Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #188064 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Synopsis
This work presents the Billie Holiday story - her rise to the top from the slums and the streets, to the eventual slide down.

Customer Reviews

Excellent and revealing autobiography,
One can read this book simply as a fascinating life story, and as a savage indictment of racism, sexism, the grinding misery of poverty, sharp practice in the music business and a plea for greater understanding of the plight of addicts. Published in 1956, and co-written with William Duffy, Billie Holiday speaks candidly of sexual abuse, being confined to institutions, her struggle with heroin addiction, and her awareness of being black before the rise of civil rights and black power, is particularly interesting. So are the observations of celebrity- and there is a distinct tendency to underplay her encounters with other famous people. But Billie Holiday never descends to self pity or wallowing in victim-status. Open about her faults, objective about the lives of the prison warders and Narcotics Squad officers that she encounters. Billie Holiday claimed that records gave her little royalties, it was the sheer grind of never ending live performances that earned her enough money to survive and that is depicted without glamour.Billie, or Lady Day to her fans, also detested hypocrisy from any quarter so was not afraid to be confrontational. Her abortive film career is also refelcted upon. The book also details her own relationship with the classic 'Strange Fruit' -about a Klu Klux Klan lynching and how audiences misinterpreted the number as an erotic love song. The background to her other standards such as 'God Bless The Child' are explained. The book ends abruptly in 1956. She was to live until 1959, and is said to have died with 75 cents in the bank.

Tragic life of the greatest female jazz singer
The book begins "Ma and pa were a couple of kids when they got married. He was 18, she was 16 and I was 3.Working as a child scrubbing steps.Going to sleep beside her great grandmother and waking up to find the old lady' arm in a state of rigor mortis, round her neck. Raped at 10 and put in a home as punishment. How she survive without the usual bunch of social workers and counsellors getting involved? She did. Her story of her friendship with Lester Young and others is fascinating. It is a short book but it's in her own words and for reasons of shame or just delicacy some things are omitted. Worth a read. If you've had as hard a life I won't believe it

Fascinating reading
I have just finished reading the incredible life story of Billie Holiday. It was a very dramatic account of her life and the tribulations that she suffered throughout. Even if your not a fan, you will find this compelling reading. It also mentions other celebraties and the relationship she had with them. The only thing I would say is that I felt that there was great chucks missing of her life and this was a summary, it's not a critism just an observation.
I hope you enjoy it.