Billie Holiday

This article is about the singer. For her self-titled 1954 album, see Billie Holiday (album). For the 1959 album originally titled Billie Holiday, see Last Recording.

Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. She was known for her vocal delivery and improvisational skills.^[1]

Billie Holiday
Holiday with her dog, Mister c. 1947
Born	Eleanora Fagan (1915-04-07)April 7, 1915 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	July 17, 1959(1959-07-17) (aged 44) New York City, New York, U.S.
Resting place	Saint Raymond's Cemetery
Other names	Lady Day
Occupation	Singer
Years active	c. 1930–1959
Spouses	Jimmy Monroe ​ ​ (m. 1941; div. 1947)​ Joe Guy ​ ​ (m. 1951; div. 1957)​ Louis McKay ​ (m. 1957)​
Musical career
Genres	Jazz swing blues traditional pop
Labels	Brunswick Vocalion Okeh Bluebird Commodore Capitol Decca Aladdin Verve Columbia MGM
Website	billieholiday.com
Signature

After a turbulent childhood, Holiday began singing in nightclubs in Harlem, where she was heard by producer John Hammond, who liked her voice. She signed a recording contract with Brunswick in 1935. Collaborations with Teddy Wilson produced the hit "What a Little Moonlight Can Do", which became a jazz standard. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Holiday had mainstream success on labels such as Columbia and Decca. By the late 1940s, however, she was beset with legal troubles and drug abuse. After a short prison sentence, she performed at a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall. She was a successful concert performer throughout the 1950s with two further sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall. Because of personal struggles and an altered voice, her final recordings were met with mixed reaction but were mild commercial successes. Her final album, Lady in Satin, was released in 1958. Holiday died of cirrhosis on July 17, 1959, at age 44.

Holiday won four Grammy Awards, all of them posthumously, for Best Historical Album. She was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. She was also inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, though not in that genre; the website states that "Billie Holiday changed jazz forever".^[2] Several films about her life have been released, most recently The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021).

Life and career

1915–1929: Childhood

Eleanora Fagan^[3][4] was born on April 7, 1915,^[5] in Philadelphia, the daughter of African American unwed teenage couple Sarah Julia "Sadie" Fagan of Irish descent and Clarence Halliday. Sarah moved to Philadelphia at age 19,^[6] after she was evicted from her parents' home in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, for becoming pregnant. With no support from her parents, she made arrangements with her older, married half-sister, Eva Miller, for Eleanora to stay with her in Baltimore. Not long after Eleanora was born, Clarence abandoned his family to pursue a career as a jazz banjo player and guitarist.^[7] Some historians have disputed Holiday's paternity, as a copy of her birth certificate in the Baltimore archives lists her father as "Frank DeViese". Other historians consider this an anomaly, probably inserted by a hospital or government worker.^[8] DeViese lived in Philadelphia, and Sadie Harris may have known him through her work. Sadie Harris, then known as Sadie Fagan, married Philip Gough in 1920,^[9] but the marriage ended within two years.^{[citation needed]}

 

Holiday, aged two, in 1917

Eleanora grew up in Baltimore and had a very difficult childhood. Her mother often took what were then known as "transportation jobs", serving on passenger railroads.^[10] Holiday was raised largely by Eva Miller's mother-in-law, Martha Miller, and suffered from her mother's absences and being in others' care for her first decade of life.^[11] Holiday's autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, published in 1956, is inconsistent regarding details of her early life, but much was confirmed by Stuart Nicholson in his 1995 biography of the singer.

After attending kindergarten at St. Frances Academy, she frequently skipped school, and her truancy resulted in her being brought before the juvenile court on January 5, 1925, when she was nine years old.^[12] She was sent to the House of the Good Shepherd, a Catholic reform school, where she was baptized on March 19, 1925. After nine months in care, she was "paroled" on October 3, 1925, to her mother. Sadie had opened a restaurant, the East Side Grill, and mother and daughter worked long hours there. She dropped out of school at age 11.^[13]

On December 24, 1926, Sadie came home to discover a neighbor, Wilbur Rich, attempting to rape Eleanora. She successfully fought back, and Rich was arrested. Officials placed Eleanora in the House of the Good Shepherd under protective custody as a state witness in the rape case.^[14] Holiday was released in February 1927, when she was nearly 12. She found a job running errands in a brothel,^[15] and she scrubbed marble steps as well as kitchen and bathroom floors of neighborhood homes.^[16] Around this time, she first heard the records of Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. In particular, Holiday cited "West End Blues" as an intriguing influence, pointing specifically to the scat section duet with the clarinet as her favorite part.^[17] By the end of 1928, Holiday's mother moved to Harlem, New York, again leaving Eleanora with Martha Miller.^[18]

By early 1929, Holiday had joined her mother in Harlem.

1929–1935: Early career

As a young teenager, Holiday started singing in nightclubs in Harlem. She took her professional pseudonym from Billie Dove, an actress she admired, and Clarence Halliday, her probable father.^[19] At the outset of her career, she spelled her last name "Halliday", her father's birth surname, but eventually changed it to "Holiday", his performing name. The young singer teamed up with a neighbor, tenor saxophone player Kenneth Hollan. They were a team from 1929 to 1931, performing at clubs such as the Grey Dawn, Pod's and Jerry's on 133rd Street, and the Brooklyn Elks' Club.^[20][21] Benny Goodman recalled hearing Holiday in 1931 at the Bright Spot. As her reputation grew, she played in many clubs, including the Mexico's and the Alhambra Bar and Grill, where she met Charles Linton, a vocalist who later worked with Chick Webb. It was also during this period that she connected with her father, who was playing in Fletcher Henderson's band.^[22]

Late in 1932, 17-year-old Holiday replaced the singer Monette Moore at Covan's, a club on West 132nd Street. Producer John Hammond, who loved Moore's singing and had come to hear her, first heard Holiday there in early 1933.^[23] Hammond arranged for Holiday to make her recording debut at age 18, in November 1933, with Benny Goodman. She recorded two songs: "Your Mother's Son-In-Law" and "Riffin' the Scotch", the latter being her first hit. "Son-in-Law" sold 300 copies, and "Riffin' the Scotch", released on November 11, sold 5,000 copies. Hammond was impressed by Holiday's singing style and said of her, "Her singing almost changed my music tastes and my musical life, because she was the first girl singer I'd come across who actually sang like an improvising jazz genius." Hammond compared Holiday favorably to Armstrong and said she had a good sense of lyric content at her young age.^[24]

In 1935, Holiday had a small role as a woman abused by her lover in Duke Ellington's musical short film Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life. She sang "Saddest Tale" in her scene.^[25]

1935–1938: Recordings with Teddy Wilson

In 1935, Holiday was signed to Brunswick by John Hammond to record pop tunes with pianist Teddy Wilson in the swing style for the growing jukebox trade. They were allowed to improvise on the material. Holiday's improvisation of melody to fit the emotion was revolutionary. Their first collaboration included "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" and "Miss Brown to You". "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" has been deemed her "claim to fame".^[26] Brunswick did not favor the recording session because producers wanted Holiday to sound more like Cleo Brown. However, after "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" was successful, the company began considering Holiday an artist in her own right.^[27] She began recording under her own name a year later for Vocalion in sessions produced by Hammond and Bernie Hanighen.^[28] Hammond said the Wilson-Holiday records from 1935 to 1938 were a great asset to Brunswick. According to Hammond, Brunswick was broke and unable to record many jazz tunes. Wilson, Holiday, Young, and other musicians came into the studio without written arrangements, reducing the recording cost. Brunswick paid Holiday a flat fee rather than royalties, which saved the company money. "I Cried for You" sold 15,000 copies, which Hammond called "a giant hit for Brunswick.... Most records that made money sold around three to four thousand."^[29]

Another frequent accompanist was tenor saxophonist Lester Young, who had been a boarder at her mother's house in 1934 and with whom Holiday had a rapport. Young said, "I think you can hear that on some of the old records, you know. Some time I'd sit down and listen to 'em myself, and it sound like two of the same voices ... or the same mind, or something like that."^[30] Young nicknamed her "Lady Day", and she called him "Prez".

1937–1938: Working for Count Basie and Artie Shaw

In late 1937, Holiday had a brief stint as a big-band vocalist with Count Basie.^[31] The traveling conditions of the band were often poor; they performed many one-nighters in clubs, moving from city to city with little stability. Holiday chose the songs she sang and had a hand in the arrangements, choosing to portray her developing persona of a woman unlucky in love. Her tunes included "I Must Have That Man", "Travelin' All Alone", "I Can't Get Started", and "Summertime", a hit for Holiday in 1936, originating in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess the year before. Basie became used to Holiday's heavy involvement in the band. He said, "When she rehearsed with the band, it was really just a matter of getting her tunes like she wanted them, because she knew how she wanted to sound and you couldn't tell her what to do."^[32] Some of the songs Holiday performed with Basie were recorded. "I Can't Get Started", "They Can't Take That Away from Me", and "Swing It Brother Swing" are all commercially available.^[33] Holiday was unable to record in the studio with Basie, but she included many of his musicians in her recording sessions with Teddy Wilson.

Holiday found herself in direct competition with the popular singer Ella Fitzgerald. The two later became friends.^[34] Fitzgerald was the vocalist for the Chick Webb Band, which was in competition with the Basie band. On January 16, 1938, the same day that Benny Goodman performed his legendary Carnegie Hall jazz concert, the Basie and Webb bands had a battle at the Savoy Ballroom. Webb and Fitzgerald were declared winners by Metronome magazine, while DownBeat magazine pronounced Holiday and Basie the winners. Fitzgerald won a straw poll of the audience by a three-to-one margin.

By February 1938, Holiday was no longer singing for Basie. Various reasons have been given for why she was fired. Jimmy Rushing, Basie's male vocalist, called her unprofessional. According to All Music Guide, Holiday was fired for being "temperamental and unreliable". She complained of low pay and poor working conditions and may have refused to sing the songs requested of her or change her style.^[35] Holiday was hired by Artie Shaw a month after being fired from the Count Basie Band. This association placed her among the first black women to work with a white orchestra, an unusual arrangement at that time. This was also the first time a black female singer employed full-time toured the segregated U.S. South with a white bandleader. In situations where there was a lot of racial tension, Shaw was known to stick up for his vocalist. In her autobiography, Holiday describes an incident in which she was not permitted to sit on the bandstand with other vocalists because she was black. Shaw said to her, "I want you on the band stand like Helen Forrest, Tony Pastor and everyone else."^[36] When touring the South, Holiday would sometimes be heckled by members of the audience. In Louisville, Kentucky, a man called her a "nigger wench" and requested she sing another song. Holiday lost her temper and had to be escorted off the stage.^[37]

By March 1938, Shaw and Holiday had been broadcast on New York City's powerful radio station WABC (the original WABC, now WCBS). Because of their success, they were given an extra time slot to broadcast in April, which increased their exposure. The New York Amsterdam News reviewed the broadcasts and reported an improvement in Holiday's performance. Metronome reported that the addition of Holiday to Shaw's band put it in the "top brackets". Holiday could not sing as often during Shaw's shows as she could in Basie's; the repertoire was more instrumental, with fewer vocals. Shaw was also pressured to hire a white singer, Nita Bradley, with whom Holiday did not get along but had to share a bandstand. In May 1938, Shaw won band battles against Tommy Dorsey and Red Norvo, with the audience favoring Holiday. Although Shaw admired Holiday's singing in his band, saying she had a "remarkable ear" and a "remarkable sense of time", her tenure with the band was nearing an end.^[38] In November 1938, Holiday was asked to use the service elevator at the Lincoln Hotel in New York City, instead of the one used by hotel guests, because white patrons of the hotels complained. This may have been the last straw for her. She left the band shortly after. Holiday spoke about the incident weeks later, saying, "I was never allowed to visit the bar or the dining room as did other members of the band ... [and] I was made to leave and enter through the kitchen." There are no surviving live recordings of Holiday with Shaw's band. Because she was under contract to a different record label and possibly because of her race, Holiday was able to make only one record with Shaw, "Any Old Time". However, Shaw played clarinet on four songs she recorded in New York on July 10, 1936: "Did I Remember?", "No Regrets", "Summertime" and "Billie's Blues".

By the late 1930s, Holiday had toured with Count Basie and Artie Shaw, scored a string of radio and retail hits with Teddy Wilson, and became an established artist in the recording industry. Her songs "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" and "Easy Living" were imitated by singers across America and were quickly becoming jazz standards.^[39] In September 1938, Holiday's single "I'm Gonna Lock My Heart" ranked sixth as the most-played song that month. Her record label, Vocalion, listed the single as its fourth-best seller for the same month, and it peaked at number 2 on the pop charts, according to Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories: 1890–1954.^[40]

1939: "Strange Fruit" and Commodore Records

Holiday was in the middle of recording for Columbia in the late 1930s when she was introduced to "Strange Fruit", a song by Abel Meeropol based on his poem about lynching. Meeropol, a Jewish schoolteacher from the Bronx, used the pseudonym "Lewis Allan" for the poem, which was set to music and performed at teachers' union meetings.^[41] It was eventually heard by Barney Josephson, the proprietor of Café Society, an integrated nightclub in Greenwich Village, who introduced it to Holiday. She performed it at the club in 1939,^[42] with some trepidation, fearing possible retaliation. She later said that the imagery of the song reminded her of her father's death and that this played a role in her resistance to performing it.

For her performance of "Strange Fruit" at the Café Society, she had waiters silence the crowd when the song began. During the song's long introduction, the lights dimmed and all movement had to cease. As Holiday began singing, only a small spotlight illuminated her face. On the final note, all lights went out, and when they came back on, Holiday was gone.^[43] Holiday said her father, Clarence Holiday, was denied medical treatment for a fatal lung disorder because of racial prejudice, and that singing "Strange Fruit" reminded her of the incident. "It reminds me of how Pop died, but I have to keep singing it, not only because people ask for it, but because twenty years after Pop died the things that killed him are still happening in the South", she wrote in her autobiography.^[44] When Holiday's producers at Columbia found the subject matter too sensitive, Milt Gabler agreed to record it for his Commodore Records label on April 20, 1939. "Strange Fruit" remained in her repertoire for 20 years. She recorded it again for Verve. The Commodore release did not get any airplay, but the controversial song sold well, though Gabler attributed that mostly to the record's other side, "Fine and Mellow", which was a jukebox hit.^[45] "The version I recorded for Commodore", Holiday said of "Strange Fruit", "became my biggest-selling record."^[44] "Strange Fruit" was the equivalent of a top-twenty hit in the 1930s.

Holiday's popularity increased after "Strange Fruit". She received a mention in Time magazine.^[46] "I open Café Society as an unknown", Holiday said. "I left two years later as a star. I needed the prestige and publicity all right, but you can't pay rent with it." She soon demanded a raise from her manager, Joe Glaser.^[47] Holiday returned to Commodore in 1944, recording songs she made with Teddy Wilson in the 1930s, including "I Cover the Waterfront", "I'll Get By", and "He's Funny That Way". She also recorded new songs that were popular at the time, including, "My Old Flame", "How Am I to Know?", "I'm Yours", and "I'll Be Seeing You", a number one hit for Bing Crosby. She also recorded her version of "Embraceable You", which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2005.

1940–1947: Commercial success

Holiday's mother Sadie, nicknamed "The Duchess", opened a restaurant called Mom Holiday's. She used money from her daughter while playing dice with members of the Count Basie band, with whom she toured in the late 1930s. "It kept Mom busy and happy and stopped her from worrying and watching over me", Holiday said. Fagan began borrowing large amounts from Holiday to support the restaurant. Holiday obliged but soon fell on hard times herself. "I needed some money one night and I knew Mom was sure to have some", she said. "So I walked in the restaurant like a stockholder and asked. Mom turned me down flat. She wouldn't give me a cent." The two argued, and Holiday shouted angrily, "God bless the child that's got his own", and stormed out. With Arthur Herzog, Jr., a pianist, she wrote a song based on the lyric, "God Bless the Child", and added music.^[48] "God Bless the Child" became Holiday's most popular and most covered record. It reached number 25 on the charts in 1941 and was third in Billboard's songs of the year, selling over a million records.^[49][50] In 1976, the song was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame.^[51] Herzog claimed Holiday contributed only a few lines to the lyrics. He said she came up with the line "God bless the child" from a dinner conversation the two had had.^[52]

On June 12, 1942, in Los Angeles, Holiday recorded "Trav'lin Light" with Paul Whiteman for a new label, Capitol Records. Because she was under contract to Columbia, she used the pseudonym "Lady Day".^[53] The song reached number 23 on the pop charts and number one on the R&B charts, then called the Harlem Hit Parade.^[54] On October 11, 1943, Life magazine wrote, "She has the most distinctive style of any popular vocalist, [and] is imitated by other vocalists."^[55]

Milt Gabler, in addition to owning Commodore Records, became an A&R man for Decca Records. He signed Holiday to Decca on August 7, 1944, when she was 29.^[56] Her first Decca recording was "Lover Man" (number 16 Pop, number 5 R&B), one of her biggest hits. The success and distribution of the song made Holiday a staple in the pop community, leading to solo concerts, rare for jazz singers in the late 1940s. Gabler said, "I made Billie a real pop singer. That was right in her. Billie loved those songs."^[57] Jimmy Davis and Roger "Ram" Ramirez, the song's writers, had tried to interest Holiday in the song.^[58] In 1943, a flamboyant male torch singer, Willie Dukes, began singing "Lover Man" on 52nd Street.^[59] Because of his success, Holiday added it to her shows. The record's flip side was "No More", one of her favorites.^[56] Holiday asked Gabler for strings on the recording. Such arrangements were associated with Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. "I went on my knees to him", Holiday said. "I didn't want to do it with the ordinary six pieces. I begged Milt and told him I had to have strings behind me."^[60] On October 4, 1944, Holiday entered the studio to record "Lover Man", saw the string ensemble and walked out. The musical director, Toots Camarata, said Holiday was overwhelmed with joy.^[61] She may also have wanted strings to avoid comparisons between her commercially successful early work with Teddy Wilson and everything produced afterwards. Her 1930s recordings with Wilson used a small jazz combo; recordings for Decca often involved strings.^[61] A month later, in November, Holiday returned to Decca to record "That Ole Devil Called Love", "Big Stuff", and "Don't Explain". She wrote "Don't Explain" after she caught her husband, Jimmy Monroe, with lipstick on his collar.^[62]

Holiday did not make any more records until August 1945, when she recorded "Don't Explain" for a second time, changing the lyrics "I know you raise Cain" to "Just say you'll remain" and changing "You mixed with some dame" to "What is there to gain?" Other songs recorded were "Big Stuff", "What Is This Thing Called Love?", and "You Better Go Now". Ella Fitzgerald named "You Better Go Now" her favorite recording of Holiday's.^[63] "Big Stuff" and "Don't Explain" were recorded again but with additional strings and a viola. In 1946, Holiday recorded "Good Morning Heartache". Although the song failed to chart, she sang it in live performances; three live recordings are known.^[64]

 

Holiday and her dog Mister, New York, c. 1946

In September 1946, Holiday began her only major film, New Orleans, in which she starred opposite Louis Armstrong and Woody Herman. Plagued by racism and McCarthyism, producer Jules Levey and script writer Herbert Biberman were pressed to lessen Holiday's and Armstrong's roles to avoid the impression that black people created jazz. The attempts failed because in 1947 Biberman was listed as one of the Hollywood Ten and sent to jail.^[65] Several scenes were deleted from the film. "They had taken miles of footage of music and scenes", Holiday said, but "none of it was left in the picture. And very damn little of me. I know I wore a white dress for a number I did... and that was cut out of the picture."^[66] She recorded "The Blues Are Brewin'" for the film's soundtrack. Other songs included in the movie are "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?" and "Farewell to Storyville". Holiday's drug addictions were a problem on the set. She earned more than one thousand dollars per week from club ventures but spent most of it on heroin. Her lover, Joe Guy, traveled to Hollywood while Holiday was filming and supplied her with drugs. Guy was banned from the set when he was found there by Holiday's manager, Joe Glaser.^[67]

By the late 1940s, Holiday had begun recording a number of slow, sentimental ballads. Metronome expressed its concerns in 1946 about "Good Morning Heartache", saying, "there's a danger that Billie's present formula will wear thin, but up to now it's wearing well."^[43] The New York Herald Tribune reported of a concert in 1946 that her performance had little variation in melody and no change in tempo.^[68]

1947–1952: Legal issues and Carnegie Hall concert

By 1947, Holiday was at her commercial peak, having made $250,000 in the three previous years.^[69] She was ranked second in the DownBeat poll for 1946 and 1947, her highest ranking in that poll.^[70] She was ranked fifth in Billboard's annual college poll of "girl singers" on July 6, 1947 (Jo Stafford was first). In 1946, Holiday won the Metronome magazine popularity poll.^[71]

 

Mug shot of Holiday after being arrested in 1947

On May 16, 1947, Holiday was arrested for possession of narcotics in her New York apartment. On May 27 she was in court. "It was called 'The United States of America versus Billie Holiday'. And that's just the way it felt", she recalled.^[72] During the trial, she heard that her lawyer would not come to the trial to represent her. "In plain English that meant no one in the world was interested in looking out for me," she said. Dehydrated and unable to hold down food, she pleaded guilty and asked to be sent to the hospital. The district attorney spoke in her defense, saying, "If your honor please, this is a case of a drug addict, but more serious, however, than most of our cases, Miss Holiday is a professional entertainer and among the higher rank as far as income was concerned." She was sentenced to Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia. The drug possession conviction caused her to lose her New York City Cabaret Card, preventing her working anywhere that sold alcohol; thereafter, she performed in concert venues and theaters.^[73]

 

Holiday at the Downbeat Jazz Club, New York,^[74] c. February 1947

Holiday was released early (on March 16, 1948) because of good behavior. When she arrived at Newark, her pianist Bobby Tucker and her dog Mister were waiting. The dog leaped at Holiday, knocking off her hat, and tackling her to the ground. "He began lapping me and loving me like crazy", she said. A woman thought the dog was attacking Holiday. She screamed, a crowd gathered, and reporters arrived. "I might just as well have wheeled into Penn Station and had a quiet little get-together with the Associated Press, United Press, and International News Service", she said.^[75]

Ed Fishman (who fought with Joe Glaser to be Holiday's manager) thought of a comeback concert at Carnegie Hall. Holiday hesitated, unsure audiences would accept her after the arrest. She gave in and agreed to appear. On March 27, 1948, Holiday played Carnegie Hall to a sold-out crowd. Two thousand seven hundred tickets were sold in advance, a record at the time for the venue. Her popularity was unusual because she did not have a current hit record.^[76] Her last record to reach the charts was "Lover Man" in 1945. Holiday sang 32 songs at the Carnegie concert by her count, including Cole Porter's "Night and Day" and her 1930s hit, "Strange Fruit". During the show, someone sent her a box of gardenias. "My old trademark", Holiday said. "I took them out of box and fastened them smack to the side of my head without even looking twice." There was a hatpin in the gardenias and Holiday unknowingly stuck it into the side of her head. "I didn't feel anything until the blood started rushing down in my eyes and ears", she said. After the third curtain call, she passed out.^[77]

On April 27, 1948, Bob Sylvester and her promoter Al Wilde arranged a Broadway show for her. Titled Holiday on Broadway, it sold out. "The regular music critics and drama critics came and treated us like we were legit", she said. But it closed after three weeks.^[78]

Holiday was arrested again on January 22, 1949, in her room at the Hotel Mark Twain in San Francisco.^[79] Holiday said she began using hard drugs in the early 1940s. She married trombonist Jimmy Monroe on August 25, 1941. While still married, she became involved with trumpeter Joe Guy, her drug dealer. She divorced Monroe in 1947 and also split with Guy.

 

Holiday in court over a contract dispute, late 1949

In October 1949, Holiday recorded "Crazy He Calls Me", which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2010. Gabler said the hit was her most successful recording for Decca after "Lover Man". The charts of the 1940s did not list songs outside the top 30, making it impossible to recognize minor hits. By the late 1940s, despite her popularity and concert power, her singles were little played on radio, perhaps because of her reputation.^[80]

The loss of her cabaret card reduced Holiday's earnings. She had not received proper record royalties until she joined Decca, so her main revenue was club concerts. The problem worsened when Holiday's records went out of print in the 1950s. She seldom received royalties in her later years. In 1958, she received a royalty of only $11.^[81] Her lawyer in the late 1950s, Earle Warren Zaidins, registered with BMI only two songs she had written or co-written, costing her revenue.^[82] In 1948, Holiday played at the Ebony Club, which was against the law. Her manager, John Levy, was convinced he could get her card back and allowed her to open without one. "I opened scared", Holiday said, "[I was] expecting the cops to come in any chorus and carry me off. But nothing happened. I was a huge success."^[83]

Holiday recorded Gershwin's "I Loves You, Porgy" in 1948. In 1950, Holiday appeared in the Universal short film Sugar Chile Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet, singing "God Bless the Child" and "Now, Baby or Never".^[84]

1952–1959: Lady Sings the Blues

 

Billie Holiday performing at the Storyville club, Boston, on October 29, 1955. Photo by Mel Levine.

By the 1950s, Holiday's drug use, drinking, and relationships with abusive men caused her health to deteriorate. She appeared on the ABC reality series The Comeback Story to discuss attempts to overcome her misfortunes. Her later recordings showed the effects of declining health on her voice, as it grew coarse and no longer projected its former vibrancy.^{[dubious ]}

Holiday first toured Europe in 1954 as part of a Leonard Feather package. The Swedish impresario Nils Hellstrom initiated the "Jazz Club U.S.A." (after the Leonard Feather radio show) tour starting in Stockholm in January 1954 and then Germany, Netherlands, Paris and Switzerland. The tour party was Holiday, Buddy DeFranco, Red Norvo, Carl Drinkard, Elaine Leighton (de) (nl) (1926–2012),^[85][86] Sonny Clark, Beryl Booker, Jimmy Raney and Red Mitchell. A recording of a live set in Germany was released as Lady Love – Billie Holiday.^[87]

Holiday's autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, was ghostwritten by William Dufty and published in 1956. Dufty, a New York Post writer and editor then married to Holiday's close friend Maely Dufty, wrote the book quickly from a series of conversations with the singer in the Duftys' 93rd Street apartment. He also drew on the work of earlier interviewers and intended to let Holiday tell her story in her own way.^[88] In his 2015 study, Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth, John Szwed argued that Lady Sings the Blues is a generally accurate account of her life, but that co-writer Dufty was forced to water down or suppress material by the threat of legal action. According to the reviewer Richard Brody, "Szwed traces the stories of two important relationships that are missing from the book—with Charles Laughton, in the 1930s, and with Tallulah Bankhead, in the late 1940s—and of one relationship that's sharply diminished in the book, her affair with Orson Welles around the time of Citizen Kane.^[89][90] To accompany her autobiography, Holiday released the LP Lady Sings the Blues in June 1956. The album featured four new tracks, "Lady Sings the Blues", "Too Marvelous for Words", "Willow Weep for Me", and "I Thought About You", and eight new recordings of her biggest hits to date. The re-recordings included "Trav'lin' Light" "Strange Fruit" and "God Bless the Child".^[91] A review of the album was published by Billboard magazine on December 22, 1956, calling it a worthy musical complement to her autobiography. "Holiday is in good voice now", wrote the reviewer, "and these new readings will be much appreciated by her following". "Strange Fruit" and "God Bless the Child" were called classics, and "Good Morning Heartache", another reissued track on the LP, was also noted favorably.^[92]

On November 10, 1956, Holiday performed two concerts before packed audiences at Carnegie Hall. Live recordings of the second Carnegie Hall concert were released on a Verve/HMV album in the UK in late 1961 called The Essential Billie Holiday. The 13 tracks included on this album featured her own songs "I Love My Man", "Don't Explain" and "Fine and Mellow", together with other songs closely associated with her, including "Body and Soul", "My Man", and "Lady Sings the Blues" (her lyrics accompanied a tune by pianist Herbie Nichols).^[93] The liner notes for this album were written partly by Gilbert Millstein of the New York Times, who, according to these notes, served as narrator of the Carnegie Hall concerts. Interspersed among Holiday's songs, Millstein read aloud four lengthy passages from her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues. He later wrote:

The narration began with the ironic account of her birth in Baltimore – 'Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen, and I was three' – and ended, very nearly shyly, with her hope for love and a long life with 'my man' at her side. It was evident, even then, that Miss Holiday was ill. I had known her casually over the years and I was shocked at her physical weakness. Her rehearsal had been desultory; her voice sounded tinny and trailed off; her body sagged tiredly. But I will not forget the metamorphosis that night. The lights went down, the musicians began to play and the narration began. Miss Holiday stepped from between the curtains, into the white spotlight awaiting her, wearing a white evening gown and white gardenias in her black hair. She was erect and beautiful; poised and smiling. And when the first section of narration was ended, she sang – with strength undiminished – with all of the art that was hers. I was very much moved. In the darkness, my face burned and my eyes. I recall only one thing. I smiled."^[93]

The critic Nat Hentoff of DownBeat magazine, who attended the Carnegie Hall concert, wrote the remainder of the sleeve notes on the 1961 album. He wrote of Holiday's performance:

Throughout the night, Billie was in superior form to what had sometimes been the case in the last years of her life. Not only was there assurance of phrasing and intonation; but there was also an outgoing warmth, a palpable eagerness to reach and touch the audience. And there was mocking wit. A smile was often lightly evident on her lips and her eyes as if, for once, she could accept the fact that there were people who did dig her. The beat flowed in her uniquely sinuous, supple way of moving the story along; the words became her own experiences; and coursing through it all was Lady's sound – a texture simultaneously steel-edged and yet soft inside; a voice that was almost unbearably wise in disillusion and yet still childlike, again at the centre. The audience was hers from before she sang, greeting her and saying good-bye with heavy, loving applause. And at one time, the musicians too applauded. It was a night when Billie was on top, undeniably the best and most honest jazz singer alive.

Her performance of "Fine and Mellow" on CBS's The Sound of Jazz program is memorable for her interplay with her long-time friend Lester Young. Both were less than two years from death. Young died in March 1959. Holiday wanted to sing at his funeral, but her request was denied.

When Holiday returned to Europe almost five years later, in 1959, she made one of her last television appearances for Granada's Chelsea at Nine in London. Her final studio recordings were made for MGM Records in 1959, with lush backing from Ray Ellis and his Orchestra, who had also accompanied her on the Columbia album Lady in Satin the previous year (see below). The MGM sessions were released posthumously on a self-titled album, later retitled and re-released as Last Recording.

On March 28, 1957, Holiday married Louis McKay, a mob enforcer. McKay, like most of the men in her life, was abusive.^[94] They were separated at the time of her death, but McKay had plans to start a chain of Billie Holiday vocal studios, on the model of the Arthur Murray dance schools. Holiday was childless, but she had two godchildren: singer Billie Lorraine Feather (the daughter of Leonard Feather) and Bevan Dufty (the son of William Dufty).^[88]

Illness and death

By early 1959, Holiday was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. Although she had initially stopped drinking on her doctor's orders, it was not long before she relapsed.^[95] By May 1959, she had lost 20 pounds (9.1 kg). Her manager, Joe Glaser, jazz critic Leonard Feather, photojournalist Allan Morrison, and the singer's own friends all tried in vain to persuade her to go to a hospital.^[96] On May 31, 1959, Holiday was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York for treatment of both liver and heart disease. According to writer and journalist Johann Hari, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics under Harry J. Anslinger had been targeting Holiday since at least 1939, when she started to perform "Strange Fruit";^[97] However, this allegation has been disputed, with historian Lewis Porter noting that "there was no federal objection to the song “Strange Fruit,” nor was there any campaign to suppress it" and Holiday was instead pursued by Bureau of Narcotics mainly for her history of drug use. Porter writes that Johann Hari's, 2015 book, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, is where the allegation that Holiday was targeted for singing "Strange Fruit" originated and that this claim didn't appear anywhere else before that.^[98] Narcotics police went to her hospital room, claiming they had found heroin in her bedroom. A grand jury was summoned to indict her, and she was arrested, handcuffed to her bed, and placed under police guard.^[97] According to Hari, after ten days, methadone was discontinued as part of Anslinger's policy.^[99] On July 15, she received last rites.^[100] She died at age 44 at 3:10 a.m. on July 17, 1959, of pulmonary edema and heart failure caused by cirrhosis of the liver.^{[101][102][103]} Hari accused Anslinger of being responsible for her death.

In her final years Holiday had been progressively swindled out of her earnings by McKay and she died with US$0.70 in the bank. Her funeral Mass was held on July 21, 1959, at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in Manhattan. She was buried at Saint Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx. The story of her burial plot and how it was managed by her estranged husband, Louis McKay, was documented on NPR in 2012.^[104]

Gilbert Millstein of The New York Times, who was the announcer at Holiday's 1956 Carnegie Hall concerts and wrote parts of the sleeve notes for the album The Essential Billie Holiday (see above), described her death in these sleeve notes, dated 1961:

Billie Holiday died in Metropolitan Hospital, New York, on Friday, July 17, 1959, in the bed in which she had been arrested for illegal possession of narcotics a little more than a month before, as she lay mortally ill; in the room from which a police guard had been removed – by court order – only a few hours before her death. She had been strikingly beautiful, but her talent was wasted. The worms of every kind of excess – drugs were only one – had eaten her. The likelihood exists that among the last thoughts of this cynical, sentimental, profane, generous and greatly talented woman of 44 was the belief that she was to be arraigned the following morning. She would have been, eventually, although possibly not that quickly. In any case, she removed herself finally from the jurisdiction of any court here below.^{[93]: Millstein's liner notes}

When Holiday died, The New York Times published a short obituary on page 15 without a byline. She left an estate of $1,000, and her best recordings from the 1930s were mostly out of print. Holiday's public stature grew in the following years. In 1961, she was voted to the Down Beat Hall Of Fame, and soon after Columbia reissued nearly one hundred of her early records. In 1972, Diana Ross' portrayal of Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe. Holiday was posthumously nominated for 23 Grammy awards.^[105]

It recently publicly came to light that the singer Adelaide Hall made a secret visit to Holiday’s bedside at the Metropolitan Hospital, believed to have taken place on (or around) June 12, 1959. Miss Hall’s spoken account of her visit was captured on tape by the journalist Max Jones in 1988, but the tape was never released into the public domain until 2021.^[106] Hall’s long-time friend, Iain Cameron Williams, and author of Hall’s biography, also had direct knowledge of the visit. However, he refrained from releasing the information into the public domain as he only had Hall’s one-to-one spoken account and no further backup. In July 2022, with Max Jones’ tape now in the public domain, Williams wrote an article for The Syncopated Times about Hall’s secret visit.^[107] Hall’s visit contradicts later claims (after Holiday’s death) that Holiday was kept isolated away from friends during her hospitalization.

Legacy

Billie Holiday received several Esquire Magazine awards during her lifetime. Her posthumous awards also include being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame. In 1985, a statue of Billie Holiday was erected in Baltimore; the statue was completed in 1993 with additional panels of images inspired by her seminal song Strange Fruit. The Billie Holiday Monument is located at Pennsylvania and West Lafayette avenues in Baltimore's Upton neighborhood.^[108] In 2019, Chirlane McCray announced that New York City would build a statue honoring Holiday near Queens Borough Hall.^[109]

Vocal style

 

Holiday performing at the Club Bali, Washington, with Al Dunn (drums), and Bobby Tucker (piano) in 1948

Holiday's delivery made her performances recognizable throughout her career. Her improvisation compensated for lack of musical education. Holiday said that she always wanted her voice to sound like an instrument and some of her influences were Louis Armstrong and the singer Bessie Smith.^[110] Her last major recording, a 1958 album entitled Lady in Satin, features the backing of a 40-piece orchestra conducted and arranged by Ray Ellis, who said of the album in 1997:

I would say that the most emotional moment was her listening to the playback of "I'm a Fool to Want You". There were tears in her eyes ... After we finished the album I went into the control room and listened to all the takes. I must admit I was unhappy with her performance, but I was just listening musically instead of emotionally. It wasn't until I heard the final mix a few weeks later that I realized how great her performance really was.^{[111]: KCSM interview}

Frank Sinatra was influenced by her performances on 52nd Street as a young man. He told Ebony magazine in 1958 about her impact:

With few exceptions, every major pop singer in the US during her generation has been touched in some way by her genius. It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me. Lady Day is unquestionably the most important influence on American popular singing in the last twenty years.^[112]

Films and plays about Holiday

The biographical film Lady Sings the Blues, loosely based on Holiday's autobiography, was released in 1972 and was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Diana Ross for Best Actress. Another film, The United States vs. Billie Holiday, starred Andra Day and was released in 2021.^[113] It is based on the book Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari. Director Lee Daniels saw how Holiday was portrayed in the 1972 biopic, and wanted to show her legacy as "a civil rights leader [ ... ] not just a drug addict or a jazz singer".^[114] The film also depicts Holiday's bisexuality and relationship with Tallulah Bankhead.^[115] Day was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance and won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama in 2021.

Holiday is the primary character in the play Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, with music by Lanie Robertson. It takes place in South Philadelphia in March 1959. It premiered in 1986 at the Alliance Theatre and has been revived several times. A Broadway production starring Audra McDonald was filmed and broadcast on HBO in 2016; McDonald received an Emmy Award nomination.^[116] In 2014, she received a Tony Award win.^[117] Billie is a 2019 documentary film based on interviews in the 1970s by Linda Lipnack Kuehl,^[110] who was researching a book on Holiday that was never completed.

Billie Holiday was also portrayed by actress Paula Jai Parker in Touched by an Angel's 2000 episode "God Bless the Child".

Discography

Main article: Billie Holiday discography

 

Holliday, photographed by Carl Van Vechten in 1949

Billie Holiday recorded extensively for four labels: Columbia Records, which issued her recordings on its subsidiary labels Brunswick Records, Vocalion Records and OKeh Records, from 1933 through 1942; Commodore Records in 1939 and 1944; Decca Records from 1944 through 1950; briefly for Aladdin Records in 1951; Verve Records and on its earlier imprint Clef Records from 1952 through 1957, then again for Columbia Records from 1957 to 1958 and finally for MGM Records in 1959. Many of Holiday's recordings appeared on 78-rpm records prior to the long-playing vinyl record era, and only Clef, Verve, and Columbia issued albums during her lifetime that were not compilations of previously released material. Many compilations have been issued since her death, as well as comprehensive box sets and live recordings.^{[118][119][120][121]}

Hit records

In 1986, Joel Whitburn's company Record Research compiled information on the popularity of recordings released from the era predating rock and roll and created pop charts dating back to the beginning of the commercial recording industry. The company's findings were published in the book Pop Memories 1890–1954. Several of Holiday's records are listed on the pop charts Whitburn created.^[122]

Holiday began her recording career on a high note with her first major release, "Riffin' the Scotch", of which 5,000 copies were sold. It was released under the name "Benny Goodman & His Orchestra" in 1933.^[122]

Most of Holiday's early successes were released under the name "Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra". During her stay in Wilson's band, Holiday would sing a few bars and then other musicians would have a solo. Wilson, one of the most influential jazz pianists of the swing era,^[123] accompanied Holiday more than any other musician. He and Holiday issued 95 recordings together.^[124]

In July 1936, Holiday began releasing sides under her own name. These songs were released under the band name "Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra".^[125] Most noteworthy, the popular jazz standard "Summertime" sold well and was listed on the pop charts of the time at number 12, the first time the jazz standard charted. Only Billy Stewart's R&B version of "Summertime" reached a higher chart placement than Holiday's, charting at number 10 thirty years later in 1966.^[126]

Holiday had 16 best-selling songs in 1937, making the year her most commercially successful.^{[citation needed]} It was in this year that Holiday scored her sole number one hit as a featured vocalist on the available pop charts of the 1930s, "Carelessly".^[127] The hit "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm", was also recorded by Ray Noble, Glen Gray and Fred Astaire, whose rendering was a bestseller for weeks.^{[citation needed]} Holiday's version ranked 6 on the year-end single chart available for 1937.^[49]

In 1939, Holiday recorded her biggest selling record, "Strange Fruit" for Commodore, charting at number 16 on the available pop charts for the 1930s.^[128]

In 1940, Billboard began publishing its modern pop charts, which included the Best Selling Retail Records chart, the precursor to the Hot 100. None of Holiday's songs placed on the modern pop charts, partly because Billboard only published the first ten slots of the charts in some issues. Minor hits and independent releases had no way of being spotlighted.

"God Bless the Child", which went on to sell over a million copies, ranked number 3 on Billboard's year-end top songs of 1941.^[50]

On October 24, 1942, Billboard began issuing its R&B charts. Two of Holiday's songs placed on the chart, "Trav'lin' Light" with Paul Whiteman, which topped the chart, and "Lover Man", which reached number 5. "Trav'lin' Light" also reached 18 on Billboard's year-end chart.

Studio LPs

• Billie Holiday Sings (1952)
• An Evening with Billie Holiday (1953)
• Billie Holiday (1954)
• Music for Torching (1955)
• Velvet Mood (1956)
• Lady Sings the Blues (1956)
• Body and Soul (1957)
• Songs for Distingué Lovers (1957)
• Stay with Me (1958)
• All or Nothing at All (1958)
• Lady in Satin (1958)
• Last Recording (1959)

Filmography

Theatrical films

• 1933: The Emperor Jones, appeared as an extra
• 1935: Symphony in Black, short (with Duke Ellington)
• 1947: New Orleans
• 1950: 'Sugar Chile' Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet

Television appearances

Year	Program	Host	Songs
October 14, 1948	We the People	Dwight Weist	Unknown
1949	Adventures in Jazz	Fred Robbins	Unknown
August 27, 1949	Arlene Francis Show, NY (1)	Arlene Francis	"The Man I Love", "All of Me", "Lover Man"
August 27, 1949	Art Ford Show, NY (1)^[129]	Art Ford	"Lover Man", "I Cover the Waterfront", two-minute interview, "All of Me"
August 27, 1949	Eddie Condon's Floor Show, NY (1)^[130]	Eddie Condon	"I Love My Man", "Keeps on Rainin'", "Lover Man"
September 3, 1949	Eddie Condon's Floor Show, NY (1)^[131]	Eddie Condon	"Fine & Mellow", "Porgy", "Them There Eyes", "I Love My Man"
October 15, 1949	Art Ford Show, NY (1)	Art Ford	"Them There Eyes", "Detour Ahead", "Now or Never"
May 24, 1950	Apollo Theatre Show, NY (1)^[132]	–	"You're My Thrill"
July 25, 1951	Apollo Theatre Show, NY (1)^[133]	–	"My Man"
October 12, 1952	Apollo Theatre Show, NY (1)^[134]	Count Basie	"Tenderly"
October 16, 1953	The Comeback Story, NY (1)^[135]	George Jessel	Twenty-minute interview, "God Bless the Child"
February 8, 1955	The Tonight Show, NY (1)^[136]	Steve Allen	"My Man", "Them There Eyes", "Lover Man"
February 10, 1956	The Tonight Show, NY (1)^[137]	Steve Allen	"Please Don't Talk About Me", two-minute interview, "Ghost of a Chance"
August 13, 1956	Stars of Jazz, LA, CA (2)^[138]	Bobby Troup	"Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone", "Billie's Blues", "My Man"
August 29, 1956	NBC Bandstand USA, NY (1)^[138]^[139]	Bert Parks	"Willow Weep for Me", "I Only Have Eyes for You", "My Man", "Please Don't Talk About Me"
October 29, 1956	NBC Bandstand USA, NY (1)^[140]^[139]	Bert Parks	"Nice Work If You Can Get It", "God Bless the Child", "Please Don't Talk About Me", "Don't Explain"
November 8, 1956	Night Beat, NY (1)^[140]	Mike Wallace	Fifteen-minute interview
November 8, 1956	Peacock Alley, NY (1)^[140]	Tex McCrary	Twenty-minute interview
November 8, 1956	The Tonight Show, NY (1)^[140]	Steve Allen	"Porgy"
November 3, 1957	Live Broadcast from Mister Kelly's, Chicago (1)	–	"Good Morning Heartache", "You Better Go Now"
December 8, 1957	The Seven Lively Arts: The Sound of Jazz, LA (2)^[141]	–	"Fine & Mellow"
April 12, 1958	Club Oasis, NY (1)	Martha Raye	"You've Changed", "My Man"
May 26, 1958	Telethon, NY	Dean Martin	Unknown
May 29, 1958	Art Ford's Jazz Party, WNTA-TV NY^[142]	Art Ford	"You've Changed", "I Love My Man", "When Your Lover Has Gone"
July 10, 1958	Art Ford's Jazz Party, NY (2)^[143]	Art Ford	"Foolin' Myself", "It's Easy to Remember", "What a Little Moonlight Can Do"
July 17, 1958	Art Ford's Jazz Party, NY (2)^[143]	Art Ford	"Moanin' Low", "Don't Explain", "When Your Lover Has Gone"
September 25, 1958	Today Show^[144]	Dave Garroway	"My Funny Valentine"
November 18, 1958	Mars Club, Music Hall Parade Voyons Un Peu, Paris France (2)	–	"I Only Have Eyes for You"
November 20, 1958	Gilles Margaritis Programme, Paris France (2)	Gilles Margaritis	"Trav'lin' Light"
November 27, 1958 (Unconfirmed - Possibly December 4)	Art Ford's Jazz Party, NY^[145]	Art Ford	"All of Me", "Good Morning Heartache", "Travelin' Light"
February 23, 1959	Chelsea at Nine, London, England (2)^[146]	Robert Beatty	"Porgy", "Please Don't Talk About Me", "Strange Fruit"

(1) = Available on audio (2) = Available on DVD

See also

• List of awards and nominations received by Billie Holiday
• List of craters on Venus
• List of people on the postage stamps of the United States
• List of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees

Bibliography

Notes

1. Ostendorf, May 1993, pp. 201–202.
2. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
3. Clarke, 2002, p. 9.
4. "About Billie Holiday," 2002.
5. "Billie Holiday Biography".
6. O'Meally, 1991, p. 64.
7. Dufour, 1999, pp. 40–42.
8. Clarke, 2002, p. xiii.
9. "Billie Holiday Biography". Biography. A&E Television Networks. April 2, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2022. Sadie married Philip Gough in 1920...
10. Nicholson, 1995, pp. 21–22.
11. Nicholson, 1995, pp. 18–23.
12. Ripatrazone, August 14, 2018.
13. Nicholson, 1995, pp. 22–24.
14. Nicholson, 1995, p. 25.
15. Nicholson, 1995, p. 27.
16. Eff, 2013, p. 63.
17. Brothers, 2014, p. 298.
18. Nicholson, 1995, p. 31.
19. Holiday & Dufty, 1956, p. 13.
20. Nicholson, 1995, pp. 35–37.
21. Vail, 1996, p. 32.
22. Nicholson, 1995, pp. 35–39.
23. Nicholson, 1995, p. 39.
24. Gourse, 2000, p. 73.
25. Nicholson, 1995, p. 56.
26. Bush, 2003, pp. 239–240.
27. Nicholson, 1995, p. 65.
28. Novaes, "The Composers".
29. Gourse, 2000, pp. 73–74.
30. Sheldon, 2011, pp. 334–350.
31. Walker, November 2002.
32. Nicholson, 1995, pp. 93–94.
33. Novaes, "Live Songs," 1937.
34. Gourse, 2000, p. 40.
35. Nicholson, 1995, pp. 96–97.
36. Holiday & Dufty, 1956, p. 80.
37. Gourse, 2000, pp. 103–104.
38. Nicholson, 1995, pp. 100–107.
39. Nicholson, 1995, p. 70.
40. Nicholson, 1995, p. 102.
41. Margolick, 2000, pp. 25–27.
42. Margolick, 2000, pp. 40–46.
43. Nicholson, 1995, p. 113.
44. Holiday & Dufty, 1956, p. 95.
45. Clarke, 2002, p. 169.
46. Nicholson, 1995, p. 115.
47. Holiday & Dufty, 1956, pp. 104–105.
48. Holiday & Dufty, 1956, pp. 100–101.
49. Tsort.info, "Billie Holiday".
50. Jazzstandards.com, "1940s".
51. . Grammy.org. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
52. Indiana Public Media, March 4, 2006.
53. Nicholson, 1995, p. 130.
54. "Harlem Hit Parade", 1942–1943.
55. Life, October 11, 1943, p. 121.
56. Novaes, "Studio Songs," 1944.
57. Nicholson, 1995, p. 150.
58. Nicholson, 1995, p. 122.
59. Shaw, 1971, p. 290.
60. Holiday & Dufty, 1956, p. 114.
61. Jazzstandards.com, "Lover Man".
62. Alagna, 2003, p. 61.
63. Novaes, "Studio Songs," 1945.
64. Novaes, "Live Songs," 1935.
65. Nicholson, 1995, pp. 152–155.
66. Holiday & Dufty, 1956, pp. 136–140.
67. Nicholson, 1995, pp. 152–157.
68. Nicholson, 1995, p. 151.
69. Holiday & Dufty, 1956, pp. 147–149.
70. Nicholson, 1995, p. 155.
71. Chilton, 1975, pp. 92–93.
72. Holiday & Dufty, 1956, p. 146.
73. Lahr, December 20, 2018.
74. Guardian, May 3, 2015.
75. Holiday & Dufty, 1956, p. 165.
76. Nicholson, 1995, pp. 165–167.
77. Holiday & Dufty, 1956, pp. 168–169.
78. Holiday & Dufty, 1956, pp. 172–173.
79. Reuters, July 4, 2008.
80. Clarke, 2002, p. 327.
81. Nicholson, 1995, pp. 167, 229.
82. Nicholson, 1995, p. 215.
83. Holiday & Dufty, 1956, p. 175.
84. Nicholson, 1995, p. 181.
85. "New Jersey Death Index".
86. Dahl, 1989, pp. 76, 92.
87. Lady Love, 1962.
88. San Francisco Chronicle, September 18, 2006, p. G1.
89. New Yorker, April 3, 2015.
90. Szwed, 2015.
91. Novaes, "Studio Discography".
92. Billboard, December 22, 1956, p. 26.
93. Essential Billie Holiday, 1989.
94. National Post, May 17, 2005, pp. AL1–AL2.
95. Feather, 1972, p. 82.
96. Feather, 1972, p. 83.
97. Hari, January 17, 2015.
98. JazzTimes, October 7, 2021.
99. Katz, 2002.
100. White, 1987, p. 110.
101. "Billie Holiday Biography". Biography.com. p. 3.
102. New York Times, July 18, 1959, p. 15.
103. New York Times Magazine, December 24, 1972, pp. 8–9, 18–19.
104. NPR, Morning Edition, July 17, 2012.
105. NPR, All Things Considered, April 7, 2015.
106. Sound and Moving Image Catalogue: Adelaide Hall interviewed by Max Jones, 1988: Part 1 and Part 2: duration 2 hours 36 minutes: British Library, London: http://sami.bl.uk/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/0/0/5?searchdata1=CKEY5192620
107. ‘Adelaide Hall’s secret visit to Billie Holiday’s bedside before her death’ – article by Iain Cameron Williams, retrieved October 16, 2022: article:https://syncopatedtimes.com/adelaide-halls-secret-visit-to-billie-holidays-bedside-before-her-death/
108. Baltimore Heritage, April 26, 2018.
109. New York Times, March 7, 2019, p. A19.
110. Kuehl & Schocket, 1973.
111. Sheldon, 2011, p. 348.
112. Clarke, 2002, p. 96.
113. Def Pen, July 2, 2020.
114. Los Angeles Times, February 27, 2021.
115. Them, January 12, 2021.
116. "Audra McDonald". Television Academy. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
117. "WINNERS (MCDONALD)". Winners and Honorees. Tony Award Publications. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
118. Novaes, "Favorites".
119. AllMusic. Discography.
120. Millar, 1994.
121. Jepsen, 1969.
122. Clarke, 2002, p. 74.
123. "Jazz Pianists of the Swing Era". The Jim Cullum Riverwalk Jazz Collection. Stanford University. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
124. Novaes, "Musicians".
125. Novaes, "Studio Songs," 1936.
126. Tsort.info, "Summertime".
127. . #1 Songs of 1930–1999. Archived from the original on June 16, 2010. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
128. Novaes, "Studio Songs," 1939.
129. Vail, 1996, p. 15.
130. Vail, 1996, p. 125.
131. Vail, 1996, p. 126.
132. Vail, 1996, p. 132.
133. Vail, 1996, p. 139.
134. Vail, 1996, p. 149.
135. Vail, 1996, p. 153.
136. Vail, 1996, p. 165.
137. Vail, 1996, p. 172.
138. Vail, 1996, p. 179.
139. Evanier, January 6, 2009.
140. Vail, 1996, p. 180.
141. Vail, 1996, p. 191.
142. Vail, 1996, p. 194.
143. Vail, 1996, p. 195.
144. Vail, 1996, p. 197.
145. Ford, 1958.
146. Vail, 1996, p. 201.

References linked to Notes

Books, journals, magazines, papers, and blogs

• . CMG Worldwide, Inc. & A&E Television Networks, LLC  . May 13, 2012 [original possibly on or before 2002]. Archived from the original on February 9, 2022. Retrieved March 13, 2013 – via Wayback Machine.

The date and attribution for this article is unclear; tho' a phrase from it has been published on two earlier dates, 2008 and 2002: "Holiday's unique diction, inimitable phrasing and acute dramatic intensity made her the outstanding jazz singer of her day."

1. Cartwright, Joan (DBA) (2008). ""Holiday, Billie (1915–1959)". In Davies, Carole Boyce (ed.). Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora – Origins, Experiences, and Culture. Vol. 1: "A–C". ABC-Clio. pp. 537–539 – via Google Books (limited preview). {{cite book}}: |first1= has generic name (help) (alternate link.) LCCN 2008-11880

2. Bennett Banner; Scott, Shana Leinaala (April 5, 2002). "Black History" – "On This Day in April" – "7 1915 Billie Holiday a.k.a. 'Lady Day'" (student newspaper). Vol. 23, no. 9. Greensboro, North Carolina: Bennett College. p. 4 (cols. 1 & 2, bottom). LCCN 2014236904; OCLC 893622585 (all editions).

• Alagna, Magdalena (2003). Billie Holiday. Series: "Rock & Roll Hall of Famers". Rosen Publishing Group. p. 61. ISBN 9780823936403 – via Internet Archive (Kahle/Austin Foundation). LCCN 2002-4540; ISBN 0-8239-3640-6; OCLC 1028725008 (all editions).

• AllMusic. "Discography" – "Billie Holiday". All Media Network. Retrieved November 13, 2010. {{cite web}}: |last1= has generic name (help)

• Baltimore Heritage; Pousson, Eli (April 26, 2018) [Last updated on April 29, 2021]. "Billie Holiday Statue – Monument by James Early Reid on Pennsylvania Avenue". baltimoreheritage.org. Retrieved October 17, 2019.

• "Harlem Hit Parade" → "Trav'lin' Light". Billboard. Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, Capital 116. Recorded June 12, 1942, in Los Angeles.
  Personnel: Monty Kelly (né Montgomery Lovendale Kelly; 1910–1971), Larry Neill (né Lorentz Neill Orenstein; 1918–2006), Don Waddilove (né William Donald Waddilove) (trumpets); Skip Layton, Murray McEachern (trombones); Alvy West (né Alvin Weisfeld; 1915–1912), Dan D'Andrea (né Daniel Glorian D'Andrea; 1909–1983) (alto saxes); Lenny Hartman, King Guion (né Earl King Guion; 1907–1973) (tenor sax); Tom Mace (bari sax, bass clarinet); Buddy Weed (né Eugene Harold Weed; 1918–1997) (piano); Mike Pingitore (guitar, banjo); Harry Azen, Saul Blumenthal, David Newman (violins); Artie Shapiro (bass); Willie Rodriguez (né William Valentino Rodriguez y Amador; 1918–1966) (drums); Billie Holiday, Johnny Mercer, Jack Teagarden (vocalist); Jimmy Mundy (arranger); Paul Whiteman (director).

1. No. 2. October 24, 1942 Vol. 54 no. 43. p. 25.
2. No. 2. October 31, 1942 Vol. 54 no. 44. p. 24.
3. No. 1. November 7, 1942 Vol. 54 no. 45. p. 24.
4. No. 5. November 14, 1942 Vol. 54 no. 46. p. 24.
5. No. 1. November 21, 1942 Vol. 54 no. 47. p. 24.
6. No. 6. November 28, 1942 Vol. 54 no. 48. p. 24.
7. No. 1. December 5, 1942 Vol. 54 no. 49. p. 24.
8. No. 3. December 12, 1942 Vol. 54 no. 50. p. 24.
9. No. 4. December 19, 1942 Vol. 54 no. 51. p. 25.
10. No. 6. December 26, 1942 Vol. 54 no. 52. p. 25.
11. No. 3. January 2, 1943 Vol. 55 no. 1. p. 30.
12. No. 5. January 9, 1943 Vol. 55 no. 2. p. 30.
13. No. 3. January 16, 1943 Vol. 55 no. 3. p. 24.
14. No. 7. January 23, 1943 Vol. 55 no. 4. p. 24.
15. No. 6. January 30, 1943 Vol. 55 no. 5. p. 24.
16. Not listed. February 6, 1943 Vol. 55 no. 6. p. 24.
17. No. 8. February 13, 1943 Vol. 55 no. 7. p. 24.
18. Not listed. February 20, 1943 Vol. 55 no. 8. p. 24.
19. No. 10. February 27, 1943 Vol. 55 no. 9. p. 24.
20. No. 9. March 6, 1943 Vol. 55 no. 10. p. 24.
21. N/A. March 13, 1943 Vol. 55 no. 11. [p. ].
22. N/A. March 20, 1943 Vol. 55 no. 12. [p. ].
23. No. 8. March 27, 1943 Vol. 55 no. 13. p. 24.
24. N/A. April 3, 1943 Vol. 55 no. 14. [p. ].
25. No. 7. April 10, 1943 Vol. 55 no. 15. p. 24.
26. No. 6. April 17, 1943 Vol. 55 no. 16. p. 22.

• Billboard (December 22, 1956). "Review Spotlight on ... " "Jazz Albums" "Lady Sings the Blues". Billboard. Vol. 68, no. 1. p. 26. Retrieved May 7, 2015 – via Google Books.

• . Biography.com. Archived from the original on July 12, 2009.
  The article was also published in the following book → Shaw, Charles E. (né Charlie Edward Shaw; born 1941) (2011). "Chapter 4: Musicians/Singers: Billie Holiday (1915–1959)". The Untold Stories of Excellence – From a Life of Despair and Uncertainty to One That Offers Hope and a New Beginning. Bloomington, Indiana: Xlibris Corporation. pp. 160–163 – via Google Books (limited preview). ISBN 978-1-4628-8835-1 (hardcover), ISBN 978-1-4628-8836-8 (softcover), ISBN 978-1-4628-4907-9 (e-book); Scribd 524244331.

• Brothers, Thomas David, PhD (2014). Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. p. 298. ISBN 9780393065824 – via Internet Archive. LCCN 2013-37726; ISBN 978-0-3930-6582-4; OCLC 858940268 (all editions).

• Bush, John (2003). "Billie Holiday (Eleanora Fagan Gough)". All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues (3rd ed.). All Media Guide & Backbeat Books. pp. 239–240. ISBN 9780879307363 – via Internet Archive (Kahle/Austin Foundation). LCCN 2003-40408; ISBN 0-8793-0736-6.
  Online version → "Billie Holiday: Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved February 24, 2016.

• Chilton, John (1989) [1987, 1983, 1978, 1977, 1975]. Billie's Blues: The Billie Holiday Story, 1933–1959. Da Capo Press. ISBN 9780306803635 – via Internet Archive (ARChive of Contemporary Music ). LCCN 75-8837, LCCN 89-11779; ISBN 0-3068-0363-1; OCLC 1257108 (all editions).

• Clarke, Donald (2002) [2009, 2000, 1998, 1995, 1994]. Billie Holiday: Wishing on the Moon (First Da Capo Press ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts. ISBN 9780306811364 – via Internet Archive (Arcadia Fund). LCCN 94-8881; ISBN 0-6708-3771-7; ISBN 0-3068-1136-7, 978-0-3068-1136-4; OCLC 30036926 (all editions).

• Dahl, Linda (born 1949) (1989) [1884]. Stormy Weather: The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazzwomen. pp. 76, 92 – via Google Books (limited preview). LCCN 83-19456, LCCN 89-12352; ISBN 0-8791-0128-8, 978-0-8791-0128-2; OCLC 19888394 (all editions).

• Davis, Angela Y. (1998). Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday. New York: Random House. ISBN 9780679450054 – via Internet Archive. LCCN 97-33021; ISBN 0-6797-7126-3.

• Def Pen; Shepard, Ryan (July 2, 2020). "Paramount Pictures Acquires the Rights to Lee Daniels' 'The United States vs. Billie Holiday' Starring Andra Day". Def Pen. Retrieved July 6, 2020.

• Dufour, Ronald Paul, PhD (1999). "Holiday, Billie". American National Biography (see American National Biography). Vol. 11. Oxford University Press under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies. pp. 40–42 – via Internet Archive. LCCN 98-20826; ISBN 0-1952-0635-5 (set), ISBN 0-1951-2790-0 (Vol. 11); OCLC 39182280 (all editions).
  Online version → Dufour, Ronald P. (February 2000). "Holiday, Billie (1915–1959), Singer". doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1800581. ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1800581 ISBN 978-0-1986-0669-7; OCLC 4825703966.

• Eff, Elaine (2013). The Painted Screens of Baltimore: An Urban Folk Art Revealed. University Press of Mississippi. p. 63 – via Google Books (limited preview). LCCN 2013-15880; ISBN 1-4968-0392-2, 978-1-6170-3891-4; OCLC 843228813 (all editions).

• Evanier, Mark (January 6, 2009). "Bert Park's Bandstand". Old TV Tickets (WordPress blog of Mark Evanier). Retrieved November 3, 2020.

• Feather, Leonard (1972). From Satchmo to Miles. Da Capo Press. p. 82. ISBN 9780812814712 – via Internet Archive. LCCN 70-187311; ISBN 978-0-3068-0302-4.

• Art Ford's Jazz Party (see Jazz Party). 1958. Retrieved November 3, 2020 – via Library of Congress.

• Gourse, Leslie (2000) [1997]. The Billie Holiday Companion: Seven Decades of Commentary. New York: Schirmer Trade Books. ISBN 9780028646138 – via Internet Archive (Kahle/Austin Foundation). LCCN 96-31528; ISBN 0-0286-4613-4; OCLC 35033730 (all editions).

• Hari, Johann (January 17, 2015). "The Hunting of Billie Holiday: How Lady Day Found Herself in the Middle of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics' Early Fight for Survival". Politico. Retrieved February 22, 2021.

• Holiday, Billie (1992) [1984, 1956]. Dufty, William (ed.). Lady Sings the Blues (with a revised discography by Vincent Pelote). New York: Doubleday. ISBN 9780140067620 – via Internet Archive (Boston Public Library; University of Toronto). LCCN 56-5962, LCCN 74-153054, LCCN 83-22014, LCCN 2007-271682; ISBN 0-1400-6762-0; OCLC 884533 (all editions).

• Jazzstandards.com. Site creator: Jeremy R. Wilson (born 1948). Editor-in-chief: Sandra Burlingame (née Sandra Burlingame Gast; born 1937). Portland, Oregon: Jazzstandards.com, LLC. Retrieved November 13, 2010. OCLC 71004558.

1. Tyle, Chris. "Jazz History: The Standards" (1940s). Retrieved November 13, 2010.
2. Wilson, Jeremy. "Lover Man" ("Oh, Where Can You Be?") (1942). Retrieved May 7, 2015.

• JazzTimes; Porter, Lewis (October 7, 2021). "The United States vs. Billie Holiday vs. the Truth". JazzTimes (film review). Retrieved August 7, 2022.

• Jepsen, Jørgen Grunnet [in German] (1969) [1960?]. A Discography of Billie Holiday (author's surname is often misspelled in library catalogs as "Jepson"). Copenhagen: Karl Emil Knudsen (nl) (publisher) – via Internet Archive (ARChive of Contemporary Music). OCLC 879783 (all editions).

• Katz, Joel (producer, director, writer) (2002). Strange Fruit (documentary; 35 mm film & DVD, 56:29 minutes). California Newsreel. Premiered April 8, 2003, 10:00 pm on PBS's Independent Lens → Strange Fruit at IMDb; OCLC 56733073 (all editions).

• Kuehl, Linda (né Linda Victoria Lipnack; 1940–1978); Schocket, Ellie (née Elsa D. Schocket; born 1941) (1973). Billie Holiday Remembered (booklet for exhibition of pictures, records, films, momentos, and spoken recollections, April 7, 1972 – June 30, 1972, compiled and arranged by Kuehl & Schocket; assisted by Dan Morgenstern). New York Jazz Museum (publisher). LCCN 77-373175; OCLC 1358163 (all editions).
  Note: One year, eleven months, three weeks, and three days after the exhibition opening, Schocket married Morgenstern.

• Lady Love (liner notes by Leonard Feather and LeRoi Jones). United Artists Records, UAJ-14014. 1962. OCLC 15585296 (all editions).
  Lady Love is a 1962 issue of selections from a concert in Basel, Switzerland, February 4, 1954, during Holiday's 1954 European tour, "Jazz Club U.S.A." The location and date of this session had been previously listed incorrectly as a concert in Cologne, January 23, 1954. The correction was supplied by Arild Widerøe, a Swiss Jazz discographer. The master recording was (i) taken from a tape supplied by Roman Flury, a musicologist and, back then, editor at Radio Basel (a station in Basel that ran from 1926 to 1972) and (ii) given to Leonard Feather (Billie Holiday [H7137]. The Jazz Discography Online. [see The Jazz Discography]. Retrieved September 15, 2022. This note is in the online edition of The Jazz Discography – retrieved September 15, 2022 – not in the 1994 hardcopy edition, Vol. 9).

Side A:

1. Announcement, by Leonard Feather
2. "Blue Moon"
3. "All of Me"
4. "My Man"
5. "Them There Eyes"
6. "I Cried For You"
7. "What a Little Moonlight Can Do"
8. "I Cover The Waterfront"

Side B:

1. "Billie's Blues"
2. "Lover, Come Back to Me"

• Lahr, John (December 20, 2018). "Her Haunted Heart". London Review of Books (review of a new release of the 1956 book, Lady Sings the Blues). 40 (24). ISSN 0260-9592; OCLC 7950756292.

• Life; Mili, Gjon (photographer) (October 11, 1943). "Music: Jam Session". Life. Vol. 15, no. 15. pp. 117–124 – via Google Books. ISSN 0024-3019.

Photo caption: "Billie Holiday sings 'Fine and Mellow,' a blues recorded for the Commadore label. She has the most distinctive style of any popular vocalist, is imitated by other vocalists."

• Margolick, David (2000). Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Café Society, and an Early Cry for Civil Rights. Philadelphia: Running Press. pp. 25–27. ISBN 9780762406777 – via Internet Archive. LCCN 99-74354; ISBN 0-7624-0677-1; OCLC 43723261 (all editions).

• Millar, Jack (1994) [1979]. Fine and Mellow: A Discography of Billie Holiday [Born to Sing: A Discography of Billie Holiday]. London: Billie Holiday Circle – via Internet Archive (ARChive of Contemporary Music). LCCN 93-169341; ISBN 1-8991-6100-7; OCLC 8435589 (all editions).

• The Essential Billie Holiday – The Carnegie Hall Concert (CD. Recorded November 10, 1956, Carnegie Hall). Verve Records (PolyGram Records) 833-767-2. 1989 [2015, 1969; originally released in 1961 → Verve (E)2304117] – via Internet Archive (Kahle-Austin Foundation)  . OCLC 20423720 (all editions).
  Additional access → The Essential Billie Holiday at Discogs

1. Millstein, Gilbert (1915–1999) (June 1961). 1st liner note.
2. Hentoff, Nat (n.d.). 2nd liner note.
3. Friedwald, Will (June 1989). 3rd liner note.

• "New Jersey, U.S., Death Index, 1848–1878, 1901–2017" (Elaine Leighton → Date of birth: 22 May 1926 → Place of birth: New York City → Date of death: 13 May 2012 → Place of death: New Jersey). Lehi, Utah. 2016 – via Ancestry.com.

• New Yorker (The); Brody, Richard (April 3, 2015). "The Art of Billie Holiday's Life". The New Yorker (review of Szwed's 2015 book, Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth). Cultural Comment. Retrieved April 6, 2015.

• Nicholson, Stuart (1995). Billie Holiday. Boston: Northeastern University Press. ISBN 9781555532482 – via Internet Archive (Kahle/Austin Foundation). LCCN 95-16155; ISBN 1-5555-3303-5, 978-1-5555-3303-8, ISBN 1-5555-3248-9, 978-1-5555-3248-2; OCLC 32348099 (all editions).

• Novaes, Paulo. Billie Holiday Songs. (WordPress blog of Paulo Novaes, Publisher; Fernanda Novaes, Art Director, Brazil). Billie Holiday Songs at www.billieholidaysongs.com. Retrieved September 18, 2010.

The below 10 online references were originally retrieved November 13, 2010, and are archived via Wayback Machine
1. . Archived from the original on April 23, 2010.
2. . Archived from the original on April 23, 2010.
3. . Archived from the original on May 28, 2010.
4. . Archived from the original on April 14, 2012.
5. . Archived from the original on September 10, 2011.
6. . Archived from the original on May 28, 2010.
7. . Archived from the original on July 2, 2010.
8. . Archived from the original on February 25, 2012.
9. . Archived from the original on March 10, 2011.
10. . Archived from the original on August 31, 2010.

• O'Meally, Robert George, PhD (1991). Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 9781559701471 – via Internet Archive. ISBN 978-0-3068-0959-0; OCLC 45009756 (all editions).

• Ostendorf, Berndt (May 1993). "Book Review: Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday by Robert O'Meally". Popular Music. International Association for the Study of Popular Music by the Cambridge University Press. 12 (2): 201–202. doi:10.1017/s0261143000005602. ISSN 0261-1430. JSTOR 931303. S2CID 161429886. OCLC 5304202560, 5548500290, 4668893513 & 8271328299.

• Ripatrazone, Nick (August 14, 2018). "The Rhythm Becomes a Thing of the Spirit: On 'Religion Around Billie Holiday' by Tracy Fessenden". The Millions. PWxyz, LLC. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  Book reviewed: Fessenden, Tracy (2018). Religion Around Billie Holiday. Pennsylvania State University Press. LCCN 2017-58145; ISBN 0-2710-8095-7, 978-0-2710-8095-6; OCLC 1013821115 (all editions).

• "Billie Holiday | Rock & Roll Hall of Fame". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved July 28, 2021.

• Rosenstein, Carole (2018). Understanding Cultural Policy. Routledge. p. 134. LCCN 2017-49690; ISBN 978-1-3155-2683-6, ISBN 978-1-1386-9533-7 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-1386-9535-1 (paperback).

• Shaw, Arnold (né Arnold Sokolof; 1909–1989) (1971). 52nd Street, The Street of Jazz. Da Capo Press. ISBN 9780306800689 – via Internet Archive (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign). LCCN 77-23547, LCCN 2010-481663; ISBN 978-0-3068-0068-9; OCLC 760122544 (all editions).

• Sheldon, Harvey (né Harvey Saltzman; born 1936) (2011). "Billie Holiday". The History of the Golden Age of Pop Music of the 30's, 40's, 50's & 60's. Charleston, South Carolina: BookSurge. pp. 334–350. ISBN 9781461091059 – via Internet Archive (ARChive of Contemporary Music). ISBN 978-1-4610-9105-9, 1-4610-9105-5; OCLC 759118310 (all editions).

• Szwed, John F., PhD (2015). Billie Holiday: The Musician and The Myth. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 9780670014729 – via Internet Archive (Kahle/Austin Foundation). LCCN 2015-1092; ISBN 978-0-6700-1472-9; OCLC 900333018 (all editions).

• Them; Kim, Michelle Hyun (January 12, 2021). "Watch Andra Day as Black, Bisexual Icon Billie Holiday in New Biopic Trailer". Them (review of the 2021 film, The United States vs. Billie Holiday). Retrieved April 24, 2022.

• Tsort.info (blog of Steven Hawtin et al., of the United Kingdom. ©2007–2022).

1. "Song Artist 178: 'Billie Holiday'". Retrieved November 13, 2010.
2. "Song Title 109: 'Summertime'". Retrieved November 13, 2010.

• Vail, Ken (1939–2013) [in German] (1996). Lady Day's Diary: The Life of Billie Holiday, 1937–1959 (1st ed.). Castle Communications PLC. p. 125. ISBN 9781860741319 – via Internet Archive (ARChive of Contemporary Music). LCCN 96-212448; ISBN 186074-131-2, 978-1-8607-4131-9; OCLC 35561548 (all editions).

• Walker, Toby (born 1956) (November 2002). "Billie Holiday" (blog: "Toby Walker's guide to soul music, including over a thousand biographies of artists" – founded January 2001). SoulWalking.co.uk. Surbiton, Surrey. Toby Walker's website → www.tobywalker.co.uk.

• White, John (1987). Billie Holiday: Her Life & Times. Spellmount. p. 110. ISBN 9780946771462 – via Internet Archive (ARChive of Contemporary Music). LCCN 87-5966; ISBN 0-9467-7146-4, 978-0-9467-7146-2.

News media

• Guardian (The); Spencer, Neil (May 3, 2015). "Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth Review – A Celebration of a True Original" (review of Szwed's 2015 book, Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth).

• Indiana Public Media; Johnson, David Brent (March 4, 2006). "Ghosts of Yesterday: Billie Holiday and the Two Irenes".

• Los Angeles Times; Roberts, Randall (February 27, 2021). "What Really Happened When Federal Officers Persecuted Billie Holiday" (Review of the 2021 film, The United States vs. Billie Holiday). from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2021.

• National Post; Fulford, Robert (May 17, 2005). "Trying to Find the Real Lady Day: Those Who Try to Tell Billie Holiday's Story Often Discover an Unknowable Life". Vol. 7, no. 172. pp. 1–2 (section AL). Retrieved May 7, 2015. (also accessible via Newspapers.com.).

• New York Times (The) (July 18, 1959). "Billie Holiday Dies Here at 44 – Jazz Singer Had Wide Influence". Vol. 108, no. 37065 (Late City ed.). p. 15. Retrieved November 25, 2013 – via TimesMachine. (permalink access – via TimesMachine.) (also accessible via "On This Day" archive series.  . July 18, 1959.)
  "Billie Holiday, famed jazz singer, died yesterday in Metropolitan Hospital. Her age was 44. The immediate cause of death was given as congestion of the lungs complicated by heart failure."

• New York Times Magazine (The) – Section 6; Hentoff, Nat (December 24, 1972). . New York Times Magazine. Insert of The New York Times. Vol. 122, no. 41973. Archived from the original on March 16, 2018. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
  → p. 8 (digital image 191).; p. 9 (digital image 69).; p. 18 (digital image 198).; p. 19 (digital image 199) – via TimesMachine.

• New York Times (The); Jacobs, Julia (March 6, 2019). "New York Will Add 4 Statues of Women".

1. Blog → Jacobs, Julia (March 6, 2019). "New York Will Add 4 Statues of Women to Help Fix 'Glaring' Gender Gap in Public Art". The New York Times.  . ProQuest 2188361248 (US Newsstream database).
2. Print → "City Will Add 4 Statues of Women" (Late ed.; East Coast). Metropolital Desk. p. 18 (section A). ProQuest 2188518727 (US Newsstream database).

• NPR, All Things Considered; McDonough, John (April 7, 2015). "Billie Holiday: A Singer Beyond Our Understanding" (radio broadcast transcript). OCLC 7659178250, 8966496156.

• NPR, Morning Edition; Blair, Elizabeth (July 17, 2012). "Looking For Lady Day's Resting Place? Detour Ahead" (radio broadcast transcript). Retrieved July 29, 2019. OCLC 8184700432, 8234932309.

• Reuters (July 4, 2008). Fahmy, Miral (ed.). "Travel Picks: Top 10 Famous Hotel Rooms". Retrieved January 29, 2019. {{cite news}}: |last1= has generic name (help)

• San Francisco Chronicle; Hamlin, Jesse (September 18, 2006). Book Review: "Billie Holiday's Bio, 'Lady Sings the Blues,' May Be Full of Lies, but It Gets at Jazz Great's Core". Section: "Daily Datebook" (Final ed.). p. G1. ISSN 1932-8672; ProQuest 411756633 (US Newsstream database).

General references

Books, journals, magazines, papers, and blogs

• Blackburn, Julia (2005). With Billie: A New Look at the Unforgettable Lady Day. LCCN 2004-58661; OCLC 56413085 (all editions).

1. Registration required (1st American ed.). Pantheon Books. 2005. ISBN 9780375406102 – via Internet Archive (China-America Digital Academic Library at Zhejiang University Library). ISBN 0-3754-0610-7, 978-0-3754-0610-2.
2. Limited preview (1st Vintage Books ed.). April 2006 – via Google Books. ISBN 0-3757-0580-5, 978-0-3757-0580-9.
3. Limited preview (1st Vintage Books ed.). April 2006 – via Google Books.

• Collier, James Lincoln (1888). "Holiday, Billie" (dictionary biography, with references). In →

1. Kernfeld, Barry Dean (born 1950), ed. (1988). The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. (2 Vols.). London: Macmillan Press. pp. 533–534. LCCN 87-25452; ISBN 0-9358-5939-X, ISBN 0-3333-9846-7 (both Vols).
1. Vol. 1 "A–K". 1988 – via Internet Archive (Kahle/Austin Foundation).
2. Kernfeld, Barry Dean (born 1950), ed. (1994). The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. (1 Vol.). New York: St. Martin's Press – via Internet Archive (ARChive of Contemporary Music). LCCN 94-12667.
3. Kernfeld, Barry Dean (born 1950), ed. (2000) [1988, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996]. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (Alyn Shipton, consultant ed.; Stanley Sadie, series ed.). (in 1 Vol.). St. Martin's Press. pp. 533–534. ISBN 0-3121-1357-9, 978-0-3121-1357-5; OCLC 723223640 (all editions).
4. Kernfeld, Barry Dean (born 1950), ed. (2002) [1988, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000]. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (Alyn Shipton, consultant ed.; Stanley Sadie, series ed.). in 3 Vols. (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Press. New York: St. Martin's Press. LCCN 2001-40794 (2nd ed; 2002); OCLC 723223640 (all editions).
1. Kernfeld, Barry Dean (2002). Vol. 2 "Gabler–Niewood". ISBN 9781561592845 – via Internet Archive (Kahle/Austin Foundation).

• Griffin, Farah Jasmine, PhD (2001). If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday. New York: The Free Press; Random House. ISBN 9780684868080 – via Internet Archive (ARChive of Contemporary Music). LCCN 2001-18962; ISBN 0-6848-6808-3; OCLC 123102571 (all editions).

• Ingham, Chris (2000). Billie Holiday. Darby, Pennsylvania: Diane Publishing – via Internet Archive (Kahle/Austin Foundation). ISBN 1-5664-9170-3; OCLC 45501503 (all editions).

• James, Burnett (1984). Billie Holiday. Gloucestershire, England: Spellmount Publishers – via Internet Archive (ARChive of Contemporary Music). LCCN 84-122032; ISBN 0-9467-7105-7; OCLC 10938837 (all editions).

• Kaplan, Samuel W. (February 2002). "Film review: Strange Fruit – A Film Documentary Produced, Directed, and Edited by Joel Katz, California Newsreel, 2002, $195". Humanity & Society. 26 (1): 77–83. doi:10.1177/016059760202600106. ISSN 0160-5976. S2CID 220898299. (Sage Journals); ProQuest 1977661018; OCLC 7256045161, 5723561205.

• Kliment, Bud (né Edward Mader Kliment, Jr.; born 1955) (1990). Billie Holiday. LCCN 89-30450; OCLC 19848784 (all editions).

1. Registration required. Chelsea House Publishers. 1990 – via Internet Archive (ARChive of Contemporary Music). ISBN 1-5554-6592-7, 07910-0241-1.
2. Registration required. Melrose Square Publishing Company. 1990. ISBN 9780870675614 – via Internet Archive (Kahle/Austin Foundation). ISBN 0-8706-7561-3.
3. Limited preview. Melrose Square Publishing Company. 1990 – via Google Books. ISBN 0-8706-7561-3.

• Lord, Tom, ed. (1994). Jazz Discography (The). West Vancouver, British Columbia: Lord Music Reference Inc. – Redwood, New York: Cadence Jazz Books.

1. Lord, Tom (1998). "Billie Holiday". Vol. 9. pp. H739–H767. ISBN 9781881993186 – via Internet Archive (ARChive of Contemporary Music). ISBN 1-8819-9308-6; OCLC 30547554 (all editions).

• Rust, Brian Arthur Lovell (1922–2011) (1978). Jazz Records, 1897–1942. "Billie Holilday". Vol. 1 (4th and enlarged ed.). Arlington House Publishers. pp. 767–770. ISBN 9780870004049 – via Internet Archive (ARChive of Contemporary Music). LCCN 78-1693; ISBN 0-8700-0404-2; OCLC 3649797 (all editions).

News media

• New York Times (The), Chow, Andrew R.

1. Blog → "Billie Holiday, via Hologram, Returning to the Apollo". September 9, 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2015. ProQuest 1715656534 (US Newsstream database)
2. Print → "Billie Holiday at Apollo, Via a Hologram" (Late ed.; East Coast). September 10, 2015. p. C3. ProQuest 1710599891 (US Newsstream database)

• Pittsburgh Courier; Keith, Harold LeRoy (1920–2002) (July 25, 1959). "She Had a Right to Sing the Blues – Billie (Lady Day) Holiday Bows Out". The Pittsburgh Courier (obituary). Vol. 51, no. 30. p. 24 – via Newspapers.com. (alternate link (PDF) – via Fultonhistory.com  .)
  Note: Keith, the author, was, at the time, Editor of the Pittsburgh Courier.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Billie Holiday.

 

Wikiquote has quotations related to Billie Holiday.

• Discography
• by Stuart Nicholson, Jazz.com
• Billie Holiday at Playbill Vault ()
• Billie Holiday on Find A Grave
• Billie Holiday at IMDb
• Billie Holiday at the Internet Broadway Database  
• Emory University: Billie Holiday collection, 1953-1981