Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth

Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth

â€¢Â Kirkus Best Books of 2015 selection forÂ BiographyÂ â€¢

Published in celebration of Holidayâ€™s centenary, the first biography to focus on the singerâ€™s extraordinary musical talent

When Billie Holiday stepped into Columbiaâ€™s studios in November 1933, it marked the beginning of what is arguably the most remarkable and influential career in twentieth-century popular music. Her voice weathered countless shifts in public taste, and new reincarnations of her continue to arrive, most recently in the form of singers like Amy Winehouse and Adele.

Most of the writing on Holiday has focused on the tragic details of her lifeâ€”her prostitution at the age of fourteen, her heroin addiction and alcoholism, her series of abusive relationshipsâ€”or tried to correct the many fabrications of her autobiography. But now, Billie Holiday stays close to the music, to her performance style, and to the self she created and put into print, on record and on stage.

Drawing on a vast amount of new material that has surfaced in the last decade, critically acclaimed jazz writer John Szwed considers how her life inflected her art, her influences, her uncanny voice and rhythmic genius, a number of her signature songs, and her legacy.

From the Hardcover edition.
Country USA
Manufacturer Penguin Books
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2015-03-31
Format Kindle eBook

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