Customer Reviews

Lady Sings the Blues the 50th Anniversary Edition (Harlem Moon Classics)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have a deep love and respect for some of the most influential female jazz and soul singers of our time, like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, Carmen McRae, Lena Horne, and last but not least, Billie Holiday. In LADY SINGS THE BLUES, Holiday recalls some of the most resonant memories of her turbulent past--the good, the [mostly] bad and the [frequently] ugly. From the very start, Billie Holiday (birth name Eleanora Fagan) born to thirteen year old Sadie Fagan and sixteen year old Clarence Holiday, had a very difficult life. The young girl saw much in the rough streets of Baltimore, Maryland, as a call girl, a jailbird and a spitfire with a vey hot temper.

Billie didn't even consider a career in singing, and her introduction as a vocalist was (perhaps) accidental, but definitely fate. Her descent into drug addiction, jailtime, turbulent relationships (with both men and women) and the great antipathy she faced in the storm of racism, jealousy and gossip made for a very adverse life, on and off of the stage. Some of the greatest moments of her career are documented here, as told to writer William Dufty. We learn the stories behind songs like "Strange Fruit," that are songs she created and truly lived and experienced, before setting them to lyric and melody. Though, I never heard Billie Holiday's speaking voice, I heard it throughout this piece, and I can see why it was brought to the screen, as a film. I haven't seen it, so I honestly have no idea how well it translated as a movie, with Diana Ross. Though, I have heard it was fantastic.

There is also a companion CD, that goes with the memoir, to mark the 50th anniversary of its original release (1956-2006). Perhaps that's why I had to take one star away from the package, as a whole. You really can't read a book like LADY SINGS THE BLUES and then hear other artists covering the songs that Billie really created. There is no comparison, even though musicians like Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds are featured on the album (doing a respectable job of STRANGE FRUIT). It's just not the same. Yet, if the CD was excluded from this 50th anniversary reissue, I would give the book (on its own) five stars, without hesitation. Highly reccomended!

Nice reissue of the 1956 original. Billie was and still is an American jazz icon. For me the CD stuck in the back of the book was a wonderful bonus. 16 year old Renee Olstead singing "Good Morning Heartache" just blows me away! She has the potential to become another great jazz icon!

I enjoyed this book, particularly for the steep reminders that life is full of imperfections. Her life is less than perfect, and she made it her art. She conveys personal meaning and insight as good as any scholar; her music is her Picasso. It is so refreshing to read an autobiography that is honest. The honesty comes from her restraint from glossing over her troubles, opting instead, to candidly express her life as it was. I learned about how hard it was to be a black female-not just in theory, but a first-hand account. It's worth reading for anyone who wants to understand the human conditon. I'm not into the politics of why she wrote it, or other biographers motivations. As mentioned, I read it for the honesty, i felt connected to her writing...and this is so important to find in an age where idealism is continually shoved down our throats from media and cultural influence.

"Everyone's got to be different. You can't copy anybody and end up with anything. If you copy, it means you're working without real feeling. And without feeling, whatever you do amounts to nothing." Billie Holiday knew a thing or two about feeling. At ten, she was sent to jail because a forty-year-old man tried to rape her. From her hardscrabble youth on the streets of Baltimore to touring the country as a blues, swing, and jazz singer, she faced discrimination and ignorance everywhere. The South is often made the scapegoat for racism in this country, but in the thirties and forties, in Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia, and even New York, she had trouble getting hotel rooms, eating in restaurants, and often had to enter the venue in which she was performing through the back door, even when most of her entourage was white. And she was constantly dogged by federal agents once it became known that she was a heroin addict.

"Lady Sings the Blues" is the remarkable story of Holiday's rise to stardom and decline into addiction. The book is written by William Dufty and David Ritz, but the street-wise voice is all Holiday's. Among many other things - and of most interest to me - "Lady Sings the Blues" is also a cry for legalization, or at least decriminalization of drugs. Back in 1955, she was comparing the addict dependent on a substance with a diabetic dependent on insulin. The same comparisons are still made today but to no avail. She said addicts are sick people who need medical treatment, not jails and prisons. She must be turning in her grave to see that absolutely nothing has changed in 56 years. In fact, it's only gotten worse. She's shocked when she tours Europe and sees how addiction is treated there: "Nobody has to risk his life by going to the black market and paying a hundred bucks for something worth four cents - and then getting stuff so bad it's liable to kill you. There's little if any black-marketing or profiteering. People don't have to go out shoplifting, mugging, or robbing one another to get money to buy stuff this way."

Sadly, she was never able to overcome her addiction. As she says, "There isn't a soul on earth who can say for sure that their fight with dope is over until they're dead."

Billie Holiday was a beautiful but tormented soul who lived her art. Her highs were heavenly and her lows were hellish nightmares. This sad, poignant story is proof that sometimes pain does create great art.

David Allan Reeves
Author of "Running Away From Me"

The only thing that saved this book is Billie's personality, which oozes off every page. I found it really hard to get through this book because it doesn't read chronologically---events are thrown all over the place and there are too many people named throughout the book (as if she just wanted to give them a shout-out--so that they could be remembered because she cared about people in that way) but its very difficult to keep up with so many names. It doesn't dig too deep into her drug habit or relationships...and some things are believed to be fictionalized so that the book could sell. Nonetheless, I have to give the book three stars because if anything, it introduced me to Billie. She was sassy, charming, real, and plain beautiful inside and out despite her life experiences. I'm very unfortunate to have not lived in that musical era...when artists truly sang from the heart with passion. I would have loved to meet her. In fact, after reading this novel, I feel like everytime I hear one of her songs, we will have a connection. You don't have to buy this particular book, but you should read up on her and try to listen to some of her music...just to keep her memory alive.

I had to read Billie's autobiography for an English project. To be honest, I thoroughly enjoyed it, until I realize it was a book of misconceptions. Billie lies and stretches the truth excessively in her biography. If you read Wishing on the Moon by Donald Clark, you begin to see the lies Billie has built. For instance, the story Billie created about being with her grandmother when she died was completely false. However, despite the falseness of the book, I'm still giving it 3 stars because it's an easy to read, enjoyable book.

I ordered the book and the CD supposed to be in the back of the book;
MANY REVIEWS ON THIS PAGE HAVE MENTIONED IT, and
when I received the book, there was no CD.
I am disappointed.

I ordered this mainly for the CD that was supposed to be in the back of the book (SEVERAL REVIEWS ON THIS PAGE HAVE MENTIONED IT), and when I received the book, there was no CD. I am extremely disappointed and I will be returning the book.