00:00Billie Holiday's life is the stuff of jazz legend. She rose from poverty and
00:06abuse to become one of the biggest stars of jazz during the 1930s and 40s.
00:13Holiday was a great singer who did not possess a great voice. She employed her
00:19voice like a horn player would his horn and had a reputation for taking mediocre
00:25songs and transforming them into greatness. Her singing style was
00:31influenced by Bessie Smith's singing and Louis Armstrong's trumpet playing.
00:37Fellow jazz musicians referred to her as simply Lady Day. Holiday was born in
00:46Baltimore, Maryland in 1915. In 1933 she was discovered by the legendary
00:54John Hammond, talent scout extraordinaire. Hammond signed her to Columbia Records and
01:03she recorded for some of the company's subsidiary labels. Despite being offered
01:09only mediocre material to record, she was supported by some of the finest musicians
01:15in jazz, including pianist Teddy Wilson and saxophonist Lester Young, who would
01:23coin her Lady Day and become her closest friend and musical collaborator. In 1937, Holiday toured
01:33with the Count Basie Orchestra and later joined Hardy Shaw's Orchestra. She stayed with Columbia
01:40Records until 1942, only leaving once for the Commodore label, with which she recorded the classic and
01:49searing song about lynching strange fruit. In 1942 she signed with Decca Records and later ended up recording for
02:00Verve. One of her last sessions with Columbia produced the classic side, God Bless the Child. In the late 1940s,
02:10Billie Holiday was convicted of heroin possession and spent several months in prison. Due to the
02:17conviction, she was unable to obtain a cabaret card, making it impossible for her to find work in New York City
02:26clubs. Suffering from both liver and heart disease, Billie Holiday died in a New York hospital in 1959.
02:37Holiday's best recordings can be found on the following collections.
02:42Lady Sings the Blues from 1956 Songs for Lovers from 1958
02:50Lady in Satin also from 1958 The Billie Holiday Story from 1959
02:57The Golden Years from 1962
03:00The Golden Years from 1962
03:01Billy Holiday's greatest hits from 1967
03:06Lady Day, the complete Billy Holiday on Columbia
03:111933 to 1944 from 2001
03:16Lady Day, the best of Billy Holiday from 2001
03:21The Ultimate Collection from 2005
03:26Lady Day, the master takes and singles from 2007
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