Summary
In this sympathetic biography of Billie Holiday, jazz journalist Stuart Nicholson attempts to provide an accurate psychological portrait of the legendary singer and to clarify previously published misconceptions about her complex personality and short-lived life. Drawing on court records, police files, and newspaper accounts, he offers facts and challenges commentators who have discounted many events documented in Holiday's autobiography LADY SINGS THE BLUES. Additionally, Nicholson discusses the ways in which Holiday used song lyrics to express the painful aspects of her life.
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Media Reviews
"Her way with a tune, rather than the tune itself, permanently affected the way I deal with a vocal swerve, whether composing songs on the poems of Sappho or John Ashbery, operas on books of Gertrude Stein or Elliott Stein, or church litanies on Latin or French texts....[Nicholson's] book is intelligent, well written, maddeningly thorough and, for the most part, responsible..... Mr. Nicholson's book is built around Holiday's music, from which her life emerges, rather than around her life, from which the music emerges." -- Ned Rorem
-- New York Times Book Review
Bibliographic Details
Publisher: Univ Pr of New England
Published date: 1995
Size: 6.5 x 9.5 inches
Weight: 1.55 pounds
Publisher's Notes
This compelling biography of Billie Holiday (1915-1959) provides a fresh and revealing portrait of one of the greatest jazz singers of all time. In the first work to separate fact from myth, Stuart Nicholson illuminates the complex details of Holiday's life, her artistry, and her musical legacy. Drawing on extensive interviews with those who knew and worked with Holiday, and on an exhaustive examination of newspaper accounts, court records, and FBI and police files, Nicholson uncovers a wealth of new information about Holiday's life and career. Included are her rape as an eleven-year-old, her battles with drug addiction and alcoholism, her arrest and imprisonment for heroin possession, her sex life, and her struggles against racial prejudice. Throughout his examination of Holiday's stormy life Nicholson weaves a revealing analysis of her performances and recordings. He traces the many strands of Holiday's career against the background of the mid-twentieth-century entertainment business and the day-to-day working environment of jazz musicians. The volume concludes with an authoritative discography by noted jazz historian Phil Schaap.
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