Lady Sings the Blues

Nice reissue of the 1956 original. Billie was and still is an American jazz icon. For me the CD stuck in the back of the book was a wonderful bonus. 16 year old Renee Olstead singing "Good Morning Heartache" just blows me away! She has the potential to become another great jazz icon!

While Billie Holiday had a co-author on this one, the latter thankfully must have served mostly as "scribe and editor," because I could really feel what Billie felt and saw what she saw during her career. The book is well-done and reads like a great novel. Billie Holiday was a hugely popular, incredibly talented and beautiful, black blues vocalist and club entertainer, often attached to big bands, traveling the nation predominently during the 40s and 50s. In her own words, you'll hear how she engaged in every form of behavior in order to maintain her career, to survive, and even to recreate; thus, she indulged herself in prostitution, took drugs like a fiend, and succumbed to occasional extortion brought on by various rotten people who surrounded her. Rather than to detail what Billie said about herself, I'd rather hit upon the ambiance of Billie's soul... by the time I finished this book, I had developed a HUGE respect for Billie Holiday. She often spewed the most vile language, usually at her numerous tormentors, but she was neither malicious, nor petty, nor hateful. She endured the most heinous forms of personal treatment during her travels with the various bands with whom she was attached, solely due to the fact that she was black. Of course, this was tragically common during this era of American history. But what is most amazing to me was that Billie never "whines" about any of this in her book. Yes, she expresses displeasure, but this was a lady who had far too much personal dignity to bellyache about her circumstances. She doesn't say this... it's something that the READER extracts from the aggregate of her comments. Most of Billie's money sadly went for drugs of abuse which no doubt contributed to her premature death. She recorded hundreds of songs and, at least in my older hardcover edition of the book, there is a very nicely organized discography in the back. If you want to get a sense of what this book is all about and how it is presented, just listen to a 50s version (Billie's voice was rasping a bit by this time but I much prefer her recordings from this "late period" of her checkerboard career) of "Lover Man," which was Jack Kerouac's favorite tune and one of mine too. And if you want to know how she was handled by associates, just listen to her most haunting rendition ever, "Strange Fruit". You can look up the lyrics online which will also give you a sense of what I'm talking about. Compare Billie's life to the similarly tragic activities of the late Janis Joplin -- the two were alike in many ways and shared similar experiences (pawns) in the music world and in their personal lives. This biography is a "must read" for music and celebrity fans, but it's also a great casual read for folks who garner more general interests.

I have a deep love and respect for some of the most influential female jazz and soul singers of our time, like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, Carmen McRae, Lena Horne, and last but not least, Billie Holiday. In LADY SINGS THE BLUES, Holiday recalls some of the most resonant memories of her turbulent past--the good, the [mostly] bad and the [frequently] ugly. From the very start, Billie Holiday (birth name Eleanora Fagan) born to thirteen year old Sadie Fagan and sixteen year old Clarence Holiday, had a very difficult life. The young girl saw much in the rough streets of Baltimore, Maryland, as a call girl, a jailbird and a spitfire with a vey hot temper. Billie didn't even consider a career in singing, and her introduction as a vocalist was (perhaps) accidental, but definitely fate. Her descent into drug addiction, jailtime, turbulent relationships (with both men and women) and the great antipathy she faced in the storm of racism, jealousy and gossip made for a very adverse life, on and off of the stage. Some of the greatest moments of her career are documented here, as told to writer William Dufty. We learn the stories behind songs like "Strange Fruit," that are songs she created and truly lived and experienced, before setting them to lyric and melody. Though, I never heard Billie Holiday's speaking voice, I heard it throughout this piece, and I can see why it was brought to the screen, as a film. I haven't seen it, so I honestly have no idea how well it translated as a movie, with Diana Ross. Though, I have heard it was fantastic. There is also a companion CD, that goes with the memoir, to mark the 50th anniversary of its original release (1956-2006). Perhaps that's why I had to take one star away from the package, as a whole. You really can't read a book like LADY SINGS THE BLUES and then hear other artists covering the songs that Billie really created. There is no comparison, even though musicians like Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds are featured on the album (doing a respectable job of STRANGE FRUIT). It's just not the same. Yet, if the CD was excluded from this 50th anniversary reissue, I would give the book (on its own) five stars, without hesitation. Highly reccomended!

I picked this book up because the woman's voice moves me. I wanted to learn more about her; wanted to know where all of the pain and dignity came from. I'll admit that I was apprehensive...I was certain that her version of the story would be sugar-coated. My fears were unfounded. Billie doesn't leave anything out. She seems to understand that darker points of her life were where the gift was coming from. She candidly discusses her heroin & alcohol addictions, as well as a brief bout of prostitution. She was as interesting as she was talented. Hers is assuredly a harrowing tale, but it is tempered with dignity, honesty & intelligence. She possessed a wisdom that can only derive from a lifetime of tragic mistakes. My one complaint would be that the disturbing chain of events leading to her death aren't covered here. But, alas, this is an autobiography & death can't really be covered in an autobiography. Get her life from her...try Donald Clarke's Wishing On The Moon: The Life & Times Of Billie Holiday(Viking/1994) for adequate coverage of her untimely death. There is enough trgedy and triumph in Lady Sings to satisfy the strongest craving. Ms. Holiday & Mr. Duffy educated me about jazz and its lifestyle, but, more than that, they made me want to know more...to experience more. Lady Sings The Blues is an amazing chronicle of one of music's most gifted and soulful human beings. If you have the slightest spark of interest, you would be cheating yourself by passing on this wonderfully haunting book. Billie Holiday saw that her story's value was dependent upon absolute honesty on her part. This book would mean nothing without it.

I came across this book at a local library. Never has a more honest reflection of oneself been written. Her words are so vivid on the struggles she has lived through. What a Classy Lady!!!!