitress during her "salad" years, she started up with a band "The Group with no Name" and then caught a break after hooking up with Gene Simmons and his 70s rock band Kiss. She went on to become a backup recording singer for Simmons and other established stars, including Etta James and Tanya Tucker. Katey also performed live backup with Bette Midler as one of the "Harlettes" in Bette's wildly avante garde stage shows during the late 70s and early 80s. After that, Katey started focusing on TV and film. In 1985, she was spotted while performing on stage in a musical by talent agents, who subsequently cast her as Mary Tyler Moore's feisty co-worker, Jo Tucker, in "Mary," a short-lived comedy series. Her work on "Mary" helped her to get "Married... with Children" and the rest is history. In an attempt to distance herself from the Peg Bundy image, Katey has over the years purposely turned to TV movies, appearing in such fare as 1998's "Chance of a Lifetime," a charming romantic comedy that also co-starred John Ritter, and 1999's "God's New Plan," a tearjerker in which she played a dying mom. Her first marriage to bass player Freddie Beckmeyer ended in divorce after three years. A second to Jack White, who was involved in the "Mighty Ducks" hockey film series as both actor and adviser, also ended in divorce.