- published: 04 Jul 2014
- views: 703147
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Harris 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." 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.
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.
Actors: Suzanne De Passe (writer), Bob Mackie (costume designer), Isabel Sanford (actress), George Wyner (actor), Richard Pryor (actor), Michel Legrand (composer), Diana Ross (actress), Virginia Capers (actress), Scatman Crothers (actor), Billy Dee Williams (actor), Ned Glass (actor), Sid Melton (actor), Milton Selzer (actor), Lawrence Schiller (miscellaneous crew), Sidney J. Furie (director),
Plot: Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday. Her late childhood, stint as a prostitute, early tours, marriages and drug addiction are featured.
Keywords: 1930s, african-american, alcohol, arrest, baltimore-maryland, bandleader, based-on-book, blaxploitation, brothel, carnegie-hall-manhattan-new-york-citySammy Kahn / Saul Chaplin / Mann Holiner / Alberta Nichols / L.E. Freeman
I'd wait for you
I'd slave for you
I'd be a beggar or a knave for you
If that isn't love, it will have to do
Until the real thing comes along
I'd gladly move
The earth for you
To prove my love, dear
And its worth for you
If that isn't love, it will have to do
Until the real thing comes along.
With all the words, dear, at my command
I just can't make you understand
I'll always love you darling
Come what may
My heart is yours
What more can I say?
I'd lie for you
I'd sigh for you
I'd tear the stars down from the sky for you
If that isn't love, it will have to do
Until the real thing comes along
With all the words, dear, at my command
I just can't make you understand
I'll always love you baby
Come what may
My heart is yours
What more can I say?
I'd lie for you
I'd cry for you
I'd lay my body down and die tor you
If that isn't love, it will have to do