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Baltimore, Maryland
http://wn.com/Baltimore_Maryland -
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural, and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. Harlem was annexed to New York City in 1873.
http://wn.com/Harlem -
Harlem, New York
http://wn.com/Harlem_New_York -
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and number of books. The head of the Library is the Librarian of Congress, currently James H. Billington.
http://wn.com/Library_of_Congress -
New York
New York (; locally or ) is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border with Rhode Island east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Ontario to the north and west, and Quebec to the north. New York is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City.
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Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania () is a U.S. state and Commonwealth located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to the east. The state's four most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie. The state capital is Harrisburg.
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Philadelphia
Philadelphia () is the largest city in Pennsylvania, sixth-most-populous city in the United States and the fifty-first most populous city in the world.
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United States
The United States of America (also referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Caribbean and Pacific.
http://wn.com/United_States
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A&R;
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Arthur Herzog, Jr.
Arthur Herzog, Jr. (born December 13, 1900 in New York City, died September 1, 1983 in Detroit, Michigan) was a songwriter most known for work with Billie Holiday. He co-wrote several jazz songs she popularized, including "Don't Explain" and "God Bless the Child".
http://wn.com/Arthur_Herzog_Jr -
Arthur Murray
Arthur Murray (April 4, 1895 – March 3, 1991) was a dance instructor and businessman, whose name is most often associated with the dance studio chain that bears his name.
http://wn.com/Arthur_Murray -
Arthur Phillips
Arthur Phillips (born April 23, 1969, in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American novelist active in the 21st century. His novels include Prague (2002), The Egyptologist (2004), Angelica (2007), and The Song Is You (2009).
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Benny Goodman
In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman (May 30, 1909 - June 13, 1986) led one of the most popular musical groups in America. His January 16, 1938 concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz's 'coming out' party to the world of 'respectable' music."
http://wn.com/Benny_Goodman -
Bessie Smith
http://wn.com/Bessie_Smith -
Bevan Dufty
Bevan Dufty (born February 27, 1955) is an American politician and a Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He represents San Francisco's District 8, encompassing the 71,000 residents of Ashbury Heights, Buena Vista, The Castro, Diamond Heights, Dolores Park, Duboce Triangle, Glen Park, Noe Valley, Sunnyside and Twin Peaks. He is the son of writer William Dufty and Maely Bartholomew. Dufty was raised in Harlem, NYC where his mother befriended jazz musician Billie Holiday, who would later become his godmother. His voice can be heard on a recording made in the Dufty household where Holiday makes jokes about his red underpants.
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Billie Holiday
http://wn.com/Billie_Holiday -
Billy Crystal
William Edward "Billy" Crystal (born March 14, 1948) is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes When Harry Met Sally... and City Slickers. Additionally, he has hosted the Academy Awards eight times.
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Billy Stewart
:For the English goalkeeper, see Billy Stewart (footballer). For other persons of similar names, see William Stewart (disambiguation).
http://wn.com/Billy_Stewart -
Bing Crosby
http://wn.com/Bing_Crosby -
Bobby Tucker
Bobby Tucker (born Robert Nathaniel Tucker; January 23, 1923 - April 12, 2007) was a pianist and arranger during the jazz era from the 1940s into the 1960s. He is most famous for being Billie Holiday's accompanist from 1946 to 1949.
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Carmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer, composer, pianist, and actress. Considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century, it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and her ironic interpretations of song lyrics that made her memorable. McRae drew inspiration from Billie Holiday, but established her own distinctive voice. She went on to record over 60 albums, enjoying a rich musical career, performing and recording in the United States, Europe, and Japan.
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Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson (born November 12, 1934) is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction. He was convicted of the murders through the joint-responsibility rule, which makes each member of a conspiracy guilty of crimes his fellow conspirators commit in furtherance of the conspiracy's object.
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Chick Webb
http://wn.com/Chick_Webb -
Clarence Halliday
http://wn.com/Clarence_Halliday -
Cleo Brown
http://wn.com/Cleo_Brown -
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. His works include the musical comedies Kiss Me, Kate, Fifty Million Frenchmen, DuBarry Was a Lady and Anything Goes, as well as songs like "Night and Day", "I Get a Kick out of You", "Well, Did You Evah!" and "I've Got You Under My Skin". He was noted for his sophisticated, bawdy lyrics, clever rhymes and complex forms. Porter was one of the greatest contributors to the Great American Songbook. Cole Porter is one of the few Tin Pan Alley composers to have written both the lyrics and the music for his songs.
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Count Basie
William "Count" Basie (August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years. Many notable musicians came to prominence under his direction, including tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison and singers Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams. Basie's theme songs were "One O'Clock Jump" and "April In Paris".
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Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. During the 1960s, she helped shape the Motown sound as lead singer of The Supremes, before leaving the group for a solo career on January 14, 1970. Since the beginning of her career with The Supremes and as a solo artist, Ross has sold more than 150 million records.
http://wn.com/Diana_Ross -
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was a composer, pianist, and big band leader.
http://wn.com/Duke_Ellington -
Ella Fitzgerald
http://wn.com/Ella_Fitzgerald -
Ernestine Jackson
Ernestine Jackson is an African American actress and singer.
http://wn.com/Ernestine_Jackson -
Frank O'Hara
http://wn.com/Frank_O'Hara -
Frank Sinatra
http://wn.com/Frank_Sinatra -
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), born Frederick Austerlitz, was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. He is particularly associated with Ginger Rogers, with whom he made ten films.
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Herbert Biberman
http://wn.com/Herbert_Biberman -
Herbie Nichols
Herbie Nichols (3 January 1919, New York City – 12 April 1963, New York City), was an American jazz pianist and composer of the jazz standard "Lady Sings the Blues". Obscure during his lifetime, he is now highly regarded by many musicians and critics.
http://wn.com/Herbie_Nichols -
Jimmy Rushing
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Rushing -
Jo Stafford
Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917 – July 16, 2008) was an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards whose career ran from the late 1930s to the early 1960s. Stafford was greatly admired for the purity of her voice and was considered one of the most versatile vocalists of the era.
http://wn.com/Jo_Stafford -
Joel Whitburn
Joel Carver Whitburn (born November 29, 1939; Wauwatosa, Wisconsin) is an American author and music historian.
http://wn.com/Joel_Whitburn -
John H. Hammond
http://wn.com/John_H_Hammond -
Jules Levey
for the television producer please see Jules Levy
http://wn.com/Jules_Levey -
Lena Horne
http://wn.com/Lena_Horne -
Leonard Feather
Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914–22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer who was best known for his music journalism and other writing.
http://wn.com/Leonard_Feather -
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums.
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Lorraine Feather
http://wn.com/Lorraine_Feather -
Louis Armstrong
http://wn.com/Louis_Armstrong -
Lynette Fromme
Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme (born October 22, 1948) is an American member of the Manson Family. She was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempting to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford in 1975. After serving 34 years in custody, she was released from prison on August 14, 2009.
http://wn.com/Lynette_Fromme -
Mal Waldron
http://wn.com/Mal_Waldron -
Martha Stewart
http://wn.com/Martha_Stewart -
Miki Howard
Miki Howard (born Alicia Michelle Howard, September 30, 1961, Chicago, Illinois) is an African-American singer and actress who had a string of Top Ten hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The daughter of gospel singer Josephine Howard of The Caravans, and Clay Graham of Pilgrim Jubilees, Howard was discovered by R&B; group Side Effect at age 16. About 1985, Howard decided she was ready to begin a solo career. A demo landed a recording contract at Atlantic Records.
http://wn.com/Miki_Howard -
Monette Moore
Monette Moore (May 19, 1902, Gainesville, Texas - October 21, 1962, Garden Grove, California) was an American jazz and blues singer.
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Nat Hentoff
Nathan Irving "Nat" Hentoff (born June 10, 1925) is an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media and writes regularly on jazz and country music for The Wall Street Journal.
http://wn.com/Nat_Hentoff -
Nina Simone
http://wn.com/Nina_Simone -
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader and orchestral director.
http://wn.com/Paul_Whiteman -
Paula Jai Parker
Paula Jai Parker (born August 19, 1969) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known of her roles as Lexus in Hustle & Flow, Joi in Friday, and as the voice of matriarch Trudy Proud on the Disney Channel animated sitcom The Proud Family.
http://wn.com/Paula_Jai_Parker -
Ram Ramirez
Roger J. Ramirez (15 September 1913 – 11 January 1994) was a Puerto Rican jazz pianist and composer. He was a co-writer of the song "Lover Man".
http://wn.com/Ram_Ramirez -
Ray Ellis
Ray Ellis (July 28, 1923 – October 27, 2008) was an American record producer, arranger and conductor. The orchestration for Billie Holiday's Lady in Satin (1958) is probably his best known work in the jazz vein.
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Teddy Wilson
Theodore Shaw "Teddy" Wilson (November 24, 1912 – July 31, 1986) was an American jazz pianist whose sophisticated and elegant style was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. He is considered one of the most influential jazz pianists of all time.
http://wn.com/Teddy_Wilson -
Tony Pastor
:For Tony Pastor the saxophonist and bandleader, see Tony Pastor (bandleader).
http://wn.com/Tony_Pastor -
Uncle Tom
Uncle Tom is a term for a black person who behaves in a subservient manner to white people. The term comes from the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin''. Critical and popular views of both the character and the novel have shifted over time, leading to the shift in the term's use.
http://wn.com/Uncle_Tom -
William Dufty
William Francis Dufty (February 2, 1916 — June 28, 2002) was an American writer, and nutrition activist. Including ghostwriting, he wrote approximately 40 books.
http://wn.com/William_Dufty -
Woody Herman
Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987), known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders. His bands basically played jazz and blues, often including rather experimental material for their time.
http://wn.com/Woody_Herman
Holiday, Billie Filmography
- Strange Fruit (2011)
- Page Eight (2011)
- Queens of Heartache (2006)
- Billie Holiday: The Ultimate Collection (2005)
- My Kinda People (2003)
- Strange Fruit (2002)
- It's Black Entertainment (2002)
- Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002)
- Hollywood Rhythm Vol. 1: The Best of Jazz and Blues (2001)
- Crossroads (1999)
- Monterey Jazz Festival: 40 Legendary Years (1998)
- Apollo Theatre Hall of Fame (1993)
- That's Black Entertainment (1990)
- Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday (1990)
- Benny Carter: Symphony in Riffs (1989)
- The Ladies Sing the Blues (1989)
- Brown Sugar (1986)
- Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got (1985)
- Brother Can You Spare a Dime (1975)
- Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
- Black Music in America: From Then Till Now (1971)
- ...And Beautiful II (1970)
- 'Sugar Chile' Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet (1951)
- New Orleans (1947)
- Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life (1935)
- The Emperor Jones (1933)
Browse available lyrics:
- A Foggy Day
- A Sailboat In The Moonlight
- A Sunsetbonnet Blue
- Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do
- All Of Me
- All or Nothing at All
- All The Way
- Always
- Am I Blue
- Any Old Time
- April in Paris
- As Time Goes By
- Autumn In New York
- Baby Get Lost
- Baby, I Don't Cry Over You
- Baby, Won't You Please Come Home
- Back In Your Own Backyard
- Beyond The Sea
- Big Stuff
- Billie's Blues
- Blue Moon
- Blue, Turning Grey Over You
- Body and Soul
- But Beautiful
- But Not For Me
- Carelessly
- Cheek To Cheek
- Come Rain or Come Shine
- Comes Love
- Crazy He Calls Me
- Darn That Dream
- Day In Day Out
- Deep Song
- Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me
- Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans
- Do Your Duty
- Don't Explain
- Don't Worry Bout Me
- Dream of Life
- Easy Living
- Easy To Love
- Easy To Remember
- Embraceable You
- Everything Happens For The Best
- Everything Happens To Me
- Everything I Have Is Yours
- Falling In Love Again
- Farewell To Storyville
- Fine and Mellow
- For All We Know
RELEASE
ALBUMS
- Foolin' Myself
- God Bless the Child
- These Foolish Things
- My Man
- A Fine Romance
- Summertime
- On the Sentimental Side
- Back in Your Own Backyard
- Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
- Georgia on my Mind
- Easy Living
- He's Funny That Way
- I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
- The Man I Love
- Mean To Me
- Night and Day
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- All of Me
- When You're Smiling
- The Way You Look Tonight
- Miss Brown To You
- What a Little Moonlight Can Do
- Pennies From Heaven
- Nice Work If You Can Get it
- Say it With a Kiss
- Time on My Hands
- You Go To My Head
- Love Me Or Leave Me
- I Cover the Waterfront
- It's a Sin to Tell a Lie
- I Can't Give You Anything But Love
- It's Like Reaching for the Moon
- The Very Thought of You
- This Year's Kisses
- Body and Soul
- Stormy Weather
- Lover Come Back to Me
- My Man
- He's Funny That Way
- Yesterdays
- Tenderly
- Remember
- Love for Sale
- Moonglow
- Everything I Have Is Yours
- If the Moon Turns Green
- How Deep Is the Ocean
- What a Little Moonlight Can Do
- I Cried for You
- It Had to Be You
- Come Rain or Come Shine
- I Get a Kick Out of You
- I Don't Want to Cry Anymore
- (I Don't Stand a) A Ghost of a Chance
- A Fine Romance
- Gone With the Wind
- Isn't This a Lovely Day
- Solitude
- Blue Moon
- East of the Sun
- These Foolish Things
- Tenderly
- Autumn in New York
- Love for Sale
- Stormy Weather
- Yesterdays
- How Deep Is the Ocean?
- I'll Never Be the Same
- Mean to Me
- Miss Brown to You
- Love Me Or Leave Me
- Solitude
- How Deep Is The Ocean
- Willow Weep For Me
- I Only Have Eyes For You
- Easy To Love
- I Cried For You
- Blue Turning Grey Over You
- What A Little Moonlight Can Do
- I Cover The Waterfront
- Them There Eyes
- Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do
- I Loves You Porgy
- What Is This Thing Called Love?
- On The Sunny Side Of The Street
- As Time Goes By
- Lover Come Back To Me
- He's Funny That Way
- Let's Do It
- I Hear Music
- I'll Be Seing You
- It's A Sin To Tell A Lie
- Body And Soul
- Time On My Hands
- I'll Get By
- That Ole Devil Called Love
- I Can't Give You Anything but Love
- Twenty Four Hours a Day
- St. Louis Blues
- As Time Goes By
- Trav'lin' Light
- Pennies From Heaven
- A Sailboat in the Moonlight
- Long Gone Blues
- Some Other Spring
- T'ain't Nobody's Business
- Night and Day
- He's Funny That Way
- A Fine Romance
- All of Me
- Easy Living
- Stormy Weather
- Back in Your Own Backyard
- Don't Explain
- This Year's Kisses
- Let's Do It
- Swing Brother Swing
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- No Regrets
- The Way You Look Tonigth
- What Is This Thing Called Love
- Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)
- You Better Go Now
- Don't Explain
- Good Morning Heartache
- Big Stuff
- The Blues Are Brewin'
- Deep Song
- There Is No Greater Love
- Solitude
- Keeps On Rainin'
- Do Your Duty
- Gimme A Pigfoot (And A Bottle Of Beer)
- I Loves You Porgy
- My Man
- You Can't Lose A Broken Heart
- My Sweet Hunk O' Trash
- You're My Thrill
- Crazy He Calls Me
- 'Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do
- Strange Fruit
- Yesterdays
- Fine And Mellow
- I Cover The Waterfront
- I Love My Man (Billie's Blues)
- Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)
- That Ole Devil Called Love
- Don't Explain
- What Is This Thing Called Love
- Good Morning Heartache
- Big Stuff
- Body And Soul
- The Man I Love (Live - Carnegie Hall 1946)
- (I Loves You) Porgy
- 'T'aint Nobodies Business If I Do
- Now Or Never
- God Bless The Child
- These Foolish Thing (Remind Me Of You)
- My Man
- Come Rain Or Come Shine
- Lady Sings The Blues
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)
- No More
- Don't Explain
- You Better Go Now
- What Is This Thing Called Love
- Baby, I Don't Cry Over You
- I'll Look Around
- You're My Thrill
- Crazy He Calls Me
- Please Tell Me Now
- Somebody's on My Mind
- East of the Sun
- Blue Moon
- You Go to My Head
- You Turned the Tables on Me
- Easy to Love
- These Foolish Things
- Solitude
- My Man
- Stormy Weather
- Yesterdays
- He's Funny That Way
- These Foolish Things
- Did I Remember?
- A Fine Romance
- Easy to Love
- This Year's Kisses
- Why Was I Born?
- I Must Have That Man
- Moanin' Low
- I'll Never Be the Same
- He's Funny That Way
- Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
- When a Woman Loves a Man
- More Than You Know
- Body and Soul
- I Cover the Waterfront
- Love Me or Leave Me
- All of Me
- Hello My Darling
- I Can't Give You Anything but Love
- My Old Flame
- Swing Brother Swing
- All the Way
- You're Driving Me Crazy
- You're So Desirable
- Willow Weep for Me
- Lover, Come Back to Me
- All of Me
- Love for Sale
- Miss Brown to You
- Pennies From Heaven
- On the Sentimental Side
- The Very Thought of You
- Solitude
- Love Me or Leave Me
- I Can't Give You Anything but Love
- Back in Your Own Backyard
- Why Was I Born
- Some Other Spring
- Blue Moon
- Georgia on My Mind
- I Cried for You
- Time on My Hands
- Your Mother's Son-In-Law
- Strange Fruit
- Georgia on My Mind
- Blue Moon
- Autumn in New York
- I Can't Face the Music
- I Hear Music
- Love for Sale
- Moon Flow
- My Man
- Night and Day
- Solitude
- Stormy Weather
- Strange Fruit
- These Foolish Things
- You Go to My Head
- You Turn the Tables on Me
- Crazy He Calls Me
- Them There Eyes
- You're My Thrill
- It Had to Be You
- Come Rain or Come Shine
- Nice Work If You Can Get It
- Everything I Have Is Yours
- Cheek to Cheek
- I Didn't Know What Time It Was
- Embraceable You
- Our Love Is Here to Stay
- All the Way
- Body & Soul
- The Sunny Side of the Street
- I Hear Music
- Lover Come Back to Me
- Jim
- I'll Be Seeing You
- God Bless This Child
- Let's Do It
- The Man I Love
- Loverman
- Yesterdays
- Some Other Spring
- My Old Flame
- Laughing at Life
- Love Me or Leave Me
- Fine and Mellow
- I Cover the Waterfront
- You're a Lucky Girl
- Travellin' Light
- Don't Explain
- Summertime
- Carelessly
- I'm Gonna Lock My Heart
- I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
- A Fine Romance
- Who Loves You
- Those Follish Things
- If You Were Mine
- Let's Call a Heart to Heart
- Twenty Four Hours a Day
- Mean to Me
- I Loves You Porgy
- He's Funny That Way
- Loverman
- I Wished on the Moon
- What a Little Moonlight Can Do
- Miss Brown to You
- A Sunbonnet Blue
- These Foolish Things
- I Cried for You
- Summertime
- Billie's Blues
- A Fine Romance
- Let's Call a Heart a Heart
- Easy to Love
- The Way You Look Tonight
- Who Loves You?
- Pennies from Heaven
- Don't Explain
- Big Stuff
- You Better Go Now
- What Is This Thing Called Love?
- Good Morning Heartache
- No Good Man
- Big Stuff
- Baby, I Don't Cry Over You
- I'll Look Around
- The Blues Are Brewin'
- Guilty
- Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans
- Don't Explain
- Deep Song
- There Is No Greater Love
- Easy Living
- Solitude
- Weep No More
- Girls Were Made to Take Care of Boys
- Porgy
- My Man
- Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)
- That Old Devil Called Love
- My Man (Mon Homme)
- You're My Thrill
- Crazy He Calls Me
- Weep No More
- There Is No Greater Love
- This Is Heaven to Me
- Solitude
- Porgy
- Girls Were Made to Take Care of Boys
- Please Tell Me Now
- Summertime
- Carelessly
- Stormy Weather
- I'm Gonna Lock My Heart
- I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
- A Fine Romance
- Who Loves You
- Those Foolish Things
- If You Were Mine
- Let's Call a Heart to Heart
- Twenty Four Hours a Day
- Mean to Me
- Autumn in New York
- East of the Sun
- I Only Have Eyes for You
- I Loves You Porgy
- He's Funny That Way
- Lover Man
- Miss Brown to You
- What a Little Moonlight Can Do
- I Cried for You
- Billie's Blues
- When a Woman Loves a Man
- Some Other Spring
- Solitude
- God Bless the Child
- Let's Do It
- Georgia on My Mind
- Love Me or Leave Me
- St. Louis Blues
- I Cover the Waterfront
- Solitude
- Fine and Mellow
- Night and Day
- Romance in the Dark
- The Man I Love
- Body and Soul
- A Fine Romance
- All of Me
- Summertime
- Body and Soul
- Trav'lin All Alone
- Billie's Blues
- Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
- Sentimental and Melancholy
- Without Your Love
- Under a Blue Jungle Moon
- If My Heart Could Only Talk
- If You Were Mine
- Night and Day
- God Bless the Child
- These Foolish Things
- St. Louis Blues
- Yesterday
- I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues
- Summertime
- Your Mother's Son-In-Law
- These Foolish Things
- I Cried for You
- Did I Remember?
- No Regrets
- Billie's Blues
- Easy to Love
- This Year's Kisses
- Why Was I Born?
- Who Wants Love?
- If Dreams Come True
- Any Old Time
- That's All I Ask of You
- Strange Fruit
- Yesterdays
- Fine and Mellow
- Them There Eyes
- Body and Soul
- Same Old Story
- Nice Work If You Can Get It
- Night And Day
- Georgia On My Mind
- Body And Soul
- Am I Blue
- St. Louis Blues
- Easy To Love
- I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
- All Of Me
- I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
- Let't Call The Whole Thing Off
- The Man I Love
- Pennies From Heaven
- Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- The Very Thought Of You
- Summertime
- St. Louis Blues
- Solitude
- The Man I Love
- Georgia on My Mind
- I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
- My Last Affair
- I'll Never Be the Same
- If Dreams Come True
- Summertime
- Billie's Blues
- I Cried for You
- Mean to Me
- He's Funny That Way
- My Man
- Nice Work If You Can Get It
- Night and Day
- I'm All for You
- I Hear Music
- It's the Same Old Story
- Practice Makes Perfect
- St. Louis Blues
- Loveless Love
- Let's Do It
- Georgia on My Mind
- Romance in the Dark
- All of Me
- I'm in a Low-Down Groove
- God Bless the Child
- Am I Blue?
- Solitude
- Jim
- I Cover the Waterfront
- Love Me or Leave Me
- Gloomy Sunday
- Wherever You Are
- Mandy Is Two
- It's a Sin to Tell a Lie
- Until the Real Thing Comes Along
- Trav'lin' Light
- Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
- It Had to Be You
- Love Me or Leave Me
- These Foolish Things
- Moonglow
- Autumn in New York
- How Deep Is the Ocean (How High Is the Sky)
- Stormy Blues
- What a Little Moonlight Can Do
- Yesterdays
- I Can't Face the Music
- Easy to Love
- You Go to My Head
- I Cried for You
- Willow Weep for Me
- Lover Come Back to Me
- East of the Sun (West of the Moon)
- Too Marvellous for Words
- Tenderly
- Blue Moon
- Solitude
- I Only Have Eyes for You
- Remember?
- Lady Sings the Blues
- Nice Work If You Can Get It
- I Get a Kick Out of You
- Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
- My Man
- Cheek to Cheek
- Lover Man
- I Cover the Waterfront
- Just One of Those Things
- Stars Fell on Alabama
- A Foggy Day
- Our Love Is Here to Stay
- Body and Soul
- The Can't Take That Away From Me
- But Not for Me
- I Wished on the Moon
- Ain't Misbehavin'
- Everything Happens to Me
- Say It Isn't So
- I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
- Always
- Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me
- How Deep Is the Ocean?
- What a Little Moonlight Can Do
- I Cried for You (Now It's Your Turn to Cry Over Me)
- You're Driving Me Crazy
- Lover Come Back to Me
- Ain't Nobody's Bizz-Ness If I Do
- He's Funny That Way
- Billie's Blues (I Love My Man)
- Miss Brown to You
- Detour Ahead
- Strange Fruit
- Ain't Nobody's Bizz-Ness If I Do
- All of Me
- I Love You, Porgy
- Miss Brown to You
- Billie's Blues (I Love My Man)
- Lover Man
- Them There Eyes
- My Man
- I Cover the Waterfront
- Crazy He Calls Me
- Lover Come Back to Me
- Lover Come Back to Me
- Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me
- Them There Eyes
- You've Changed
- It's So Easy to Remember
- God Bless the Child
- I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance
- What a Little Moonlight Can Do
- Fooling Myself
- Introduction Into Fine And Mellow
- Stormy Weather
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- Cheek to Cheek
- Sophisicated Lady
- Just One of Those Things
- Comes Love
- Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- But Not for Me
- Body and Soul
- A Foggy Day
- Moonlight in Vermont
- I Wished on the Moon
- Say It Isn't So
- One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)
- Love Is Here to Stay
- Embraceable You
- Day in Day Out
- My Man
- Don't Explain
- Swing Brother Swing
- Lover Man
- I Cover The Waterfront
- When Your Lover Has Gone
- Miss Brown To You
- Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me
- Fine And Mellow
- Strange Fruit
- Lover Come Back To Me
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- She's Funny That Way
- On The Sunny Side Of The Street
- Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
- Say It Isn't So
- Comes Love
- Strange Fruit
- God Bless the Child
- Good Morning Heartache
- East of the Sun
- Blue Moon
- I Cried for You
- What a Little Moonlight Can Do
- Love Me or Leave Me
- Too Marvelous for Words
- I Get a Kick Out of You
- I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
- Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me
- Ain't Misbehavin'
- One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)
- There Is No Greater Love
- Solitude
- Weep No More
- Girls Were Made to Take Care of Boys
- Porgy
- My Man (Mon Homme)
- T'Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do
- Baby Get Lost
- Keeps on a Rainin'
- Them There Eyes
- Do Your Duty
- Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer
- Now or Never
- You're My Thrill
- Crazy He Calls Me
- Please Tell Me How
- Somebody's on My Mind
- God Bless the Child
- This Is Heaven to Me
- Miss Brown to You
- What a Little Moonlight Can Do
- I Cried for You
- Billie's Blues (I Love My Man)
- A Sailboat in the Moonlight
- I Can't Get Started
- When a Woman Loves a Man
- Some Other Spring
- Solitude
- God Bless the Child
- Gloomy Sunday
- The Very Thought of You
- Body and Soul
- What A Little Moonlight Can Do
- Twenty Four Hours A Day
- These 'n' That 'n' Those
- Let's Call A Heart A Heart
- Please Keep Me In Your Dreams
- You're So Desirable
- Hello My Darling
- Let's Dream In The Moonlight
- More Than You Know
- Under A Blue Jungle Moon
- Night And Day
- What Is This Going To Get Us?
- Loveless Love
- Georgia On My Mind
- Romance In The Dark
- God Bless The Child
- Jim
- Wherever You Are
- Until The Real Thing Comes Along
- Do You Know What It Means
- You Can't Be Mine
- Here Is To-Morrow Again
- Long Gone Blues
- More Than You Know
- Night and Day
- The Man I Love
- Tell Me More
- St. Louis Blues
- Let's Do It
- God Bless the Child
- All of Me
- Gloomy Sunday
- Until the Real Thing Comes Along
- Trav'lin' Light
- I Cover the Waterfront
- You're My Thrill
- Now Or Never
- Crazy He Calls Me
- Sugar
- Them There Eyes
- Until The Real Thing Comes Along
- Twenty Four Hours A Day
- Lover Man
- You're So Desirable
- Let's Dream In The Moonlight
- I'll Get By
- I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
- All Of Me
- He's Funny That Way
- Fine And Mellow
- More Than You Know
- Night And Day
- Somebody's On My Mind
- Please Tell Me Now
- My Man
- Long Gone Blues
- Some Other Spring
- Our Love Is Different
- Them There Eyes
- Swing, Brother, Swing
- Night and Day
- The Man I Love
- You're Just a No Account
- You're a Lucky Guy
- Ghost of Yesterday
- Body and Soul
- What Is This Going to Get Us?
- Falling in Love Again
- I'm Pulling Through
- Tell Me More and More
- Laughing at Life
- Time on My Hands
- I'm All for You
- I Hear Music
- 'Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do
- Baby Get Lost
- Keeps on Rainin'
- Them There Eyes
- Do Your Duty
- Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer
- You Can't Loose a Broken Heart
- My Sweet Hunk O'Trash
- Now or Never
- You're My Thrill
- Crazy He Calls Me
- Please Tell Me Now
- Somebody's on My Mind
- God Bless the Child
- This Is Heaven to Me
- Be Fair to Me
- Rocky Mountain Blues
- Blue Turning Grey Over You
- Detour Ahead
- I Love My Man
- Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me
- I'll Get By
- How Am I to Know
- My Old Flame
- I'll Get By
- I Cover the Waterfront
- I'll Be Seeing You
- I'm Yours
- Embraceable You
- As Time Goes By
- He's Funny That Way (Sextet version)
- He's Funny That Way (Trio version)
- Lover Come Back to Me (Sextet version)
- Lover Come Back to Me (Trio version)
- I Love My Man
- On the Sunny Side of the Street
- Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)
- No More
- That Ole Devil Called Love
- Don't Explain
- Big Stuff
- Billie's Blues
- I Must Have That Man
- Mean to Me
- My Man
- Strange Fruit
- Fine and Mellow
- I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues
- The Man I Love
- God Bless the Child
- Am I Blue
- Solitude
- Love Me or Leave Me
- Trav'Lin' Light
- I Cover the Waterfront
- As Times Goes By
- Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)
- Don't Explain
- Good Morning Heartache
- I'Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do
- Craze He Calls Me
- Ghost of a Chance
- Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone (version 1)
- Nice Work If You Can Get It
- God Bless the Child
- Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone (version 2)
- Don't Explain
- I Love You Porgy
- Fine and Mellow
- What a Little Moonlight Can Do
- Fooling Myself
- Easy to Remember
- Moaning Low
- Don't Explain
- When Your Lover Has Gone
- Them There Eyes
- Body and Soul
- Billie's Blues
- A Sailboat in the Moonlight
- He's Funny That Way
- Now They Call It Swing
- When a Woman Loves a Man
- Any Old Time
- You Go to My Head
- The Very Thought of You
- I Can't Get Started
- On the Sentimental Side
- I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues
- Yesterdays
- Strange Fruit
- Fine and Mellow
- God Bless the Child
- Swing, Brother, Swing
- All Of Me
- You Go To My Head
- Until The Real Thing Comes Along
- My Man
- The Very Thought Of You
- Easy Living
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
- Them There Eyes
- Night And Day
- The Man I Love
- Me, Myself And I
- The Way You Look Tonight
- If You Were Mine
- I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me
- Let's Do It
- When A Woman Loves A Man
- Body And Soul
- More Than You Know
- Fine And Mellow
- Keeps On Raining
- He's Funny That Way
- I Cover The Waterfront
- Lover Come Back To Me
- Them There Eyes
- Lover Man
- I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good
- I Must Have That Man
- Willow Weep For Me
- I Only Have Eyes For You
- My Man
- Don't Explain
- I Love You Porgy
- St. Louis Blues
- Hello, My Darling
- God Bless The Child
- Dream Of Life
- Love Me Or Leave Me
- Why Did I Always Depend On You?
- It's A Sin To Tell A Lie
- Our Love Is Different
- If I Were You
- Born To Love
- Having Myself A Time
- Who Wants Love?
- I Can't Get Started
- If Dreams Come True
- Everybody's Laughing
- Autumn in New York
- Love for Sale
- Everything I Have Is Yours
- Remember
- Autumn in New York
- Tenderly
- If the Moon Turns Green
- He's Funny That Way
- My Man
- Stormy Weather
- Yesterdays
- I Can't Face the Music
- Lover Come Back to Me
- Fine and Mellow
- Lover Come Back to Me
- I Cover the Waterfront
- Billie's Blues
- Miss Brown to You
- Don't Be Late
- Lover Come Back to Me
- Moonlight in Vermont
- Ain't Nobody's Business
- He's Funny That Way
- My Man
- I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good
- All of Me
- God Bless the Child
- Fine and Mellow
- Fooling Myself
- When Your Lover Has Gone
Born: 1915-04-07
Died: 1959-07-17
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I'm A Fool To Want You
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:22
- Published: 27 Mar 2008
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
Billie (jazz) Holiday
http://wn.com/I'm_A_Fool_To_Want_You
Billie Holiday - The Blues Are Brewin'
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:09
- Published: 07 May 2006
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
A fine video where Lady Day and Satchmo show the world why they came for...
http://wn.com/Billie_Holiday_The_Blues_Are_Brewin'
GLOOMY SUNDAY-BILLIE HOLIDAY VERSION
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:11
- Published: 22 Jul 2006
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
a music video i made for billie holiday's version of gloomy sunday.
http://wn.com/GLOOMY_SUNDAY-BILLIE_HOLIDAY_VERSION
Billie Holiday - Summertime
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:48
- Published: 18 Aug 2006
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
Billie Holiday - I'll Be Seeing You
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:43
- Published: 10 Apr 2008
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
Vid with lyrics Enjoy!
http://wn.com/Billie_Holiday_I'll_Be_Seeing_You
Billie Holiday "One for my Baby (and one more for the road)"
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:43
- Published: 08 Nov 2006
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
It's quarter to three, there's no one in the place Except you and me So set 'em' up joe, I got a little story you autta know We're drinking my friend, to the end Of a brief episode Make it one for my baby And one more for the road I know the routine, put another nickel In the machine I'm feelin so bad, I hope they make the music dreamy and sad I could tell you a lot, but it's not In a gentleman's code Make it one for my baby And one more for the road You'd never know it, but buddy i'm a kind of poet And i've got a lot of things i'd like to say And if i'm gloomy, please listen to me Till it's talked away Well that's how it goes, and joe i know your gettin' Anxious to close Thanks for the cheer I hope you didn't mind My bending your ear But this torch that i found, it's gotta be drowned Or it's gonna explode Make it one for my baby And one more for the road Writen by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen. Originally writen for Fred Astaire. Many artist have recorded One For My Baby including Frank Sinatra, but the first time I ever heard this song was when Bette Midler sang to Johnny Carson on his final Tonite Show. I also have the Lena Horne version on a 78 that I play on my 1917 Victor Victrola. All verions are beautiful in their own way but no one creates a mood like Lady Day.
http://wn.com/Billie_Holiday_One_for_my_Baby_and_one_more_for_the_road
Warpaint - 'Billie Holiday (Rough Trade Sessions)'
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:58
- Published: 19 Sep 2011
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
Taken from Warpaint's album "The Fool" - bit.ly 'Billie Holiday' appears on Warpaint's 'The Fool' Deluxe Edition (out 26th September) - a 2-disc set containing the critically acclaimed debut album 'The Fool', 'Exquisite Corpse' EP and more. Directed by Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth - www.iainandjane.com www.warpaintwarpaint.com www.roughtraderecords.com
http://wn.com/Warpaint_'Billie_Holiday_Rough_Trade_Sessions'
Billie Holiday - All of me
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:03
- Published: 19 Sep 2009
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
Billie Holiday - All of me . . . All of me Why not take all of me Can't you see I'm no good without you Take my lips I want to lose them Take my arms I'll never use them Your goodbye left me with eyes that cry How can I go on dear, without you You took the part that once was my heart So why not take all of me
http://wn.com/Billie_Holiday_All_of_me
Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:33
- Published: 25 Nov 2006
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
Rare Live Footage of one of the firtst anti rascism songs ever.
http://wn.com/Billie_Holiday_Strange_Fruit
Billie Holiday - The Very Thought of You
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:48
- Published: 08 Sep 2009
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
Billie Holiday left 50 years ago, but in our head her unique voice is still there... A very special thought of you Billie.
http://wn.com/Billie_Holiday_The_Very_Thought_of_You
Billie Holiday - Lover Man
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:18
- Published: 15 Apr 2007
- Updated: 19 Sep 2012
lady day ... hmmmm & cosy
http://wn.com/Billie_Holiday_Lover_Man
Pennies From Heaven - Billie Holiday
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:15
- Published: 21 Aug 2008
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
Recorded with Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra. Vocals: Billie Holiday Piano: Teddy Wilson Trumpet: Jonah Jones Clarinet: Benny Goodman Tenor Sax: Ben Webster Guitar: Allan Reuss Bass: John Kirby Drums: Cozy Cole Recorded November 19th, 1936. New York, NY.
http://wn.com/Pennies_From_Heaven_Billie_Holiday
Billie Holiday God Bless The Child
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:01
- Published: 06 Sep 2009
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
Them that's got shall get Them that's not shall lose So the Bible said and it still is news Mama may have, Papa may have But God bless the child that's got his own That's got his own Yes, the strong gets more While the weak ones fade Empty pockets don't ever make the grade Mama may have, Papa may have But God bless the child that's got his own That's got his own Money, you've got lots of friends Crowding round the door When you're gone, spending ends They don't come no more Rich relations give Crust of bread and such You can help yourself But don't take too much Mama may have, Papa may have But God bless the child that's got his own That's got his own Mama may have, Papa may have But God bless the child that's got his own That's got his own He just worry 'bout nothin' Cause he's got his own
http://wn.com/Billie_Holiday_God_Bless_The_Child
Warpaint: Billie Holiday
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:23
- Published: 02 Nov 2009
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
more soundies at www.AthensSoundies.com produced by www.eikonic.com www.myspace.com/worldwartour
http://wn.com/Warpaint_Billie_Holiday
SOLITUDE -Billie Holiday
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:10
- Published: 23 Jul 2007
- Updated: 18 Sep 2012
I've just tought about my grandmother and knowing that when these pictures were taken, she was alive and young , somewhere on this Earth, I put together a movie. I am tired.
http://wn.com/SOLITUDE_-Billie_Holiday
Georgia on my mind -- Billie Holiday
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:08
- Published: 16 Aug 2008
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
The classic blues song by American Singer, Billie Holiday, 'Lady Day'.
http://wn.com/Georgia_on_my_mind_-_Billie_Holiday
Billie Holiday, My Man
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:24
- Published: 11 Apr 2007
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
On of the best interpretation of Billie with Jimmy Rowles, and in very high quality, ..... take a look
http://wn.com/Billie_Holiday,_My_Man
Billie Holiday - I` ma fool to want you
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:01
- Published: 02 Aug 2009
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
This song is from Billie`s final album "Lady in Satin" completed and released in her lifetime. Ray Ellis said of the album: "I would say that the most emotional moment was her listening to the playback of "I'm a Fool to Want You". There were tears in her eyes...After we finished the album I went into the control room and listened to all the takes. I must admit I was unhappy with her performance, but I was just listening musically instead of emotionally. It wasn't until I heard the final mix a few weeks later that I realized how great her performance really was." Enjoy. :) I` ma fool to want you I` ma fool to want you I` ma fool to want you To want a love that cant be true A love thats there for others too I` ma fool to hold you Such a fool to hold you To seek a kiss not mine alone To share a kiss that devil has known Time and time again I said Id leave you Time and time again I went away But then would come the time when I would need you And once again these words I had to say Take me back, I love you ...i need you I know its wrong, it must be wrong But right or wrong I cant get along... ........Without you.......
http://wn.com/Billie_Holiday_I`_ma_fool_to_want_you
Billie Holiday-Tain't Nobody's Business if I Do (Live)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:04
- Published: 17 Aug 2008
- Updated: 19 Sep 2012
Billie Holiday
http://wn.com/Billie_Holiday-Tain't_Nobody's_Business_if_I_Do_Live
Billie Holiday - Come Rain Or Come Shine
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:24
- Published: 25 Oct 2009
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
"Come Rain Or Come Shine" performed by Billie Holiday. Composed by by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Johnny Mercer.
http://wn.com/Billie_Holiday_Come_Rain_Or_Come_Shine
Billie Holliday - I'm a Fool To Want You
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:32
- Published: 22 Jul 2009
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
"I'm a Fool To Want You" by Billie Holiday. Composed by Joel Herron, Frank Sinatra and Jack Wolf.
http://wn.com/Billie_Holliday_I'm_a_Fool_To_Want_You
Billie Holiday - You Go To My Head
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:53
- Published: 31 Jan 2008
- Updated: 19 Sep 2012
Billie Holiday - You Go To My Head You go to my head You go to my head, And you linger like a haunting refrain And I find you spinning round in my brain Like the bubbles in a glass of champagne. You go to my head Like a sip of sparkling burgundy brew And I find the very mention of you Like the kicker in a julep or two. The thrill of the thought That you might give a thought To my plea casts a spell over me Still I say to myself: get a hold of yourself Can't you see that it can never be? You go to my head With smile that makes my temperature rise Like a summer with a thousand Julys You intoxicate my soul with your eyes Tho I'm certain that this heart of mine Hasn't a ghost of a chance in this crazy romance, You go to my head.
http://wn.com/Billie_Holiday_You_Go_To_My_Head
Billie Holiday - Travelin' Light
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:11
- Published: 18 Feb 2008
- Updated: 19 Sep 2012
Creative Commons / Chad J. McNeeley
AP / Disney, Mark Ashman)
Creative Commons / Raul
US DoD / Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley
US DoD / Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley
Creative Commons / Ken Seghers
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- For the Canadian radio personality with the same name, see Billie Holiday (broadcaster)
| Billie Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Portrait from Down Beat magazine, ca. February 1947 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Eleanora Harris [1] |
| Also known as | Lady Day |
| Born | (1915-04-07)April 7, 1915 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Origin | Harlem, New York, United States |
| Died | July 17, 1959(1959-07-17) (aged 44) New York City, New York, United States |
| Genres | Vocal jazz, jazz blues, torch songs, swing, blues |
| Occupations | Singer, songwriter, actress |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1933–1959 |
| Labels | Brunswick, Vocalion, Okeh, Bluebird, Commodore, Capitol, Decca, Aladdin, Verve, Columbia, MGM |
| Associated acts | Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, Carmen McRae |
| Website | Billie Holiday Official Site |
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Harris[1][2] April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo.
Critic John Bush wrote that Holiday "changed the art of American pop vocals forever."[3] She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably "God Bless the Child", "Don't Explain", "Fine and Mellow", and "Lady Sings the Blues". She also became famous for singing "Easy Living", "Good Morning Heartache", and "Strange Fruit", a protest song which became one of her standards and was made famous with her 1939 recording.
Early life and education[link]
Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Sarah Julia "Sadie" Fagan (née Harris). Her father, Clarence Halliday (Holiday), a musician, did not marry or live with her mother. Her mother had moved to Philadelphia when thirteen, after being ejected from her parents' home in Sandtown-Winchester, Baltimore for becoming pregnant. With no support from her own parents, Holiday's mother arranged for the young Holiday to stay with her older married half sister, Eva Miller, who lived in Baltimore.[4]
Billie Holiday had a difficult childhood, her mother often took what were then known as "transportation jobs", serving on the passenger railroads. Holiday was left to be raised largely by Eva Miller's mother-in-law, Martha Miller, and suffered from her mother's absences and leaving her in others' care for much of the first ten years of her life.[5] (Holiday's autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, first published in 1956, was sketchy about details of her early life, but much was confirmed by Stuart Nicholson in his 1995 biography of the singer.)[citation needed]
Some historians have disputed Holiday's paternity, as a copy of her birth certificate in the Baltimore archives lists the father as "Frank DeViese". Other historians consider this an anomaly, probably inserted by a hospital or government worker.[6] Frank DeViese lived in Philadelphia and Sadie Harris may have known him through her work.
Sadie Harris, then known as Sadie Fagan, married Philip Gough, but the marriage was over in two years. Holiday was left with Martha Miller again while her mother took further transportation jobs.[7] Holiday frequently skipped school and her truancy resulted in her being brought before the juvenile court on January 5, 1925 when she was not yet 10. She was sent to The House of the Good Shepherd, a Catholic reform school. She was baptized there on March 19, 1925 and after nine months in care, was "paroled" on October 3, 1925 to her mother, who had opened a restaurant called the East Side Grill, where she and Holiday worked long hours. By the age of 11, the girl had dropped out of school.[8]
Holiday's mother returned to their home on December 24, 1926, to discover a neighbor, Wilbur Rich, raping Holiday. Rich was arrested. Officials placed the girl at the House of the Good Shepherd in protective custody as a state witness in the rape case.[9] Holiday was released in February 1927, nearly twelve. Holiday and her mother later lived with and worked for a madam. Shortly after working as prostitutes, both Holiday and her mother were arrested. They were released after a short stint in prison.[10] During this time, Holiday first heard the records of Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. By the end of 1928, Holiday's mother decided to try her luck in Harlem, New York and left Holiday again with Martha Miller.[11]
Early singing career[link]
During her final period of separation from her mother, Holiday began to perform the songs she learned while working in the brothel. By early 1929, Holiday joined her mother in Harlem. Their landlady was a sharply dressed woman named Florence Williams, who ran a whorehouse at 151 West 140th Street. Holiday's mother became a prostitute and, within a matter of days of arriving in New York, Holiday, who had not yet turned fourteen, also became a prostitute for $5 a time.[12] On May 2, 1929, the house was raided, and Holiday and her mother were sent to prison. After spending some time in a workhouse, her mother was released in July, followed by Holiday in October, at the age of 14.
Holiday took her professional pseudonym from Billie Dove, an actress she admired, and the musician Clarence Holiday, her probable father.[13] At the outset of her career, she spelled her last name Halliday, the birth-surname of her father, but eventually changed it to Holiday, his performing name. The young singer teamed up with a neighbor, tenor sax player Kenneth Hollan. From 1929 to 1931, they were a team, performing at clubs such as the Grey Dawn, Pod's and Jerry's, and the Brooklyn Elks' Club.[14][15] Benny Goodman recalled hearing Holiday in 1931 at The Bright Spot. As her reputation grew, Holiday played at many clubs, including Mexico's and The Alhambra Bar and Grill where Charles Linton, a vocalist who later worked with Chick Webb, first met her. It was also during this period that she connected with her father, who was playing with Fletcher Henderson's band.[16]
By the end of 1932 at the age of 17, Billie Holiday replaced the singer Monette Moore at a club called Covan's on West 132nd Street. The producer John Hammond, who loved Monette Moore's singing and had come to hear her, first heard Holiday in early 1933.[17] Hammond arranged for Holiday to make her recording debut, at age 18, in November 1933 with Benny Goodman, singing two songs: "Your Mother's Son-In-Law" and "Riffin' the Scotch", the latter being her first hit. "Son-in-Law" sold 300 copies,[18] but "Riffin' the Scotch," released on November 11, sold 5,000 copies. Hammond was quite impressed by Holiday's singing style. He said of her, "Her singing almost changed my music tastes and my musical life, because she was the first girl singer I'd come across who actually sang like an improvising jazz genius." Hammond compared Holiday favorably to Armstrong and said she had a good sense of lyric content at her young age.[19]
In 1935, Billie Holiday had a small role as a woman being abused by her lover in Duke Ellington's short Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life. In her scene, she sang the song "Saddest Tale."[20]
Recordings with Teddy Wilson (1935–1938)[link]
Holiday was signed to Brunswick Records by John Hammond to record current pop tunes with Teddy Wilson in the new "swing" style for the growing jukebox trade. They were given free rein to improvise the material. Holiday's improvisation of the melody line to fit the emotion was revolutionary. Their first collaboration included "What a Little Moonlight Can Do," and "Miss Brown To You." The record label did not favor the recording session, because producers wanted Holiday to sound more like Cleo Brown. After "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" garnered success, however, the company began considering Holiday an artist in her own right.[21] She began recording under her own name a year later (on the 35 cent Vocalion label), producing a series of extraordinary performances with groups comprising the swing era's finest musicians.[22]
With their arrangements, Wilson and Holiday took pedestrian pop tunes, such as "Twenty-Four Hours a Day" (#6 Pop) or "Yankee Doodle Never Went To Town", and turned them into jazz classics. Most of Holiday's recordings with Wilson or under her own name during the 1930s and early 1940s are regarded as important parts of the jazz vocal library. She was then in her early to late 20s.
Another frequent accompanist was the tenor saxophonist Lester Young, who had been a boarder at her mother's house in 1934 and with whom Holiday had a special rapport. He said,
"Well, I think you can hear that on some of the old records, you know. Some time I'd sit down and listen to 'em myself, and it sound like two of the same voices, if you don't be careful, you know, or the same mind, or something like that."[23]
Young nicknamed her "Lady Day", and she, in turn, dubbed him "Prez".
Hammond spoke about the commercial impact of the Teddy Wilson-Billie Holiday sides from 1935 to 1938, calling them a great asset to Brunswick. The record label, according to Hammond, was broke and unable to record many jazz tunes. Because Wilson, Holiday, Lester Young, and other musicians came into the studio without any arrangements, which cost money, and improvised the material as they went along, the records they produced were very cheap. Holiday was never given any royalties for her work, instead being paid a flat fee, which saved the record label money. Some of the records produced were largely successful, such as the single "I Cried for You" which sold 15,000 copies. Hammond said of the record, "15,000 ... was a giant hit for Brunswick in those days. I mean a giant hit. Most records that made money sold around three to four thousand." [24]
Working for Count Basie and Artie Shaw (1937–1938)[link]
In late 1937, Holiday had a brief stint as a big band vocalist with Count Basie.[25] The traveling conditions of the band were often poor and included one-nighters in clubs, moving from city to city with little stability. Holiday chose the songs she sang and had a hand in the arrangements, choosing to portray her then developing persona of a woman unlucky in love. Her tunes included "I Must Have That Man", "Travelin' All Alone", "I Can't Get Started", and "Summertime", a hit for Holiday in 1936, originating in the opera Porgy and Bess a few years earlier. Count Basie had gotten use to Holiday's heavy involvement in the band. He said, "When she rehearsed with the band, it was really just a matter of getting her tunes like she wanted them, because she knew how she wanted to sound and you couldn't tell her what to do." [26]
Holiday found herself in direct competition with popular singer Ella Fitzgerald, with whom Holiday would later become friends.[27] Fitzgerald was the vocalist for the Chick Webb Band, who were in competition with Count Basie. On Jan 16, 1938, in the same day Benny Goodman performed his legendary Carnegie Hall jazz concert, the Count Basie and Chick Webb bands had a battle at the Savoy Ballroom. Chick Webb and Fitzgerald were declared winners by Metronome magazine. Downbeat magazine declared Holiday and Basie the winners. A straw poll of the audience saw Fitzgerald win by a three-to-one margin.
Some of the tunes Holiday performed with Basie were recorded. "I Can't Get Started", "They Can't Take That Away from Me," and "Swing It Brother Swing," are all commercially available.[28] Although Holiday was unable to record in the studio with Count Basie, she did include many of his musicians in her recording dates with Teddy Wilson.
By February of that year, Holiday was no longer singing for Basie. The reason given for her firing varies from person to person. Jimmy Rushing, Basie's male vocalist, called her unprofessional. According to All Music Guide, Holiday was officially fired for being "temperamental and unreliable". Holiday complained of low pay and working conditions and may have refused to sing the tunes requested of her or change her style.[29]
Holiday was hired by Artie Shaw a month after being fired from the Count Basie Band. This association placed her among the first black women to work with a white orchestra, an unusual arrangement for the times. In situations where there was a lot of racial tension, Shaw was known to stick up for his vocalist. Holiday describes one incident in her autobiography where she could not sit on the bandstand with other vocalists because she was black. Shaw said to her, "I want you on the band stand like Helen Forrest, Tony Pastor and everyone else." [30] When touring the American South, Holiday would sometimes be heckled by members of the audience. In Louisville, Kentucky a man called her a "nigger wench" and requested she sing another song. Holiday lost her temper and needed to be escorted off the stage.[31]
By March 1938, Shaw and Holiday managed to be broadcasted on Radio WABC. Because of their success, they were given an extra time slot to broadcast in April, which increased their exposure. The New York Amsterdam News reported an improvement in Holiday's performance ability while reviewing the broadcasts. Metronome reported that the addition of Holiday to Shaw's band put it in the "top brackets". Holiday could not sing as often during Artie Shaw's shows as she could Basie's. The songs were more instrumental with fewer vocals. Shaw was also pressured to hire a white singer, Nita Bradley, who Holiday did not get along with but had to share a bandstand. In May 1938, Shaw won band battles against Tommy Dorsey and Red Norvo with the audience favoring Holiday. Although Shaw admired Holiday's singing in his band, saying she had a "remarkable ear" and an "remarkable sense of time", her time in the band was nearing an end.[32]
In November 1938 Holiday was asked to use the service elevator at the Lincoln Hotel, instead of the passage elevator, because white patrons of the hotels complained. This may have been the last straw for her. She left the band shortly after. Holiday spoke about the incident weeks later, saying "I was never allowed to visit the bar or the dining room as did other members of the band ... [and] I was made to leave and enter through the kitchen."
There are no surviving live recordings of Holiday with Artie Shaw's band. Because she was under a separate recording label and possibly because of her race, Holiday was only able to record one record with Shaw, "Any Old Time".
By the late 1930s, Billie Holiday had toured with Count Basie and Artie Shaw, scored a string of radio and retail hits with Teddy Wilson, and became an established artist in the recording industry. Her songs "What A Little Moonlight Can Do" and "Easy Living" were being imitated by singers across America and were quickly becoming jazz standards.[33] In 1938, Holiday's single "I'm Gonna Lock My Heart" ranked 6th as the most-played song for September of that year. Her record label Vocalion listed the single as its fourth best seller for the same month. "I'm Gonna Lock My Heart" peaked at number 2 on the pop charts according to Joel Whitburn's "Pop Memories: 1890–1954" book.[34]
Commodore recordings and mainstream success (1939)[link]
Holiday was recording for Columbia in the late 1930s when she was introduced to "Strange Fruit", a song based on a poem about lynching written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish schoolteacher from the Bronx. Meeropol used the pseudonym "Lewis Allan" for the poem, which was set to music and performed at teachers' union meetings.[35] It was eventually heard by Barney Josephson, proprietor of Café Society, an integrated nightclub in Greenwich Village, who introduced it to Holiday. She performed it at the club in 1939, with some trepidation, fearing possible retaliation. Holiday later said that the imagery in "Strange Fruit" reminded her of her father's death and that this played a role in her resistance to performing it.[36]
When Holiday's producers at Columbia found the subject matter too sensitive, Milt Gabler agreed to record it for his Commodore Records. That was done on April 20, 1939, and "Strange Fruit" remained in her repertoire for twenty years. She later recorded it again for Verve. While the Commodore release did not get any airplay, the controversial song sold well, though Gabler attributed that mostly to the record's other side, "Fine and Mellow", which was a jukebox hit.[37] "The version I did for Commodore," Holiday said of "Strange Fruit", "became my biggest selling record."[citation needed] "Strange Fruit" was the equivalent of a top twenty hit in the 1930s.
For her performance of "Strange Fruit" at the Café Society, she had waiters silence the crowd when the song began. During the song's long introduction, the lights dimmed and all movement had to cease. As Holiday began singing, only a small spotlight of light illuminated her face. On the final note, all lights in the club went out and when they came back on, Holiday was gone.[38]
Holiday said her father Clarence Holiday was denied treatment for a fatal lung disorder because of prejudice and that singing "Strange Fruit" reminded her of the incident. "It reminds me of how Pop died, but I have to keep singing it, not only because people ask for it, but because twenty years after Pop died the things that killed him are still happening in the South," she said in her autobiography.[39]
Holiday's popularity increased after recording "Strange Fruit". She received a mention in Time magazine.[40] "I open Café Society as an unknown," Holiday said. "I left two years later as a star. I needed the prestige and publicity all right, but you can't pay rent with it." Holiday demanded her manager Joe Glaser give her a raise shortly after.[41]
Holiday soon returned to Commodore in 1944, recording songs she made with Teddy Wilson in the 1930s like "I Cover The Waterfront", "I'll Get By", and "He's Funny That Way". She also recorded new songs that were popular at the time, including, "My Old Flame", "How Am I To Know?", "I'm Yours", and "I'll Be Seeing You", a Bing Crosby number one hit. She also recorded her version of "Embraceable You", which would later be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2005.
During her time at Commodore, Billie Holiday also babysat the young Billy Crystal; his father being Jack Crystal and uncle being Milt Gabler, the co-founders of Commodore Records.[42]
Successes (1940–1947)[link]
Holiday's mother Sadie Fagan, nicknamed "The Duchess," started her own restaurant called Mom Holiday's. Fagan used the money her daughter earned while shooting dice with members of the Count Basie band, whom she was on tour with in the late 1930s. "It kept mom busy and happy and stopped her from worrying and watching over me," Holiday said. Soon, Fagan began borrowing large amounts of money from Holiday because the restaurant wasn't turning a profit. Holiday obliged, but soon fell upon hard times herself. "I needed some money one night and I knew Mom was sure to have some," Holiday said. "So I walked in the restaurant like a stockholder and asked. Mom turned me down flat. She wouldn't give me a cent." The two argued and then, Holiday, in a rage, hollered "God bless the child that's got his own," and stormed out of the restaurant. With help from Arthur Herzog, Jr., a pianist, the two wrote a song based on the line "God Bless the Child" and added music.[43]
"God Bless the Child" became Holiday's most popular and covered record. It reached number 25 on the record charts in 1941 and ranked third in Billboard's top songs of the year, selling over a million records.[44][45] In 1976, the song was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame.[46] Herzog later claimed that Holiday contributed little to the lyrics of her music, adding only a few lines. He also stated that Holiday came up with the line "God Bless the Child" from a dinner conversation the two had.[47]
On June 24, 1942, Holiday recorded "Trav'lin Light" with Paul Whiteman. Because she was still under contract with Columbia records, she couldn't release the song under her own name and instead used the pseudonym "Lady Day."[48] The song was a minor success on the pop charts, reaching number 23, but hit number one on the R&B charts, which were called the Harlem Hit Parade at the time.[49]
In September 1943, Life magazine complimented Holiday on her work. They wrote, "she has the most distinct style of any popular vocalist and is imitated by other vocalists."[50]
Milt Gabler eventually became an A&R man for Decca Records, in addition to owning Commodore Records, and he signed Holiday to the label on August 7, 1944, when Holiday was 29.[51] Her first recording for Decca was "Lover Man" (#16 Pop, #5 R&B), one of her biggest hits. The success and wide distribution of the song made Holiday a staple in the pop community, allowing her to have her own solo concerts, a rarity for jazz singers in the late 40s. Gabler commented on the song's success, saying, "I made Billie a real pop singer. That was right in her. Billie loved those songs."[52] Jimmy Davis and Roger "Ram" Ramirez, "Lover Man"'s songwriters, tried to get Holiday interested in recording the song in 1941, but she didn't take interest.[53] In 1943, a flamboyant male torch singer by the name of Willie Dukes began singing "Lover Man" on 52nd Street.[54] Because of Duke's success with the song, Holiday decided to add it to her live shows. The song's B-side is "No More", a song Holiday considered one of her favorites.[51]
When it came time to record the song, Holiday begged Gabler for strings, which were associated with big name acts like Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, to accompany her in the background. "I went on my knees to him," Holiday said. "I didn't want to do it with the ordinary six pieces. I begged Milt and told him I had to have strings behind me."[55] On October 4, 1944, Holiday walked into the recording studio to record "Lover Man" and saw the string ensemble and walked out. The musical director for the session, Toots Camarata said she was overwhelmed with joy.[55] Another reason for Holiday wanting to use strings may have been to dodge the comparisons made between her commercially successful early work with Teddy Wilson and everything produced afterward. Her 1930s sides with Wilson used a small jazz combo. Her recordings with Decca often involved string ensembles and presented her voice in a new light.[56]
A month later, in November, Billie Holiday returned to the Decca studio to record three songs, "That Ole Devil Called Love", "Big Stuff", and "Don't Explain". Holiday wrote "Don't Explain" after she caught her husband, Jimmy Monroe, with lipstick on his collar.[57]
After the recording session, Holiday did not return to the studio until August 1945. She recorded "Don't Explain", "Big Stuff", "What Is This Thing Called Love?", and "You Better Go Now". Ella Fitzgerald declared "You Better Go Now" as her favorite Billie Holiday recording.[58] "Big Stuff" and "Don't Explain" were recorded again but with additional strings and a viola.
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In 1946, Holiday recorded "Good Morning Heartache". Although the song failed to chart, it remained a staple in her live shows with three known live recordings of the song.[59]
In September 1946, Holiday began work on what would be her only major film New Orleans. She starred opposite Louis Armstrong and Woody Herman. Plagued by racism and McCarthyism, producer Jules Levey and script writer Herbert Biberman were pressured to lessen Holiday and Armstrong's role in the film as to not give the impression that black people created jazz. Their attempts failed because in 1947 Biberman was listed as one of the Hollywood Ten and sent to jail.[60]
Holiday was not pleased that her role was reduced to that of a maid: "I thought I was going to play myself in it," she said. "I thought I was going to be Billie Holiday doing a couple of songs in a nightclub setting and that would be that. I should have known better. When I saw the script, I did."[citation needed] Before filming, Holiday was assigned a dramatic coach who coached her on how to properly say "Miss Marylee", the lead character's name. "So this coach was trying to get the right kind of tom feeling into this thing," Holiday said.[citation needed] At one point, after feeling cornered and unable to walk off the set, she burst out into tears. Louis Armstrong tried comforting her. "Better look out," he said. "I know Lady, and when she starts crying, the next thing she's going to do is start fighting."[citation needed] Several scenes were deleted from the film. "They had taken miles of footage of music and scenes," Holiday said, "[and] none of it was left in the picture. And very damn little of me. I know I wore a white dress for a number I did... and that was cut out of the picture."[61] She recorded the track "The Blues Are Brewin'", for the film's soundtrack. Other songs included in the movie are "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?" and "Farewell to Storyville".
Holiday's drug addictions were a growing problem on the set. She earned more than a thousand dollars a week from her club ventures at the time, but spent most of it on heroin. Her lover Joe Guy traveled to Hollywood while Holiday was filming and supplied her with drugs. When discovered by Joe Glaser, Holiday's manager, Guy was banned from the set.[62]
By the late 1940s, Holiday had begun recording a number of slow, sentimental ballads. The magazine Metronome expressed its concerns in 1946 about "Good Morning Heartache," saying "there's a danger that Billie's present formula will wear thin, but up to now it's wearing well."[38] The New York Herald Tribune reported on a Holiday concert in 1946 that her performance had little variation in the melody of her songs, with no change in tempo.[63]
Legal troubles, Carnegie Hall Concert (1947–1952)[link]
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On May 16, 1947, Holiday was arrested for the possession of narcotics in her New York apartment. On May 27, 1947, she was in court. "It was called 'The United States of America versus Billie Holiday'. And that's just the way it felt," Holiday recalled.[64] During the trial, Holiday received notice that her lawyer was not interested in coming down to the trial and representing her. "In plain English that meant no one in the world was interested in looking out for me," Holiday said. Dehydrated and unable to hold down any food, she pled guilty and asked to be sent to the hospital. The D.A. spoke up in her defense, saying, "If your honor please, this is a case of a drug addict, but more serious, however, than most of our cases, Miss Holiday is a professional entertainer and among the higher rank as far as income was concerned." By 1947, Holiday was at her commercial peak, having made a quarter of a million dollars in the three years prior.[65] Holiday placed second in the Down Beat poll for 1946 and 1947, her highest ranking in the poll.[66] In Billboard's July 6 issue on 1947, Holiday ranked 5 on its annual college poll of "girl singers". Jo Stafford topped the poll.[67] In 1946, Holiday won the Metronome Magazine popularity poll.[68]
At the end of the trial, Holiday was sentenced to Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia, more popularly known as "Camp Cupcake". Other notable celebrities to serve time at Alderson are Martha Stewart, Sara Jane Moore (who tried to assassinate President Ford), and Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme of the Charles Manson family of murderers.[69]
Luckily for Holiday, she was released early (March 16, 1948) because of good behavior. When she arrived at Newark, her pianist Bobby Tucker and her dog Mister were waiting for her. The dog leaped at Holiday, knocking off her hat, and tackled her to the ground. "He began lapping me and loving me like crazy," she said. A woman overheard the commotion and thought the dog was attacking Holiday. She started screaming and soon a crowd gathered and then the press showed up. "I might just as well have wheeled into Penn Station and had a quiet little get-together with the Associated Press, United Press, and International News Service," Holiday said.[citation needed]
Ed Fishman (who fought with Joe Glaser to be Holiday's manager) thought of the idea to throw a comeback concert at Carnegie Hall. Holiday hesitated, unsure whether audiences were ready to accept her after the arrest. She eventually gave in, and agreed to the concert.
On March 27, 1948, Holiday played Carnegie Hall to a sold-out crowd. There were 2,700 tickets sold in advance, a record at the time for the venue. Her popularity at the time was unusual in that she didn't have a current hit record.[70] Holiday's last song to chart was "Lover Man" in 1945, which would be her final placement on the record charts during her lifetime. Holiday did 32 songs at the Carnegie concert by her count, some of which included Cole Porter's "Night and Day" and her 30s hit "Strange Fruit". During the show, someone sent Holiday a box of gardenias. "My old trademark," Holiday said. "I took them out of box and fastened them smack to the side of my head without even looking twice." There was a hatpin in the gardenias and Holiday, unknowingly, stuck the needle deep into the side of her head. "I didn't feel anything until the blood started rushing down in my eyes and ears," she said. After the third curtain call, Holiday passed out.[71]
On April 27, 1948, Bob Sylvester and her promoter Al Wilde arranged for Billie Holiday to do a Broadway show. Titled Holiday on Broadway, it sold out and was a success for a while. "The regular music critics and drama critics came and treated us like we were legit," Holiday said. Despite the success, the show closed after three weeks.[72]
Holiday was arrested again on January 22, 1949, inside her room at San Francisco's Hotel Mark Twain.
Holiday stated that she began using hard drugs in the early 1940s. She married trombonist Jimmy Monroe on August 25, 1941. While still married to Monroe, she became romantically involved with trumpeter Joe Guy, who was also her drug dealer, and she eventually became his common-law wife. She finally divorced Monroe in 1947 and also split with Guy.
In October 1949, Holiday recorded "Crazy He Calls Me", which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2010. Gabler said the song was a hit, likely making it her most successful recording for Decca after "Lover Man". The record charts of the 1940s did not list songs outside the top 30, making it impossible to recognize minor pop hits. Also, by the late 1940s, despite her popularity and concert drawing power, Holiday's singles received little radio airplay. This may have been because of the bad reputation she had up to that point.[73]
Because of her 1947 conviction, Holiday's New York City Cabaret Card was revoked, which kept her from working anywhere that sold alcohol for the remaining 12 years of her life.
The Cabaret system started in 1940 and was designed to prevent people of "bad character" from working on licensed premises. A performer had to renew his or her license every two years. This system lasted until 1967.[74] Clubs that sold alcohol in New York were among the highest paying venues in the country. Club owners knew blacklisted performers had limited work options, so they would offer them a smaller salary. This greatly reduced Holiday's earning power. She hadn't been receiving proper royalties for her work until she signed with Decca, so her main source of revenue were her club concerts. The problem worsened when Holiday's records went out of print in the 1950s. She seldom received any money from royalties in her latter years. For instance, in 1958 Holiday received a royalty check of only 11 dollars.[75][76] Also, Holiday's lawyer during the late 1950s, Earle Warren Zaidins, failed to register with BMI on all but two songs she had written or co-written, costing her potential revenue.[77]
In 1948, Holiday played at the Ebony Club, which, because she lost her cabaret card, was against the law. Her manager at the time, John Levy, was convinced he could get her card back and allowed her to open without one. "I opened scared," Holiday said, "[I was] expecting the cops to come in any chorus and carry me off. But nothing happened. I was a huge success."[78]
Also in 1948, Holiday recorded Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy". The single was heard by up and coming act Nina Simone. Simone covered the tune 1958, and it ended up becoming her sole top 40 hit in America.[79]
In 1950, Holiday appeared in the Universal-International short film 'Sugar Chile' Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet, where she sang "God Bless the Child" and "Now, Baby or Never".[80]
[edit] Lady Sings The Blues (1952–1959)
By the 1950s, Holiday's drug abuse, drinking, and relationships with abusive men caused her health to deteriorate. She appeared on the ABC reality series The Comeback Story to discuss attempts to overcome her misfortunes. Her later recordings showed the effects of declining health on her voice, as it grew coarse and no longer projected its former vibrancy.
On March 28, 1957, Holiday married Louis McKay, a Mafia enforcer, who like most of the men in her life was abusive,[81] but he did try to get her off drugs. They were separated at the time of her death, but McKay had plans to start a chain of Billie Holiday vocal studios, à la Arthur Murray dance schools.
Holiday's late recordings on Verve constitute about a third of her commercial recorded legacy and are as popular as her earlier work for the Columbia, Commodore and Decca labels. In later years, her voice became more fragile, but it never lost the edge that had always made it so distinctive.
Holiday's autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, was ghostwritten by William Dufty and published in 1956. Dufty, a New York Post writer and editor then married to Holiday's close friend Maely Dufty, wrote the book quickly from a series of conversations with the singer in the Duftys' 93rd Street apartment. He drew on the work of earlier interviewers as well and intended to let Holiday tell her story in her own way.[82]
To accompany her autobiography, Holiday released an LP in June 1956 titled Lady Sings the Blues. The album did not have any new material other than the title track, "Too Marvelous For Words", "Willow Weep for Me", and "I Thought About You", but had new recordings of Holiday's biggest hits. These included "Trav'lin' Light" "Strange Fruit" and "God Bless the Child".[83] On December 22, 1956, Billboard magazine reviewed Lady Sings the Blues, calling it a worthy musical complement to her autobiography. "Holiday is in good voice now," said the reviewer, "and these new readings will be much appreciated by her following." "Strange Fruit" and "God Bless the Child" were called classics, and "Good Morning Heartache", another reissued track in the LP, was also noted positively.[84]
On November 10, 1956, Holiday performed two concerts before packed audiences at Carnegie Hall, a major accomplishment for any artist, especially a black artist of the segregated period of American history. Live recordings of the second Carnegie Hall concert were released on a Verve/HMV album in the UK in late 1961 called The Essential Billie Holiday. The thirteen tracks included on this album featured her own songs, "I Love My Man", "Don't Explain" and "Fine And Mellow", together with other songs closely associated with her, including "Body and Soul", "My Man", and "Lady Sings the Blues" (her lyrics accompanied a tune by pianist Herbie Nichols).[85]
The liner notes on this album were written partly by Gilbert Millstein of The New York Times, who, according to these notes, served as narrator in the Carnegie Hall concerts. Interspersed among Holiday's songs, Millstein read aloud four lengthy passages from her autobiography Lady Sings The Blues. He later wrote:
The narration began with the ironic account of her birth in Baltimore – 'Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen, and I was three' – and ended, very nearly shyly, with her hope for love and a long life with 'my man' at her side.
Millstein continued:
It was evident, even then, that Miss Holiday was ill. I had known her casually over the years and I was shocked at her physical weakness. Her rehearsal had been desultory; her voice sounded tinny and trailed off; her body sagged tiredly. But I will not forget the metamorphosis that night. The lights went down, the musicians began to play and the narration began. Miss Holiday stepped from between the curtains, into the white spotlight awaiting her, wearing a white evening gown and white gardenias in her black hair. She was erect and beautiful; poised and smiling. And when the first section of narration was ended, she sang – with strength undiminished – with all of the art that was hers. I was very much moved. In the darkness, my face burned and my eyes. I recall only one thing. I smiled."[86]
The critic Nat Hentoff of Down Beat magazine, who attended the Carnegie Hall concert, wrote the remainder of the sleeve notes on the 1961 album. He wrote of Holiday's performance:
Throughout the night, Billie was in superior form to what had sometimes been the case in the last years of her life. Not only was there assurance of phrasing and intonation; but there was also an outgoing warmth, a palpable eagerness to reach and touch the audience. And there was mocking wit. A smile was often lightly evident on her lips and her eyes as if, for once, she could accept the fact that there were people who did dig her.
Hentoff continued:
The beat flowed in her uniquely sinuous, supple way of moving the story along; the words became her own experiences; and coursing through it all was Lady's sound – a texture simultaneously steel-edged and yet soft inside; a voice that was almost unbearably wise in disillusion and yet still childlike, again at the centre. The audience was hers from before she sang, greeting her and saying good-bye with heavy, loving applause. And at one time, the musicians too applauded. It was a night when Billie was on top, undeniably the best and most honest jazz singer alive.
Her performance of "Fine and Mellow" on CBS's The Sound of Jazz program is memorable for her interplay with her long-time friend Lester Young. Both were less than two years from death.
Holiday first toured Europe in 1954 as part of a Leonard Feather package that also included Buddy DeFranco and Red Norvo. When she returned almost five years later, she made one of her last television appearances for Granada's Chelsea at Nine in London. Her final studio recordings were made for MGM in 1959, with lush backing from Ray Ellis and his Orchestra, who had also accompanied her on Columbia's Lady in Satin album the previous year—see below. The MGM sessions were released posthumously on a self-titled album, later re-titled and re-released as Last Recordings.
Although childless, Billie Holiday had two godchildren: singer Billie Lorraine Feather, daughter of Leonard Feather, and Bevan Dufty, son of William Dufty.[82]
Death[link]
In early 1959 she found out that she had cirrhosis of the liver. The doctor told her to stop drinking, which she did for a short time, but soon returned to heavy drinking.[87] By May she had lost twenty pounds. Friends Leonard Feather, Joe Glaser, and Allan Morrison tried to get her to check into a hospital, but she put them off.[88]
On May 31, 1959, Holiday was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York suffering from liver and heart disease. She was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying, and her hospital room was raided by authorities.[82] Police officers were stationed at the door to her room. Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from pulmonary edema and heart failure caused by cirrhosis of the liver on July 17, 1959. In the final years of her life, she had been progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with $0.70 in the bank and $750 (a tabloid fee) on her person. Her funeral mass was held at Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City.
Gilbert Millstein of The New York Times, who had been the narrator at Billie Holiday's 1956 Carnegie Hall concerts and had partly written the sleeve notes for the album The Essential Billie Holiday (see above), described her death in these same 1961-dated sleeve notes:
Billie Holiday died in the Metropolitan Hospital, New York, on Friday, July 17, 1959, in the bed in which she had been arrested for illegal possession of narcotics a little more than a month before, as she lay mortally ill; in the room from which a police guard had been removed – by court order – only a few hours before her death, which, like her life, was disorderly and pitiful. She had been strikingly beautiful, but she was wasted physically to a small, grotesque caricature of herself. The worms of every kind of excess – drugs were only one – had eaten her ... The likelihood exists that among the last thoughts of this cynical, sentimental, profane, generous and greatly talented woman of 44 was the belief that she was to be arraigned the following morning. She would have been, eventually, although possibly not that quickly. In any case, she removed herself finally from the jurisdiction of any court here below.
Voice[link]
Her distinctive delivery made Billie Holiday's performances instantly recognizable throughout her career. A master of improvisation, Billie's well-trained ear more than compensated for her lack of music education. Her voice lacked range and was somewhat thin, plus years of excessive drug use eventually altered its texture and gave it a prepossessing fragility. The emotion with which she imbued each song remained not only intact but also profound.[89][Full citation needed] Her last major recording, a 1958 album entitled Lady in Satin, features the backing of a 40-piece orchestra conducted and arranged by Ray Ellis, who said of the album in 1997:
I would say that the most emotional moment was her listening to the playback of "I'm a Fool to Want You." There were tears in her eyes ... After we finished the album I went into the control room and listened to all the takes. I must admit I was unhappy with her performance, but I was just listening musically instead of emotionally. It wasn't until I heard the final mix a few weeks later that I realized how great her performance really was.
Frank Sinatra admired Holiday, having been influenced by her performances on 52nd Street as a young man. He told Ebony in 1958 about her impact:
With few exceptions, every major pop singer in the US during her generation has been touched in some way by her genius. It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me. Lady Day is unquestionably the most important influence on American popular singing in the last twenty years.[91]
Hit records[link]
In 1986, Joel Whitburn's Record Research, Inc. company compiled information on the popularity of record releases from the pre-rock and roll era and created pop charts dating all the way back to the beginning of the commercial recording industry. The company's findings were published in the book Pop Memories 1890–1954. Several of Holiday's records are listed on the pop charts Whitburn created.[92]
Billie Holiday began her recording career on a high note with her first major release "Riffin' the Scotch" selling 5,000 copies. The song was released under the band name "Benny Goodman & his Orchestra."[92]
Most of Holiday's early successes were released under the band name "Teddy Wilson & his Orchestra." During her stay in Wilson's band, Holiday would sing a few bars and then other musicians would have a solo. Teddy Wilson, one of the most influential jazz pianists from the swing era,[93] accompanied Holiday more than any other musician. He and Holiday have 95 recordings together.[94]
In July 1936, Holiday began releasing sides under her own name. These songs were released under the band name "Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra."[95] Most noteworthy, the popular jazz standard "Summertime," sold well and was listed on the available pop charts at the time at number 12, the first time the jazz standard charted under any artist. Only Billy Stewart's R&B version of "Summertime" reached a higher chart placement than Holiday's, charting at number 10 thirty years later in 1966.[96]
Holiday had 16 best selling songs in 1937, making the year her most commercially successful. It was in this year that Holiday scored her sole number one hit as a featured vocalist on the available pop charts of the 1930s, "Carelessly". The hit "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm", was also recorded by Ray Noble, Glen Gray and Fred Astaire whose rendering was a best seller for weeks.[97] Holiday's version ranked 6 on the year-end single chart available for 1937.[44]
In 1939, Holiday recorded her biggest selling record, "Strange Fruit" for Commodore, charting at number 16 on the available pop charts for the 1930s.[98]
In 1940, Billboard began publishing its modern pop charts, which included the Best Selling Retail Records chart, the precursor to the Hot 100. None of Holiday's songs placed on the modern pop charts, partly because Billboard only published the first ten slots of the charts in some issues. Minor hits and independent releases had no way of being spotlighted.
"God Bless the Child", which went on to sell over a million copies, ranked number 3 on Billboard's year-end top songs of 1941.[45]
On October 24, 1942, Billboard began issuing its R&B charts. Two of Holiday's songs placed on the chart, "Trav'lin' Light" with Paul Whiteman, which topped the chart, and "Lover Man", which reached number 5.
"Trav'lin' Light" also reached 18 on Billboard's year-end chart.
Discography[link]
Main article: Billie Holiday discography
Billie Holiday recorded extensively for four labels: Columbia Records, issued on its subsidiary labels Brunswick Records, Vocalion Records, and OKeh Records, from 1933 through 1942; Commodore Records in 1939 and 1944; Decca Records from 1944 through 1950; briefly for Aladdin Records in 1951; Verve Records and on its earlier imprint Clef Records; from 1952 through 1957, then again for Columbia Records from 1957 to 1958 and finally for MGM Records in 1959. Many of Holiday's recordings appeared on 78 rpm records prior to the long-playing vinyl record era, and only Clef, Verve, and Columbia issued Holiday albums during her lifetime that were not compilations of previously released material. Many compilations have been issued since her death; as well as comprehensive box sets and live recordings.[99][100]
Studio LPs[link]
- Billie Holiday Sings (1952)
- An Evening with Billie Holiday (1952)
- Billie Holiday (1954)
- Stay with Me (1955)
- Music for Torching (1955)
- Velvet Mood (1956)
- Lady Sings the Blues (1956)
- Body and Soul (1957)
- Songs for Distingué Lovers (1957)
- All or Nothing at All (1958)
- Lady in Satin (1958)
- Last Recordings (1959)
Awards and honors[link]
Grammy Hall of Fame[link]
Billie Holiday was posthumously inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance."
| Billie Holiday: Grammy Hall of Fame Awards[101] | |||||
| Year Recorded | Title | Genre | Label | Year Inducted | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | "Crazy He Calls Me" | Jazz (single) | Decca | 2010 | |
| 1944 | "Embraceable You" | Jazz (single) | Commodore | 2005 | |
| 1958 | Lady in Satin | Jazz (album) | Columbia | 2000 | |
| 1945 | "Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)" | Jazz (single) | Decca | 1989 | |
| 1939 | "Strange Fruit" | Jazz (single) | Commodore | 1978 | Listed also in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2002 |
| 1941 | "God Bless the Child" | Jazz (single) | Okeh | 1976 | |
Grammy Best Historical Album[link]
The Grammy Award for Best Historical Album has been presented since 1979.
| Year | Title | Label | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday | Columbia 1933–1944 | Winner |
| 1994 | The Complete Billie Holiday | Verve 1945–1959 | Winner |
| 1992 | Billie Holiday — The Complete Decca Recordings | Verve 1944–1950 | Winner |
| 1980 | Billie Holiday — Giants of Jazz | Time-Life | Winner |
Other honors[link]
| Year | Award | Honors | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame[102] | Inducted | Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York |
| 2000 | Rock and Roll Hall of Fame | Inducted | Category: "Early Influence" |
| 1997 | ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame[103] | Inducted | |
| 1947 | Esquire Magazine Gold Award | Best Leading Female Vocalist | Jazz award |
| 1946 | Esquire Magazine Silver Award | Best Leading Female Vocalist | Jazz award |
| 1945 | Esquire Magazine Silver Award | Best Leading Female Vocalist | Jazz award |
| 1944 | Esquire Magazine Gold Award | Best Leading Female Vocalist | Jazz award |
Tributes[link]
- 1972, Diana Ross portrayed Holiday in the film Lady Sings the Blues, which is loosely based on the 1956 autobiography of the same name. The film earned Ross a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
- She was portrayed by Ernestine Jackson in the play Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill by Lanie Robertson.
- Singer Miki Howard released the Holiday tribute album, Miki Sings Billie: A Tribute to Billie Holiday in 1993.
- Paula Jai Parker portrayed Holiday in a Season 7 episode of the TV series Touched by an Angel, entitled "God Bless the Child," the title derived from a song which Holiday had written and performed.[104]
- Jazz pianist Mal Waldron performed as Holiday's accompanist and released several tribute albums including:
- Left Alone (Bethlehem, 1959)
- Blues for Lady Day (Black Lion, 1972)
- Left Alone '86 with Jackie McLean (Paddle Wheel, 1986)
- No More Tears (For Lady Day) (Timeless, 1989)
- Billie Hollidy, Croatian National Theatre in Split by A.Ostojić & Ksenia Prohaska (2006)[105]
Honors[link]
- 1987, Billie Holiday was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
- 1993, R&B singer Miki Howard released an album dedicated to Holiday titled Miki Sings Billie.
- 1994, the United States Postal Service introduced a Billie Holiday postage stamp.
- 1999, Holiday ranked #6 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock n' Roll.
- 2000, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Over the years, there have been many tributes to Billie Holiday, including "The Day Lady Died," a 1959 poem by Frank O'Hara.
- In 1988 the group U2 released "Angel of Harlem" in her honor.
- Arthur Phillips features Holiday's 1953 concert in New York in his novel The Song is You (2009).
- "My Only Friend" by The Magnetic Fields is a tribute to Billie Holiday.
Filmography[link]
- 1959: Chelsea at Nine
- 1957: The Sound of Jazz, CBS Television, December 8, 1957
- 1950: 'Sugar Chile' Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet
- 1947: New Orleans
- 1935: "Symphony in Black", short (with Duke Ellington)
- 1933: The Emperor Jones, appeared as an extra
Television appearances[link]
| Year | Program | Host | Songs |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Adventures in Jazz |
|
Unknown Songs |
|
|
Arlene Francis Show, NY (1) |
|
The Man I Love, All of Me, Lover Man |
|
|
Eddie Condon's Floor Show, NY (1) |
|
I Love My Man, Keeps on Rainin', Lover Man |
|
|
Eddie Condon's Floor Show, NY (1) |
|
Fine & Mellow, Porgy, Them There Eyes, I Love My Man |
|
|
Art Ford Show, NY (1) |
|
Lover Man, I Cover the Waterfront, Two Minute Interview, All of Me |
|
|
Art Ford Show, NY (1) |
|
Them There Eyes, Detour Ahead, Now or Never |
|
|
Eddie Condon's Floor Show, NY |
|
Unknown |
|
|
Apollo Theatre Show, NY (1) |
|
You're My Thrill |
|
|
Apollo Theatre Show, NY (1) |
|
My Man |
|
|
Apollo Theatre Show, NY (1) |
|
Tenderly |
|
|
The Comeback Story, NY (1) |
|
Twenty Minute Interview, God Bless the Child |
|
|
The Tonight Show, NY (1) |
|
My Man, Them There Eyes, Lover Man |
|
|
The Tonight Show, NY (1) |
|
Please Don't Talk About Me, Two Minute Interview, Ghost of a Chance |
|
|
Star's of Jazz, LA, CA (2) |
|
Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone, Billie's Blues, My Man |
|
|
Bandstand USA, NY (1) |
|
Willow Weep for Me, I Only Have Eyes for You, My Man, Please Don't Talk About Me |
|
|
Night Beat, NY (1) |
|
Fifteen Minute Interview |
|
|
Peacock Alley, NY (1) |
|
Twenty Minute Interview |
|
|
The Tonight Show, NY (1) |
|
Porgy |
|
|
Live Broadcast from Mr. Kelly's, Chicago (1) |
|
Good Morning Heartache, You Better Go Now |
|
|
The Seven Lively Arts: The Sound of Jazz, LA (2) |
|
Fine & Mellow |
|
|
Club Oasis, NY (1) |
|
You've Changed, My Man |
|
|
Telethon, NY |
|
Unknown Songs |
|
|
Art Ford's Jazz Party, NY (2) |
|
You've Changed, I Love My Man, When Your Lover Has Gone |
|
|
Art Ford's Jazz Party, NY |
|
All of Me, Good Morning Heartache, Travelin’ Light |
|
|
Art Ford's Jazz Party, NY (2) |
|
What a Little Moonlight Can Do, Foolin' Myself, It's Easy to Remember |
|
|
Art Ford's Jazz Party, NY (2) |
|
Moanin' Low, Don't Explain, When Your Lover Has Gone |
|
|
Today Show |
|
My Funny Valentine |
|
|
Mars Club, Music Hall Parade Voyons Un Peu, Paris France (2) |
|
I Only Have Eyes for You, Travelin’ Light |
|
|
Gilles Margaritis Programme, Paris France |
|
I Only Have Eyes For You, Trav'lin' Light |
|
|
Timex All-Star Jazz Show IV, NY |
|
Unknown |
|
|
Chelsea at Nine, London, England (2) |
|
Porgy, Please Don't Talk About Me, Strange Fruit |
(1) = Available on Audio (2) = Available on DVD
Notes[link]
- ^ a b History "Billie Holiday wishing on the Moon" p. 9.
- ^ Autobiography "Lady Sings the Blues" p. 14.
- ^ Bush, John. "Billie Holiday: Biography". Allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p56716/biography. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
- ^ Nicholson, pp. 17—19.
- ^ Nicholson, pp. 18—23.
- ^ Clarke, p. xiii.
- ^ Nicholson, pp. 21—22.
- ^ Nicholson, pp. 22–24.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 25.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 27.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 31.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 32.
- ^ "Billie Holiday Biography". Biography.com. http://www.biography.com/articles/Billie-Holiday-9341902. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
- ^ Nicholson, pp. 35—37.
- ^ Vail, Ken (1997). Lady Day's Diary. London, England: Sanctuary Publishing. p. 32. ISBN 1-86074-131-2.
- ^ Nicholson, pp. 35—39.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 39.
- ^ What are some popular songs/albums during Prohibition? – Yahoo! Answers. Answers.yahoo.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Gourse p. 73
- ^ Nicholson, p. 56.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 65.
- ^ Billie Holiday Discography – The Composers. Billieholidaysongs.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Network Offline. Jazznbossa.ning.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Gourse p. 73 – 74
- ^ Billie Holiday Page, Soulwalking.co.uk. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Nicholson p.93-94
- ^ Gourse p.40
- ^ "Billie Holiday Live Songs". Billieholidaysongs.com. http://www.billieholidaysongs.com/live_songs.htm#1937. Retrieved 2012-04-07.
- ^ Nicholson p.96-97
- ^ Holiday p. 80
- ^ Gourse p. 103-104
- ^ Nicholson p.100-107
- ^ Nicholson, p. 70.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 102.
- ^ David Margolick, Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Café Society, and an Early Cry for Civil Rights (Philadelphia: Running Press, 2000), pp. 25–27.
- ^ Margolick, Strange Fruit, pp. 40–46.
- ^ Clarke, p. 169.
- ^ a b Nicholson, p. 113.
- ^ Lady Sings the Blues p. 95.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 115.
- ^ Autobiography "Lady Sings the Blues" pp. 104–105.
- ^ "Billy Crystal: Biography". IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000345/bio. Retrieved March 30, 2011.
- ^ Autobiography "Lady Sings the Blues" pp. 100–101.
- ^ a b Song artist 250 – Billie Holiday. Tsort.info. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ a b Jazz History: The Standards (1940s). Jazzstandards.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ GRAMMY.com. GRAMMY.com (2009-02-08). Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Ghosts of Yesterday: Billie Holiday and the Two Irenes (March 4, 2006) http://indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/ghosts-of-yesterday-billie-holiday-and-the-two-irenes-a-jazz-mystery/#program-article
- ^ Nicholson, p. 130.
- ^ Harlem Hit Parade – The eMusic Dozen. Emusic.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 133.
- ^ a b Billie Holiday Studio Songs. Billieholidaysongs.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 150.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 122.
- ^ 52nd Street, the street of jazz – Google Books. Books.google.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ a b Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?) (1942) JazzStandards.com
- ^ Jazz Standards Songs and Instrumentals (Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)). Jazzstandards.com (1944-10-04). Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Alagna, Magdalena. Billie Holiday, The Rosen Publishing Group (2003), p. 61 – ISBN 0-8239-3640-6.
- ^ Billie Holiday Studio Songs. Billieholidaysongs.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Billie Holiday Live Songs. Billieholidaysongs.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Nicholson, pp. 152–155.
- ^ Autobiography "Lady Sings the Blues" pp. 136–140.
- ^ Nicholson, pp. 152–157.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 151.
- ^ Autobiography "Lady Sings the Blues" p. 146.
- ^ Autobiography "Lady Sings the Blues" pp. 147–149.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 155.
- ^ Search the Billboard Magazine Archives. Billboard.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Billie's blues: the Billie Holiday story, 1933–1959, Volume 1975, Part 3 By John Chilton.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Nicholson, pp. 165–167.
- ^ Lady Sings the Blues pp. 168–169.
- ^ Lady Sings the Blues pp. 172–173.
- ^ Clarke p. 327.
- ^ New York City Cabaret Card. En.academic.ru. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 229.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 167.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 215.
- ^ Autobiography "Lady Sings the Blues" p. 175.
- ^ Simone, Nina; Stephen Cleary (2003) [1992]. I Put a Spell on You. introduction by Dave Marsh (2nd ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80525-1. p. 60.
- ^ Nicholson, p. 181.
- ^ Robert Fulford, "Trying to find the real Lady Day: Those who try to tell Billie Holiday's story often discover an unknowable life".
- ^ a b c Hamlin, Jesse (September 18, 2006). "Billie Holiday's Bio, 'Lady Sings the Blues,' May be Full of lies, But It Gets at Jazz Great's Core". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/18/DDG2VL68691.DTL. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
- ^ Billie Holiday Vinyl Discography. Billieholidaysongs.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Billboard – Google Books. Books.google.com (1956-12-22). Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Billie Holiday – 1956 At The Carnegie Hall. The Essential Billie Holiday.
- ^ The Essential Billie Holiday, liner notes.
- ^ Feather, Leonard (1987). From Satchmo to Miles. Da Capo Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-306-80302-4.
- ^ Feather. – p.83.
- ^ Billie Holiday — a booklet published by New York Jazz Museum in 1970.
- ^ Interview on KCSM
- ^ Clarke, p. 96.
- ^ a b Donald , p. 74.
- ^ : JazzNotes : JazzNotes for Educators – Teddy Wilson. Riverwalkjazz.org. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Billie Holiday Discography – Her Musicians. Billieholidaysongs.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Billie Holiday Studio Songs. Billieholidaysongs.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Song title 70 – Summertime. Tsort.info. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ #1 Songs – 1930–1989. Ntl.matrix.com.br. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Billie Holiday Studio Songs. Billieholidaysongs.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Billie Holiday Long Play Discography. Billieholidaysongs.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Billie Holiday. AllMusic. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Grammy Hall of Fame Database.
- ^ Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame 2004.
- ^ The ASCP Jazz Wall of Fame list.
- ^ Touched by an Angel: God Bless the Child Episode Summary on. Tv.com (2008-06-25). Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ "Anton Arsen Ostojić / Ksenija Prohaska: LADY SINGS THE BLUES / HNK Split, 11. 02. 2006". Arhiva.hnk-split.hr. http://arhiva.hnk-split.hr/2005_2006/drama/billie_holiday/index.htm. Retrieved 2012-04-07.
References[link]
- Clarke, Donald (2000). Billie Holiday: Wishing on the Moon. Cambridge: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81136-7.
- Millar, Jack (1994). Fine and Mellow: A Discography of Billie Holiday. London: Billie Holiday Circle. ISBN 1-899161-00-7.
- Holiday, Billie; Dufty, William (1957). Lady Sings the Blues. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-14-006762-0.
- James, Burnett (1984). Billie Holiday. Gloucestershire, England: Spellmount Publishers. ISBN 0-946771-05-7.
- Chilton, John (1989). Billie's Blues: The Billie Holiday Story 1933–1959. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80363-1.
- O'Meally, Robert (1991). Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/15597014591|15597014591]].
- Nicholson, Stuart (1995). Billie Holiday. Boston: Northeastern University Press. ISBN 1-55553-303-5.
- Davis, Angela Y. (1998). Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-77126-3.
- Clarke, Donald (2000). Billie Holiday: Wishing on the Moon. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81136-7.
- Gourse, Leslie (2000). The Billie Holiday Companion: Seven Decades of Commentary. New York: Schirmer Trade Books. ISBN 0-02-864613-4.
- Ingham, Chris (2000). Billie Holiday. Darby, Pennsylvania: Diane Publishing. ISBN 1-56649-170-3.
- Griffin, Farah Jasmine (2001). If You Can't Be Free, Be A Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-684-86808-3.
- Blackburn, Julia (2006). With Billie: A New Look at the Unforgettable Lady Day. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-375-40610-7.
External links[link]
 |
Book: Billie Holiday |
| Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print. | |
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Billie Holiday |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Billie Holiday |
- Official Billie Holiday at Sony BMG
- Billie Holiday discography
- Biography and song samples at PBS
- "Twelve Essential Billie Holiday Recordings" by Stuart Nicholson, Jazz.com
- Photograph of Holiday's gravestone
- Billie Holiday at the Internet Movie Database
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Holiday, Billie |
| Alternative names | Fagan, Eleanora; Lady Day |
| Short description | Jazz singer, composer |
| Date of birth | April 7, 1915 |
| Place of birth | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Date of death | July 17, 1959 |
| Place of death | New York City, New York, U.S. |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
