@atiboy1 Norah?? I love Norah but I don't think its fair to make such a comparisom. Billie is a one off. Her sound, her style, her timing are hers alone. There is but only one Billie Holiday. As far as contemproary artists who travel on the path she paved, Erykah Badu is the one that sticks out. She is bold and unique, and pays homage to Billie by following her muse and creating challenging music rooted in the Blues and Jazz tradition. Billie has plenty of imitators, but it ain't the same thing.
She was born into a Country that at the time hung human beings from trees because they had to pay for the terrible crime of being born with brown skin, not so long ago either, disgusting - no wonder this angel could sing the blues RIP Billie - Love from England XXXX
I hate it how when someone is really getting into music - especially an artist - everyone automatically assumes they must be on drugs. You just gotta learn to let go.....
Billie's always described as a blues singer but she was also a fantastic interpreter of the popular music of her day great arrangements by some of the best musicians around. She may have had a sad life but listening to her cheers me up like nothing else- its fantastically uplifting music.
It's a romantic-type thought to name the drugs as the cause for her ability to render a song but I've seen highly girted people that all turned out even more gifted when off drugs. There are more paths in life than drug addict an d rich white kid. It's the ability to feel that counts, not how hard one's life has been. Listen to Ann Hampton Callaway, a "rich white kid" do "Blues in the Night". Also listen to Eva Cassidy, Audra McDonald and Phoebe Snow None of these people are addicts.
"Billy" was what is called born with the Blues in ya blood. I'm white and started playing music, esp the blues at a very young age, and people eg; Australian Crawl heard me on the harmonica and said ." her music is coloured". didn't understand straight away but I know now and I didn't know about Billies or Janis Joplin's drug taking, but I became a heroine addict.........
Wow she is suffering what Amy Winehouse is. This many laters after her death, people are still on about that bullshit? Damn...FOCUS ON THE MUSIC, THE BEAUTIFUL WOMEN AND THEIR GORGEOUS VOICES! Wtf is up with people -___-
who gives a fuck about drugs? this woman was absolutely amazing and breath taking. The future of female vocalists would forever attempt to try and imitate Billie and her sophisticated beauty. Did she dabble? Yes, but who are we to judge? We all dabble in something, and rest assured, I bet none of us watching this video right now can sing worth shit. Not on drugs in this video either.. Billie just felt and became one with the music during this jam session. :)
@microscepter She didnt just "dabble"! she was an addict...she was one of the first female musicians to make thousands a month back in her time and it mostly went to drugs....Granted her childhood was terrible what being raped at 11 and being turned into a prostitute by her own mother by the age of 14..so perhaps she was trying to numb her childhood traumas but she was a full blown addict lets not lie to ourselves.
@truediabolique69 hmmm? how should i respond to that comment?with a snarky, self righteous one? nehhh... just with a simple.. 'andddddddddddddddd??????????' *hits the play button and sings along to Billies beautiful voice.
I saw it at first for over 20 years. Since I'm a addicted of Billie Holiday. And have similar habits to her. I love 80% of her recordings, but the time between '44 and '56 and a few later where my Favorites. And the more I hear "Lady in Satin", I understand it, at my personell downpoint. She can after 60 years, she is gone, broke a Heart.
The early voice was straight from another era, with the kind of instinctual musicianship and sense of pitch that you see in Ma Rainey and Clara Smith.
Later with what remained of her voice, her brain and decisions still indicate where the melody is going. The later ravaged voice creates a sympathetic effect, but not without real syncopation, musical pulse and intention. She was something really special.
In the 30s they did not have stay away from drugs campaigns or rehab programs everywhere it was just the thing many artists in those days fell into & died from. It was a harder world then
This is a great group of musicians with Billie. Didn't Gerry Mulligan play and party with Chet Barker? I think I recall reading a bio of Chet that he started using when playing with Gerry.
@Diosprometheus I'm sure you meant to write "Chet B-A-K-E-R," whose "Let's Get Lost" I could listen to forever. I've written this before that had I been fortunate enough to become a success as a producer, a young Chris Walken would've been my choice to play Baker.
Billie Holiday did not use drugs all of her life! She first used heroin in the early 1940s. There are a couple of excellent texts on her. Read! The movie version is filled with lies and half truths. It does not even deal with the woman who revolutionized the American songbook with her style. Nothing was ever the same!
@paula1185 yea..i read tarraborelli's diana ross/.....the movie was 90% billie holiday's actual life. Her three lovers were combined into just one character...appparently holiday's life was altered to make the movie a Diana Ross vehicle and even Berry Gordy accepted it. People are fools to belive all that stuff from movies alone. Not every movie is harry potter
@paula1185 It would be a monumental task for any movie to capture on celluloid Holiday's Dantean existence. Although I give props to Ross for her effort, the only other person I feel could come close to essaying Holiday on screen would be the New Orleans-born dancer, Marie Bryant. Some things just don't transition well to screen. Holiday combines Edith Piaf, Cesaria Evora, Marlene Dietrich, Jaye P. Morgan, and Argentina's Maria de la Fuente in bringing pain to music.
De toute facon, l'information de jujubeer est un peu bête parce qu'on n'apprend pas la cause de l'abus de la drogue: cet user devrait mentionner que Lada Day n'avait pas les mêmes droits que les artistes blancs, qu'elle était traitée comme une malade à cause de la couleur de sa peau - ou autrement dit: elle était la victime du racisme et elle en soufrrait trop. Voilà la raison de la drogue et je regrette de ne pouvoir pas l'expliquer en anglais pour les cons de ce forum.
@Memale2009 , you are quite right about the status of black musicians at that time. Of course, drug use is still a personal choice (and a bad one). La cause est au dedans, aussi bien qu'au-dehors.
@Memale2009 Ca m'est egale that you didn't express your analysis in English. Those of us with un peu understanding of francais understood you loud and clear. Et vous avez raison quand vous dite, "...l'information de jujubeer est un peu bete (plus que "bete")...Mais je pense que la question de la couleur de sa peau est un peu la cause. Il ya plus. Il est tres etrange pour moi quand j'ecoute la magnifique chanteuse francaise Edith Piaf, il y a le aspect de "blues" aussi et Piaf est blanche!!!
@ccaammiiittoo1 Oui, vous avez raison. Les deux chanteuses ont commencés à zéro, mais la Piaf aussi a été la victime de sa vie malsaine. Les deux sont nées en 1915 et mortes à l'âge de 48 (P.) et 43 (H.) ans. Il est vrai qu'Edith avait beaucoup plus d'amis qui l'aidaient et l'aimaient, tandis que Lady Day était plus ou moins seule et confrontée au racisme. C'est cette injustice qui lui a brisé le coeur - et bien sûr: ses partenaires qui étaient seulement intéressés à profiter d'elle. Thanks!
she only got addicted to drugs because of her hard past. listen to "strange fruit" by billy holiday and it explains the racisim that occured when she was young. she was beaten and kicked out of her home when she was only 9 due to her parents and grandma passing away. she woke up on a bed with her grandma's hands locked around her. even when she did become a singer, she was kicked out because of her skin. She couldnt enter with the other singers, but she had to enter through the kitchen
@ilovesoohyun94 Her mother was kicked out of her home not Billie..and Billie was raised by her half-aunt and by that half-aunts own mother in law..not by Billies own blood related grandmother.
and like i said, her parents passed away, she moved into her gradmother's house
and her grandmother passed away due to old age. she woke up and her grandmother's arms were
locked around her. And then, she was kicked out again, off to the streets; and out of desperate-ness, she went into a club and the kind owner allowed her to sing, which became her starting point of her singing career.
@ilovesoohyun94 Her parents passed away?? she didnt even know her father! and at the age of 12 she finally went to live with her mother where she picked up prostitution when introduced to it by their landlady! Her mother worked on trains and that is why she never spent much time with her mother during her formative years and was raised by her mothers half sister and by that half sisters mother in law whose name was Martha Miller.
Enjoy the music ! NO matter her sad life or drugs or whatever a very unique voice none better and because of vinyl we get to hear her over and over again !
watching the movie "lady sings the blues"...her music is very beautiful... too bad the drugs ruined her life. she could have been better without the drugs :(
Thank God for this fine record of Billie's soul. She drinks in the msic, blends with it and projects that pathos that even the finest blues interpreters can only dream of expressing. Thanks for this posting. The comments about her personal life are childish.
in my opinion, singers like Billie and Amy who are known for flaws looked by society make them more down to earth and amazing as artists cuz they KNOW what they're talking about when they sing
@horbergus UHHH... easy, cuz im not comparing them at all. thats the problem with some of you here, you think that just cuz i say a legend's name in a sentence with another artist's name who has had influence of that legend, that automatically means i put them on a pedestal, to see who's better and what not. Sorry to burst your bubble but i can appreciate both of them without having the need to compare them
@horbergus AHA very mature, youre trying to avoid the points i made by criticizing an obviously well known figure of fucking speech, "whatever dude" my ass, and how in the hell did my comment look like a COMPARISON? I neither said who was better/worse than who, I was simply pointing out that these two women had serious problems, Billie used to be a prostitute and Amy a drug addict, which gave them more insight into the lyrics. i rly dont care if u reply or not, im done with this
@TheSunIsBlack ~ Nor are Caucasions,hetero/homosapians,Men,Women,Irish folk are not all mad for potatoes,Indians don't all give up their birth right for sparkly thinks & whiskey,(then want it back), I know russians that HATE vodka etc. etc. And although I'm Cherokee & Irish by heritage & my name is on the Cherokee Roll,My skin is white. I don't drink or gamble, and I've not oppressed anyone Thank You.Careful dear or You might fall for the Propaganda Yourself!
@BlackTruthForever I'm not a boy you ethno-centric, ignorant, pseudo seuth-saying piece of racist,sexist vermin. YOU are the reason we can't all just get along Rodney. YOU are the black man sauntering slowly across the middle of the street Against the light daring someone (the man) to hit him, so he may scream "hate crime". As well as using names like your clever black truth forever and the sun is black.You're the one talking about oppression & how racism is alive today. Well, it is, in you!
You have the mentality of a child, hence i call you as you act.
You speak without knowing the facts, hence I call you stupid..
You talk with the same attitude and words of a white trash fool, hence I call you white. Don't want to be a piece of white trash, how about not acting like it little boy?
"Being a professional musician back then was a rough, poor, drugged experience"God NO. iT WAS A CHALLENGE.and often a joy.Thats why it was so attractive. I lived it. some doped , some did'nt .The ones that didn't got to last, esp. long enough to get paid.(Nat Cole (a devoted work ethic type), Ella Fitzgerald,Mahalia richer than kings )By the by, often it paid so well factory and service jobs went forgot especially so post wwII.. ...
i have to correct this NOW...kids, this statement is in error! Lady Day got hooked in adulthood....she was perfectly healthy in her early youth. As per references to her talents, that was derived from the African American church and a lot of work in the social setting and professional. The Diaspora culture is and was loaded with art.. .Dope was not an aid or even a prop, altho her voice did alter because of it.. significantly,and interestingly so
Lady Day in a fantastic rendering of 'Lady Sings the Blues' with fine solos from a stellar cast of backing musicians - Ben Webster, Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan, Coleman Hawkins and Roy Eldridge,
i love her so much regardless of the drugs or not her voice was beautiful and she put so much of herself in every one of her songs . . so beautiful and heart rending. .
Those are just a couple of examples. oh yeah Rap artist and all. 2PAC, BIGGY, now Lil Wayne. and I can keep going. Mostly fans like to know that the artist is just like them. So they can relate..
@Vivixal sounds like you're wanting to hold her addiction against her and you're choosing to leave in the respect you would have taken away in other circumstances. gee, maybe the drugs were part of the equation that made her who she was. ever thinka that?
@pewsterbaby That's not what I'm doing at all. All I'm saying is that with everyone talking about the drugs she did in her life, you just need to push that aside and just think of her as who she is and how much she accomplished in her life, and for you to respect her for that.
for those of you who are saying that these peoples music would have been better without the drugs! JUST SO YOU KNOW, these artists are who they are and produced what they did and made hits after hit with just about everyone of the songs they made while on drugs. check the Wendy Williams show clips for Natalie Cole, see what she says. See interviews with RAY CHARLES before he died after being clean. . See what he says and I'll Quote "all the songs I made when i was on drugs were number1 hits."
@Rollyoll .... Ray Charles, in spite of being impaired.you are outside of the culture.Men and women that lived and living thru American hypocrisy like him stronger than you likely will ever be
@Rollyoll so all AFRICAN people, thruout history were dopers. Black folk, have been the best muscians on this planet---dancers too.the culture suppported this--even little black kids sing and dance when left W/IN THE CULTURE
Its was her life and her story, and we must take the good and the bad, ,,, A beautiful lady who sung the jazz wit a hint of the blues and her life was a mirror of her music… thanks for the great music Billy
There is a biography of Billie's life from interviews with people who knew her and worked with her when she was alive (rather than people who wrote what they thought her life may have been based on what was written about her) It is called With Billie from Julia Blackburn using Linda Kuehl's interviews. The book is more informative than the reviewers' addiction to templated summing up try it ...for a change
Yes, one of the greats. One should always separate the artist from the person. So what if she did drugs. She only had a 13 note range and look what she did.
@sphinxrising58 Race religions isn't a great deal better now. I live in the "New" South, and from what I've seen, all they've really done is take down the signs and change a bit of their terminology ... the bigottry and hatred is still alive and well in people's hearts unfortunately. To end racism, ALL concerned must open their hearts and souls to the reality that the Good Lord created ALL of us!
@sphinxrising58 you are absolutely right because im her great-grandson( Billie Holiday) and all the lady's in my family act like that ,i think they are just born depress but they are the sweetest lady specially my grand mother who look just like her and ack like the way she act on this film,and will do anything for anybody that's how they all whined up getting use and abused !
@sphinxrising58 know i dont have to wish i am her great grand son and my grand mother is still alive and thats her doughtier! Cynthia Monroe and she looks just like her, believe it or not
@LAYVON20 First of all, learn how to spell " daughter ", not " daughtier ", & you are not Billie Holiday's anything, except perhaps a creepy stalking fan, which places you in the Necrophelia area, just eww.
@sphinxrising58 well bitch come see and you can meet my grand mother too! we are right in Baltimore Maryland you probably a cracker with money dig her up and get some DNA my grand mother wont have no problem with it you hater!
@turpinaime Saying that using a mic to be heard invalidates you as a singer is kind of like saying a painter isn't a "real" painter if you can't see every brushstroke from across the room.
@katraylor Mic and autotuned make the same job: to correct the natural voice output. In art, only the result is important. So my point was that autotuned is not a big deal! (as long as it doesnt sound awful)
@turpinaime Well, if you're going to be that vague about it, then singing and shouting are exactly the same and there's no difference between Ma Rainey's voice and Marilyn Horne's.
@katraylor I don't know these girls. As I said, I juge the result, not the way to reach it. Mic, autotune, vocoder. compression or whatever, are artifices.
Lot of rock singers "shout" considering "jazz standart". And? Some jazz singer (like Billie) were bashed because they have poor volume considering "classical standart" : ) But Billie Holliday could express lot of things through her voice. Who cares that her range and volume were limited ? No standart is the true. Art is a beautiful lie.
@turpinaime Don't be such a snob. Opera singers are not the only "true singers." The mic lets you hear emotional nuances that wouldn't carry over a large space otherwise-- it's a different style, but no more or less valid than opera (and I say that as somoene with a classical voice degree).
Anita O'Day was a white jazz singer who was a friend and contemporary of Billie's.She was also a heroin addict in the 50's and 60's. To see an incredible performance of hers check out Jazz On A Summer's Day. Love them both. They were both virtuosos which is obvious to anyone who understands jazz or blues. Each had her own style, and they are unequaled to this day.
Tony Leonard indeed was there. Though I'm a journalism teacher and journalism I've also been in the music business all my life, at times traveling with a name singer, so I know the life. I never could understand how they endured the road trips (Doris Day brought her son Terry and her mother), the hotel stays and catch-a-meal-when-you-can life but they all loved it.
There were periods when Billie was free of drugs. She tried repeatedly to get away from them. But moving in the world she did it was difficult because drugs were so intertwined with the social life. She herself created the image of a drug-using tragic figure but, much like Judy Garland, in real life she was a joyous, funny soul. I know many people who worked with her that spoke of how much fun she was and also how kind and sweet she could be.
@waynebrasler getting the pleasure of spending time with Mr. Tony Lenoard, and hearing the stories of what it was like to work as a musician in those days. It was tough, and fun and worth every bit of hardship, he never gave up his sax. I'm blessed to have been a part of his life, even if it was too short for me.
@waynebrasler well shae wasent so kind when she left her son and daughter at the baby siters house and never cam back and they had to go throw the same abuse she Indored as a child ,and at her funereal know one ever mention or acknowledged or know she had kids my mother was her daughter i know ,she was realy sweet was she?
I am from Mexico, and I think Ella was not sad or blue, she just interpretared the blues in her singing for us to understand so nice and fine that the melancholy of blues became a new note between la si and do. I think she enjoyed singing as much as we enjoy listening to her. If I havent cancelled my reservation to the resurresion like morrison did I would surely want to be her in a new life....
Exactly., Artist in general., they are a bit up there high up there when they compuse a melody or write a song.. look up any Singer or Artist in general and the good ones have been in drugs or some type of drugs, so that helps them uninhibited them and let everything within come out as art....
Prez cuts everyone to pieces on this....not that everyone doesn't sound incredible
TheLordoftheJazz 6 days ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Does anyone know the name of the sax player please?
bbtablet 1 week ago
I have done further research and discovered it is Gerry Mulligan.
Search You-tube for the following:
Gerry Mulligan - Moonlight In Vermont - 1959
bbtablet 1 week ago
isnt this Fine and Mellow???
purplerock12 2 weeks ago
The 17 people who pressed dislike are deaf And very sad!
Ningwu1 1 month ago 2
it was a sad time. a time full of race, hate, even for a star... sad and beautiful
Dustefart 1 month ago
@atiboy1 Norah?? I love Norah but I don't think its fair to make such a comparisom. Billie is a one off. Her sound, her style, her timing are hers alone. There is but only one Billie Holiday. As far as contemproary artists who travel on the path she paved, Erykah Badu is the one that sticks out. She is bold and unique, and pays homage to Billie by following her muse and creating challenging music rooted in the Blues and Jazz tradition. Billie has plenty of imitators, but it ain't the same thing.
bolder2009 1 month ago
She was born into a Country that at the time hung human beings from trees because they had to pay for the terrible crime of being born with brown skin, not so long ago either, disgusting - no wonder this angel could sing the blues RIP Billie - Love from England XXXX
Darrell9029 1 month ago
I hate it how when someone is really getting into music - especially an artist - everyone automatically assumes they must be on drugs. You just gotta learn to let go.....
funnyfacerful 1 month ago
Oh my goodness! Her voice is so different......this must be before she fell into drugs.
duskwriter 1 month ago
Billie's always described as a blues singer but she was also a fantastic interpreter of the popular music of her day great arrangements by some of the best musicians around. She may have had a sad life but listening to her cheers me up like nothing else- its fantastically uplifting music.
567nameblah 1 month ago in playlist YouTube Mix for Billie Holiday
It's a romantic-type thought to name the drugs as the cause for her ability to render a song but I've seen highly girted people that all turned out even more gifted when off drugs. There are more paths in life than drug addict an d rich white kid. It's the ability to feel that counts, not how hard one's life has been. Listen to Ann Hampton Callaway, a "rich white kid" do "Blues in the Night". Also listen to Eva Cassidy, Audra McDonald and Phoebe Snow None of these people are addicts.
halaluani 1 month ago
what a stellar line up
leeoskar1 1 month ago in playlist YouTube Mix for Billie Holiday
"Billy" was what is called born with the Blues in ya blood. I'm white and started playing music, esp the blues at a very young age, and people eg; Australian Crawl heard me on the harmonica and said ." her music is coloured". didn't understand straight away but I know now and I didn't know about Billies or Janis Joplin's drug taking, but I became a heroine addict.........
didclements 1 month ago
Perhaps this is the problem of the world, we cant treat them right.
net60man 1 month ago
Wow she is suffering what Amy Winehouse is. This many laters after her death, people are still on about that bullshit? Damn...FOCUS ON THE MUSIC, THE BEAUTIFUL WOMEN AND THEIR GORGEOUS VOICES! Wtf is up with people -___-
ThePaperFalcon 2 months ago
I don't think anyone knows the real truth of Billie Holiday. May she rest in peace and her music goes on forever.
mccambry48 2 months ago
Tsk. Billie would be spinning in her grave right about now.
Drug use, life story, none of that matters anymore. Only Billie herself would've known the full truth.
How about we just sit back and enjoy her music, hmm?
sweetcougar74 2 months ago in playlist YouTube Mix for Billie Holiday
the first comment is scandalous...nothing to add...thanks Billie, thanks...I love you
gilgamess3 2 months ago
who gives a fuck about drugs? this woman was absolutely amazing and breath taking. The future of female vocalists would forever attempt to try and imitate Billie and her sophisticated beauty. Did she dabble? Yes, but who are we to judge? We all dabble in something, and rest assured, I bet none of us watching this video right now can sing worth shit. Not on drugs in this video either.. Billie just felt and became one with the music during this jam session. :)
microscepter 2 months ago 24
@microscepter She didnt just "dabble"! she was an addict...she was one of the first female musicians to make thousands a month back in her time and it mostly went to drugs....Granted her childhood was terrible what being raped at 11 and being turned into a prostitute by her own mother by the age of 14..so perhaps she was trying to numb her childhood traumas but she was a full blown addict lets not lie to ourselves.
truediabolique69 2 months ago
@truediabolique69 hmmm? how should i respond to that comment?with a snarky, self righteous one? nehhh... just with a simple.. 'andddddddddddddddd??????????' *hits the play button and sings along to Billies beautiful voice.
microscepter 2 months ago
@microscepter
well said-
jack111911 1 month ago
Does anyone know the name of the baritone sax player please?
bbtablet 1 week ago
@bbtablet I believe it's Harry Carney..
microscepter 1 week ago
I saw it at first for over 20 years. Since I'm a addicted of Billie Holiday. And have similar habits to her. I love 80% of her recordings, but the time between '44 and '56 and a few later where my Favorites. And the more I hear "Lady in Satin", I understand it, at my personell downpoint. She can after 60 years, she is gone, broke a Heart.
watcherof47 2 months ago
I love how they sing the blues so sexy
shiftingclown 2 months ago
This isn't 'Lady sings the blues'...
mineskrutable 2 months ago
wow youtube has EVERYTHING dont they????
shannonsjohnson69 2 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
I find the years of Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole just fascinating. Check out my chanell for covers of songs written in those days.
josephina323 2 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
The early voice was straight from another era, with the kind of instinctual musicianship and sense of pitch that you see in Ma Rainey and Clara Smith.
Later with what remained of her voice, her brain and decisions still indicate where the melody is going. The later ravaged voice creates a sympathetic effect, but not without real syncopation, musical pulse and intention. She was something really special.
coryisawake 3 months ago
Comment removed
coryisawake 3 months ago
In the 30s they did not have stay away from drugs campaigns or rehab programs everywhere it was just the thing many artists in those days fell into & died from. It was a harder world then
Tierren32 3 months ago
Get your audio and video in sync bedroeg gilling YouTube with unwatchable shit
eibuis 3 months ago
@eibuis Get your spelling fixed before filling YouTube with unreadable comments.
ChristyEmanuelson 3 months ago
This is a great group of musicians with Billie. Didn't Gerry Mulligan play and party with Chet Barker? I think I recall reading a bio of Chet that he started using when playing with Gerry.
Diosprometheus 3 months ago
@Diosprometheus I'm sure you meant to write "Chet B-A-K-E-R," whose "Let's Get Lost" I could listen to forever. I've written this before that had I been fortunate enough to become a success as a producer, a young Chris Walken would've been my choice to play Baker.
ccaammiiittoo1 2 weeks ago
Billie Holiday did not use drugs all of her life! She first used heroin in the early 1940s. There are a couple of excellent texts on her. Read! The movie version is filled with lies and half truths. It does not even deal with the woman who revolutionized the American songbook with her style. Nothing was ever the same!
paula1185 3 months ago 21
@paula1185 amen
microscepter 2 months ago
@paula1185 yea..i read tarraborelli's diana ross/.....the movie was 90% billie holiday's actual life. Her three lovers were combined into just one character...appparently holiday's life was altered to make the movie a Diana Ross vehicle and even Berry Gordy accepted it. People are fools to belive all that stuff from movies alone. Not every movie is harry potter
duskwriter 1 month ago
@paula1185 It would be a monumental task for any movie to capture on celluloid Holiday's Dantean existence. Although I give props to Ross for her effort, the only other person I feel could come close to essaying Holiday on screen would be the New Orleans-born dancer, Marie Bryant. Some things just don't transition well to screen. Holiday combines Edith Piaf, Cesaria Evora, Marlene Dietrich, Jaye P. Morgan, and Argentina's Maria de la Fuente in bringing pain to music.
ccaammiiittoo1 2 weeks ago
My God, let me go to heaven and hear this wonderful and unique voice ,then send me anywhere.
I love her music...she's going to last forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
webeurope35 3 months ago
De toute facon, l'information de jujubeer est un peu bête parce qu'on n'apprend pas la cause de l'abus de la drogue: cet user devrait mentionner que Lada Day n'avait pas les mêmes droits que les artistes blancs, qu'elle était traitée comme une malade à cause de la couleur de sa peau - ou autrement dit: elle était la victime du racisme et elle en soufrrait trop. Voilà la raison de la drogue et je regrette de ne pouvoir pas l'expliquer en anglais pour les cons de ce forum.
Memale2009 3 months ago
@Memale2009 , you are quite right about the status of black musicians at that time. Of course, drug use is still a personal choice (and a bad one). La cause est au dedans, aussi bien qu'au-dehors.
drzlecuti 2 months ago
@drzlecuti Oui, vous avez raison.
Memale2009 2 months ago
@Memale2009 Ca m'est egale that you didn't express your analysis in English. Those of us with un peu understanding of francais understood you loud and clear. Et vous avez raison quand vous dite, "...l'information de jujubeer est un peu bete (plus que "bete")...Mais je pense que la question de la couleur de sa peau est un peu la cause. Il ya plus. Il est tres etrange pour moi quand j'ecoute la magnifique chanteuse francaise Edith Piaf, il y a le aspect de "blues" aussi et Piaf est blanche!!!
ccaammiiittoo1 2 weeks ago
@ccaammiiittoo1 Oui, vous avez raison. Les deux chanteuses ont commencés à zéro, mais la Piaf aussi a été la victime de sa vie malsaine. Les deux sont nées en 1915 et mortes à l'âge de 48 (P.) et 43 (H.) ans. Il est vrai qu'Edith avait beaucoup plus d'amis qui l'aidaient et l'aimaient, tandis que Lady Day était plus ou moins seule et confrontée au racisme. C'est cette injustice qui lui a brisé le coeur - et bien sûr: ses partenaires qui étaient seulement intéressés à profiter d'elle. Thanks!
Memale2009 2 weeks ago
@Memale2009 You are most appreciated!
ccaammiiittoo1 2 weeks ago
One of the most classic & chilling song forever!
GreenCertains 3 months ago
she only got addicted to drugs because of her hard past. listen to "strange fruit" by billy holiday and it explains the racisim that occured when she was young. she was beaten and kicked out of her home when she was only 9 due to her parents and grandma passing away. she woke up on a bed with her grandma's hands locked around her. even when she did become a singer, she was kicked out because of her skin. She couldnt enter with the other singers, but she had to enter through the kitchen
ilovesoohyun94 3 months ago
@ilovesoohyun94 Voilà la tragédie de son existence. Vous avez raison!
Memale2009 3 months ago
@ilovesoohyun94 Her mother was kicked out of her home not Billie..and Billie was raised by her half-aunt and by that half-aunts own mother in law..not by Billies own blood related grandmother.
truediabolique69 2 months ago
@truediabolique69 uh no..
im pretty sure the history show is more correct.
and like i said, her parents passed away, she moved into her gradmother's house
and her grandmother passed away due to old age. she woke up and her grandmother's arms were
locked around her. And then, she was kicked out again, off to the streets; and out of desperate-ness, she went into a club and the kind owner allowed her to sing, which became her starting point of her singing career.
ilovesoohyun94 2 months ago
@ilovesoohyun94 Her parents passed away?? she didnt even know her father! and at the age of 12 she finally went to live with her mother where she picked up prostitution when introduced to it by their landlady! Her mother worked on trains and that is why she never spent much time with her mother during her formative years and was raised by her mothers half sister and by that half sisters mother in law whose name was Martha Miller.
truediabolique69 2 months ago
@truediabolique69 you just think that.
ilovesoohyun94 2 months ago
Sådär i eftertanke får jag för mej att de gör ett gigg tillsammans för varann och Billy.
Vilket som så är det härligt.
net60man 3 months ago in playlist Ny Billy
Enjoy the music ! NO matter her sad life or drugs or whatever a very unique voice none better and because of vinyl we get to hear her over and over again !
48Moondancer 3 months ago
you are ruining this music by fighting and its just a sad sad thing to do!
TheCasey684 3 months ago
sooo pretty a voice. wwwalyssassecrettipscom
alyssassecretipscom 4 months ago
They were awesome~and She was great~!
all4musica 4 months ago
The single greatest video in all of all music history. Perfect in every way. Just f.y.i., there is an alternate take available also awesome.
speakeasynyc 4 months ago
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Please notice how she "drinks in" the music.
FRANKHODGES39 4 months ago
The best existing recording capturing the genius of this of this great artist. I saw it once on Tv and I am glad that now I have it forever-Thanks!
FRANKHODGES39 4 months ago
nagyon jo.....
mihaljnadj 4 months ago in playlist YouTube Mix for Billie Holiday
Very talented and beautiful lady.
skrefter 4 months ago
watching the movie "lady sings the blues"...her music is very beautiful... too bad the drugs ruined her life. she could have been better without the drugs :(
ColorGuardluvR 4 months ago
@ColorGuardluvR i heard that the movie exagerates her drug abuse pretty much, but you are right...
MrHarderbetterfaster 2 months ago
SHE LOOKS NATIVE AMERICAN....... LOL
cokedogthedon 4 months ago
mijn 2e kleinkind in nu geboren........een meisje......lady sings thé blues
rowanhartsuiker 4 months ago
Lady Sings the Blues
It is always known singers and musicians today have been inspired by singers of earlier times, as ..... Amy Winehouse
calilla12 4 months ago
I love Billie Holiday for her music and the person she was/is....her struggles were just that...Struggles....R.I.P. Lady
mssquirrely 4 months ago
Thank you for the posting video,man i can't get enough of Billie Holiday I loved to watch her sing i wish i could of met her.
sailcat2009 4 months ago in playlist YouTube Mix for Billie Holiday
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net60man 4 months ago in playlist Ny Billy
Thank God for this fine record of Billie's soul. She drinks in the msic, blends with it and projects that pathos that even the finest blues interpreters can only dream of expressing. Thanks for this posting. The comments about her personal life are childish.
FRANKHODGES39 4 months ago
Wonderful solo by Lester Young. As delicate as the singing.
Alljoss269 4 months ago
Comment removed
net60man 4 months ago
@net60man wtf are you talking about?
horbergus 4 months ago
Comment removed
net60man 4 months ago
@net60man it was completely incoherent
horbergus 4 months ago
Song named fine and mellow
horbergus 4 months ago
in my opinion, singers like Billie and Amy who are known for flaws looked by society make them more down to earth and amazing as artists cuz they KNOW what they're talking about when they sing
seansocheap 5 months ago
@seansocheap uh, how can you even begin compare billie and amy?
horbergus 4 months ago
@horbergus UHHH... easy, cuz im not comparing them at all. thats the problem with some of you here, you think that just cuz i say a legend's name in a sentence with another artist's name who has had influence of that legend, that automatically means i put them on a pedestal, to see who's better and what not. Sorry to burst your bubble but i can appreciate both of them without having the need to compare them
seansocheap 4 months ago
@seansocheap Whatever dude, seemed like a comparission to me, and man, "Burst your bubble"? who the fuck do you think you are? Al Gore?
horbergus 4 months ago
@horbergus AHA very mature, youre trying to avoid the points i made by criticizing an obviously well known figure of fucking speech, "whatever dude" my ass, and how in the hell did my comment look like a COMPARISON? I neither said who was better/worse than who, I was simply pointing out that these two women had serious problems, Billie used to be a prostitute and Amy a drug addict, which gave them more insight into the lyrics. i rly dont care if u reply or not, im done with this
seansocheap 4 months ago
vnvbn b fcb vggffuffdvvsdfd
adnukum 5 months ago
I love you Billie wish I could've met you.
1985Tanner 5 months ago
Billie never felt sorry for herself, and she was her own WOMAN, she loved and lived hard, she wasn't perfect..but she was perfect.
kathleenirish 5 months ago
@kathleenirish nice oxymoron
horbergus 4 months ago
My older sister, I loved her since I was young...gone before I was even born, but I know her even now
kathleenirish 5 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
I love to listen to her.
stevenmblasdell 5 months ago
I lolve to listen to her.
stevenmblasdell 5 months ago
what drugs did she take?
vcomp1960 5 months ago
@vcomp1960 Heroin.
thejoymonster 5 months ago
@TheSunIsBlack ~ Nor are Caucasions,hetero/homosapians,Men,Women,Irish folk are not all mad for potatoes,Indians don't all give up their birth right for sparkly thinks & whiskey,(then want it back), I know russians that HATE vodka etc. etc. And although I'm Cherokee & Irish by heritage & my name is on the Cherokee Roll,My skin is white. I don't drink or gamble, and I've not oppressed anyone Thank You.Careful dear or You might fall for the Propaganda Yourself!
mememe9525 5 months ago
@mememe9525
LOL Well, seems the old saying is true. Throw a brick into a yard full of dogs and the one that yelps is the one that got hit.
Thanks for yelping, white boy. Now sit down, shut and stop interrupting the music. Better yet, go away. Nobody asked you to be here!
BlackTruthForever 5 months ago
@BlackTruthForever I'm not a boy you ethno-centric, ignorant, pseudo seuth-saying piece of racist,sexist vermin. YOU are the reason we can't all just get along Rodney. YOU are the black man sauntering slowly across the middle of the street Against the light daring someone (the man) to hit him, so he may scream "hate crime". As well as using names like your clever black truth forever and the sun is black.You're the one talking about oppression & how racism is alive today. Well, it is, in you!
mememe9525 5 months ago
@mememe9525
You have the mentality of a child, hence i call you as you act.
You speak without knowing the facts, hence I call you stupid..
You talk with the same attitude and words of a white trash fool, hence I call you white. Don't want to be a piece of white trash, how about not acting like it little boy?
Nuff said!
BlackTruthForever 5 months ago
@BlackTruthForever Are you saying that white people are trash or am I misreading here?
wuzzaaa1 5 months ago
"Being a professional musician back then was a rough, poor, drugged experience"God NO. iT WAS A CHALLENGE.and often a joy.Thats why it was so attractive. I lived it. some doped , some did'nt .The ones that didn't got to last, esp. long enough to get paid.(Nat Cole (a devoted work ethic type), Ella Fitzgerald,Mahalia richer than kings )By the by, often it paid so well factory and service jobs went forgot especially so post wwII.. ...
TheSunIsBlack 5 months ago
i have to correct this NOW...kids, this statement is in error! Lady Day got hooked in adulthood....she was perfectly healthy in her early youth. As per references to her talents, that was derived from the African American church and a lot of work in the social setting and professional. The Diaspora culture is and was loaded with art.. .Dope was not an aid or even a prop, altho her voice did alter because of it.. significantly,and interestingly so
TheSunIsBlack 5 months ago
Lady Day in a fantastic rendering of 'Lady Sings the Blues' with fine solos from a stellar cast of backing musicians - Ben Webster, Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan, Coleman Hawkins and Roy Eldridge,
tmichaelevans 5 months ago
I LOVE Billie Holiday. Period. #NuffSaid
sfillyaw 5 months ago
It's BILLIE Holiday. Nice job.
KathySolita 5 months ago
Nice job spelling her name, uploader.You couldn't take 5 seconds to fix the vid and google her name for a video that got nearly 500,000 views?
ktm64 5 months ago
i love her so much regardless of the drugs or not her voice was beautiful and she put so much of herself in every one of her songs . . so beautiful and heart rending. .
sweetcantdie 5 months ago
goose bumps
CowboyJakel 5 months ago
Those are just a couple of examples. oh yeah Rap artist and all. 2PAC, BIGGY, now Lil Wayne. and I can keep going. Mostly fans like to know that the artist is just like them. So they can relate..
Rollyoll 5 months ago
Regardless of drugs or not, I will always respect her as a magnificent artist.
Vivixal 5 months ago 23
@Vivixal sounds like you're wanting to hold her addiction against her and you're choosing to leave in the respect you would have taken away in other circumstances. gee, maybe the drugs were part of the equation that made her who she was. ever thinka that?
pewsterbaby 3 months ago
@pewsterbaby That's not what I'm doing at all. All I'm saying is that with everyone talking about the drugs she did in her life, you just need to push that aside and just think of her as who she is and how much she accomplished in her life, and for you to respect her for that.
Vivixal 3 months ago
for those of you who are saying that these peoples music would have been better without the drugs! JUST SO YOU KNOW, these artists are who they are and produced what they did and made hits after hit with just about everyone of the songs they made while on drugs. check the Wendy Williams show clips for Natalie Cole, see what she says. See interviews with RAY CHARLES before he died after being clean. . See what he says and I'll Quote "all the songs I made when i was on drugs were number1 hits."
Rollyoll 5 months ago
@Rollyoll .... Ray Charles, in spite of being impaired.you are outside of the culture.Men and women that lived and living thru American hypocrisy like him stronger than you likely will ever be
TheSunIsBlack 5 months ago
@Rollyoll so all AFRICAN people, thruout history were dopers. Black folk, have been the best muscians on this planet---dancers too.the culture suppported this--even little black kids sing and dance when left W/IN THE CULTURE
TheSunIsBlack 5 months ago
Its was her life and her story, and we must take the good and the bad, ,,, A beautiful lady who sung the jazz wit a hint of the blues and her life was a mirror of her music… thanks for the great music Billy
fallingrain71 5 months ago
I believe she would have been a better musician without the drugs. Just like Hendrix would've been better and Baker and all the others.
mcfahk 5 months ago
There is a biography of Billie's life from interviews with people who knew her and worked with her when she was alive (rather than people who wrote what they thought her life may have been based on what was written about her) It is called With Billie from Julia Blackburn using Linda Kuehl's interviews. The book is more informative than the reviewers' addiction to templated summing up try it ...for a change
roton89 5 months ago
tHAT IS INCREDIABLE...
huffdawgs8 5 months ago
OK: I want to know the names of the fantastic instrumentalists on this piece ...
Vitte4 6 months ago
@Vitte4 all of their names come up as they start playing their solos!
contrabassoon 5 months ago
@contrabassoon You're quite right. Talk about missing the obvious! Thanks.
Vitte4 5 months ago
@Vitte4 hehe it happens
contrabassoon 5 months ago
Sometimes you have to sing the blues to feel better.
WayneStation 6 months ago
Hope nobody made their own story!
net60man 6 months ago
I will NEVER be preduce again....im sorry Jesus
siouxsieandziggy 6 months ago
Yes, one of the greats. One should always separate the artist from the person. So what if she did drugs. She only had a 13 note range and look what she did.
squeezeflo 6 months ago
Jujubeer: Billie would have had the same heartaches with or without the drugs, as race relations was way worse back then then presently.
The only thing drugs did for Billie was hasten her death.
sphinxrising58 6 months ago 12
@sphinxrising58 Race religions isn't a great deal better now. I live in the "New" South, and from what I've seen, all they've really done is take down the signs and change a bit of their terminology ... the bigottry and hatred is still alive and well in people's hearts unfortunately. To end racism, ALL concerned must open their hearts and souls to the reality that the Good Lord created ALL of us!
wb7ptr 6 months ago
@sphinxrising58 you are absolutely right because im her great-grandson( Billie Holiday) and all the lady's in my family act like that ,i think they are just born depress but they are the sweetest lady specially my grand mother who look just like her and ack like the way she act on this film,and will do anything for anybody that's how they all whined up getting use and abused !
LAYVON20 4 months ago
@LAYVON20 Oh please, like you are Billie's relation, lol, you only wish.
sphinxrising58 4 months ago
@sphinxrising58 know i dont have to wish i am her great grand son and my grand mother is still alive and thats her doughtier! Cynthia Monroe and she looks just like her, believe it or not
LAYVON20 4 months ago
@LAYVON20 First of all, learn how to spell " daughter ", not " daughtier ", & you are not Billie Holiday's anything, except perhaps a creepy stalking fan, which places you in the Necrophelia area, just eww.
You're right, I do not believe it, or you.
sphinxrising58 4 months ago
@sphinxrising58 well bitch come see and you can meet my grand mother too! we are right in Baltimore Maryland you probably a cracker with money dig her up and get some DNA my grand mother wont have no problem with it you hater!
LAYVON20 4 months ago
@LAYVON20 Oh my, call the little troll on his lie & he gets all flustered & start calling me " Cracker ", lol.
Bitch, I be cracking on your lies, & do try & think up something more original & less cliché than calling me a " hater ", lol.
Billie Hoiday's grat grandson, OMFG, now I have heard everything, LMFWAO@ewe.
sphinxrising58 4 months ago
STAR PEOPLE !!!!!!!!!
mr01FABIO 6 months ago
this is heartbreaking..
anonymous9191 6 months ago
humanity owes her a lot and it doesn`t have to do with techique, is far above that.
PianoPopular 6 months ago
You just want to kiss her and take care of her.
net60man 6 months ago
@turpinaime Saying that using a mic to be heard invalidates you as a singer is kind of like saying a painter isn't a "real" painter if you can't see every brushstroke from across the room.
katraylor 6 months ago
@katraylor I actually made a answer to riecheygirl:
"All that talent cut short way too soon. Ms. Holiday was the read deal, she didn't need any fancy tech to 'help' her voice."
I like Billie Holiday, but she couldnt make a career without the "fancy tech of the microphone" :)
It's the people today who forget this point of history that are the snob, not me !
Art = artifice : )
turpinaime 6 months ago
@turpinaime I figured riecheygirl was talking about autotuning, not microphones.
katraylor 6 months ago
@katraylor Mic and autotuned make the same job: to correct the natural voice output. In art, only the result is important. So my point was that autotuned is not a big deal! (as long as it doesnt sound awful)
turpinaime 6 months ago
@turpinaime Well, if you're going to be that vague about it, then singing and shouting are exactly the same and there's no difference between Ma Rainey's voice and Marilyn Horne's.
katraylor 6 months ago
@katraylor I don't know these girls. As I said, I juge the result, not the way to reach it. Mic, autotune, vocoder. compression or whatever, are artifices.
Lot of rock singers "shout" considering "jazz standart". And? Some jazz singer (like Billie) were bashed because they have poor volume considering "classical standart" : ) But Billie Holliday could express lot of things through her voice. Who cares that her range and volume were limited ? No standart is the true. Art is a beautiful lie.
turpinaime 6 months ago
@turpinaime Don't be such a snob. Opera singers are not the only "true singers." The mic lets you hear emotional nuances that wouldn't carry over a large space otherwise-- it's a different style, but no more or less valid than opera (and I say that as somoene with a classical voice degree).
katraylor 6 months ago 2
Just learned that Billie Holiday and Lester Young were really close friends for 25 years. Look at her smile when he's playing. :)
katraylor 6 months ago
She hear the music... what a singer...
jens2450 6 months ago
If you feel nothing stirring inside you after hearing this you, sadly, have a serious lack of a soul and for that the rest of us feel sorry.
simon00001 6 months ago
As far as I know Billie could never have children.
waynebrasler 6 months ago
I love this woman!!!
Djscrugs1 6 months ago
and now we can't hug Amy Winehouse
9grotty 6 months ago
Anita O'Day was a white jazz singer who was a friend and contemporary of Billie's.She was also a heroin addict in the 50's and 60's. To see an incredible performance of hers check out Jazz On A Summer's Day. Love them both. They were both virtuosos which is obvious to anyone who understands jazz or blues. Each had her own style, and they are unequaled to this day.
Sheerkat7 6 months ago
I like both Billie and Amy!!
maryaydos 6 months ago
Just look at her, she is a special woman
net60man 6 months ago in playlist nr7 2
This has been flagged as spam show
Billie Holiday is Amazing!
If you like blues, check out Rat Stomp :)
youtube.com/user/ratstompmusic
ratstompmusic 6 months ago
please change the title of the song....it is called "fine and mellow",and it is even in the video at the beginning.
johnydeltablues 6 months ago
what a voice i feel it very deep
Murcibates 6 months ago
All that talent cut short way too soon. Ms. Holiday was the read deal, she didn't need any fancy tech to 'help' her voice.
Richieygirl 6 months ago
@Richieygirl neither did Amy Winehouse
9grotty 6 months ago
@Richieygirl She didn't any tech to help her voice? Really?
And the mic? Mic= amplification
True singers (opera) actually dont need tech ; )
But great (mic) singer !
turpinaime 6 months ago
Hi Juju. Billie Holiday is one of my all time favorite singers. Great classic footage. Thanks for sharing. JT.
jttrumpet55 6 months ago
try musicianship and music
alsacecarcione1 6 months ago
May thank to OP for posting this. Its FANTASTIC
mgneath 6 months ago
If I been your man, I should treat you good.
net60man 6 months ago in playlist nr7
Tony Leonard indeed was there. Though I'm a journalism teacher and journalism I've also been in the music business all my life, at times traveling with a name singer, so I know the life. I never could understand how they endured the road trips (Doris Day brought her son Terry and her mother), the hotel stays and catch-a-meal-when-you-can life but they all loved it.
Best to you,
Wayne Brasler
waynebrasler 6 months ago
There were periods when Billie was free of drugs. She tried repeatedly to get away from them. But moving in the world she did it was difficult because drugs were so intertwined with the social life. She herself created the image of a drug-using tragic figure but, much like Judy Garland, in real life she was a joyous, funny soul. I know many people who worked with her that spoke of how much fun she was and also how kind and sweet she could be.
waynebrasler 7 months ago
@waynebrasler getting the pleasure of spending time with Mr. Tony Lenoard, and hearing the stories of what it was like to work as a musician in those days. It was tough, and fun and worth every bit of hardship, he never gave up his sax. I'm blessed to have been a part of his life, even if it was too short for me.
harmonyinbedlam 7 months ago
@waynebrasler well shae wasent so kind when she left her son and daughter at the baby siters house and never cam back and they had to go throw the same abuse she Indored as a child ,and at her funereal know one ever mention or acknowledged or know she had kids my mother was her daughter i know ,she was realy sweet was she?
thompsonbalt 6 months ago
ona jest piekna
szine888 7 months ago
I am from Mexico, and I think Ella was not sad or blue, she just interpretared the blues in her singing for us to understand so nice and fine that the melancholy of blues became a new note between la si and do. I think she enjoyed singing as much as we enjoy listening to her. If I havent cancelled my reservation to the resurresion like morrison did I would surely want to be her in a new life....
ixchy25 7 months ago
bless Miss Billie.....
TheParamountPrincess 7 months ago
She was soooo sad, poor Billie. I wish I could give her a big hug, she was so absolutely beautiful and magnificent.
preshytimey1 7 months ago 38
@preshytimey1 I like your sentiment.
koalman 7 months ago
Billie, not Billy. Shes a woman, afaik. ;)
Blackhole519 7 months ago
Exactly., Artist in general., they are a bit up there high up there when they compuse a melody or write a song.. look up any Singer or Artist in general and the good ones have been in drugs or some type of drugs, so that helps them uninhibited them and let everything within come out as art....
meccel 7 months ago
I'm sure none of them are still alive
MrArning 7 months ago