Customer Reviews

Wishing on the Moon: The Life and Times of Billie Holiday

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(3)
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This was the best Bio I have read on Billie. Previous Bios never were clear on how many times she was married. Actually she was only married twice. There was also quite a bit of detail on her growing up in Baltimore. I always thought that Billie was from the Pennsylvania Ave. section of West Baltimore. But she actually grew up near Fells Point. LATER she moved near to the Royale Theatre in West Baltimore. Also there is clarification of the relationship between her Mother and Father.
HOWEVER there was too much description of her later drug use. (If you have read one Junkies life (as in John Belushi) you don't need to read about the drug use in another Junkie.) BUT there was also clarification that her addiction didn't start because of a white Band Member (which was shown in the movie).
Of the 4 books that I have read on Billie this was the best.

When writing about American jazz, Donald Clarke's prose style is often that of the hip insider: he captures Billie Holiday's world in a way no other biography or study of the singer has managed to do. This is neither a straightforward narrative or a cautionary tale, and readers attempting to breeze through its pages in order to pick off the highlights may well be thrown by Clarke's casual story telling, which is given to warm-hearted floating asides, including descriptions of sessions and performances, and analysis of individual records, all of it interspersed with vivid and often lengthy comments from his interviewees. Clarke cares deeply for this woman, his patience seems inexhaustible, and his anger at the racism and stupidity of the times can make a page tremble without disrupting the cool assurance of his methods, but he also has a sense of humor in all this: you have to love a biography that gives the last word to pianist Jimmy Rowles, whose affectionate two page monologue ends with Billie tucked into bed with Chinese take-out and a bottle of gin for company.

Wishing on the Moon is a real find for Billie Holiday fans who would like to learn more about her. The book gives a lot of detail from interviews with people who knew and worked with her. At various points the author lovingly corrects errors in Billie's own ghost written autobiography "Lady Sings the Blues". Many of the chapters are as much detailed discography as biography. I really liked knowing who the musicians were who recorded with her on various songs. My only criticism is that I can't always find the page that I want to refer back to for song details. Definitely one of the best biographies I have read in the past few years

"Wishing on the Moon" by Donald Clarke, is an incredibly remarkable book. I was totally in awe how a man can capture every little detail of Billie Holiday's life, as well as those who were around her...those that new her the best and AT her best. He tells the truth in all of it's entirety. The information gathered to produce this book is very well written, for it gives the reader a set time that a certain event has taken place. He(the author) goes into a summary of each period to give the reader background information about people that played a part in her life. This form of writing helps the reader not only learn of the life and times of this great performer, but also helps the reader imagine what is going in her (Billie Holiday's) lifetime as you read. It's like a great movie fit into a little book!

Unlike other books this seems to have many more facts that fiction attached to it (if you take the author's word on that) and I see no reason not to. How great was she after still having a life like hers? It's amazing that she made it to age 44. I wish they would do another movie of her life. "Lady Sings The Blues", although acted very well by Diana Ross, was a fictional account of her life and should not be recognized as a biography of any kind (except that she had a drug problem).

The only problem I had with this book was that at times it lacked continuity and was hard to follow. Still recommended though.

Clarke did a wonderful job in fulfilling the task of exposing Billie to those who thought they knew her. In my first impressions of the book, I found it to be similar to a text book rather than a novel. A storyteller by nature, I was somewhat thrown by the books' seesaw approach from novel to reference book. However, once I adapted to books' style, I could not put the it down. I found Clarke's uncannily ability to present the facts (as I have never seen them presented in any Holiday book)spellbinding. The interpretation of reasearch was quite impressive. I recommend any "true" Holiday fan to read this book. I found it enlightening and enjoyable.

Clarke's work is the best of the many books that came out after Motown's wonderful ( if inaccurate )movie based on Holiday's ghost-written autobio, Lady Sings the Blues. Rich in detail, but never losing character or flavor ( a pitfall of many bios )along the way, Wishing On The Moon captures what one can presume to be the essence of this magnificant interpreter of song. The big-picture details of Lady Day's life story are well-known, and Clarke separates fact from fiction while painting a rich and entertaining portrait.

One gets the feeling that Billie Holiday presented many faces to many people with deliberate intent, so piecing together the facts of her life is a daunting task. After reading almost everything there is to read about her life, I came away thinking that Clarke got it as close to right as is possible, generations removed from her passing.

This is a spellbinding work that would appeal to the Holiday afficianado, the jazz devotee, or anyone interested in the human condition.

Dear Amazon reviewers and readers:

I am on the last page of this incredible book. I couldn't wait to let you know a few of my thoughts. DO NOT BE MIS-LEAD...Regardless of the publishing date of WISHING ON THE MOON, it doesn't matter. The book leads the reader through years of show business history. SH being the link that ties this work of art together is not unsurpassed by all the trials and tribulations of the great Billy Holliday. Her life wasn't always tragic in the true sense of the word. Sure, she had no childhood...but her singing gave her so much pleasure herself destructiveness didn't start as early as many performing icons such as Michael Jackson, Jon B, etc. If you are interested in reading about the past get this book. It is more than Billy's life. WISHING ON THE MOON IS even more than a work of art. It is a book for historians and anyone interested in music history. I just loved it...AND YOU WILL AS WELL. I plan on purchasing an audio copy that will help me remember the greats of the past...COUNT BASIE, FORINSTANCE...and other less known musicians and entertainers...BESSIE, ELA, COLE, etc.
Thanks for reading my review.

Steve

Using interviews with friends/acquaintances and Holiday herself, Clarke has put to paper a methodically-researched and equally smartly distilled portrait of Holiday's life. The anecdotes, relayed in the tellers own speak, steal the show, giving true insight into Holiday's person.

I approached this book hoping that it would educate me and be an interesting read. I have already seen the movie about her life and read Lady Sings The Blues, so I was hoping for a more in depth look at the lady. To be truthful, this book is not up to that challenge and throws little new light upon her life.