Lady Sings the Blues

Lady Sings the Blues is a historical fiction book based around the heroin filled hazed memories of its author. And in this case, it ain't a bad thing. A quick google search will literally show you that half of what is mentioned is flat out lies, especially about her home life, relationships, and sketchy details about her career aspirations.

However, it is still a DEEP uncompromising but brutal look into the life of a junkie in the Jim Crow era - what it took for her to get there, stay there, and ultimately die there combined with the racial segregation, discrimination, and separatism she endured as a matter of US policy. Honestly, I walked away from the book wondering like hell how she lasted until 1959 and didn't come up dead after show more writing Strange Fruit. And please keep in mind it was piecemealed together three years before she died while she was in and out of jail as the NYPD stayed obsessing on getting easy busts from her addictions.

In the end Billie Holiday lived the life that only she could live, and she wasn't sorry or worried about a thing. show less

'Lady sings the blues' lezen lijkt me het equivalent van een avondje flink door zakken aan de toog met Lady Day nadat ze zichzelf volledig gegeven heeft tijdens een concert.
Je luistert (leest) ontzettend geboeid en valt als luisterend oor (lezer) van de ene verbazing in de andere. Je bent al snel van slag over hoe de jonge Billie absoluut niet door het leven gespaard werd en je supportert vurig voor de felle, waarachtige vrouw die daar uit groeit.
In zo'n gesprek denk je weleens - terwijl de waard je glazen nog eens vult - 'het zal wel zijn, Billie' of 'dit lijkt me toch wat bij de haren getrokken' waarna je dat gewoon weer van je af laat glijden om gefascineerd verder te luisteren (lezen).
Het blijft erg heftig om te aanhoren (lezen) hoe show more moeilijk het zwarte Amerikanen - zelfs eens ze beroemde muzikant zijn - gemaakt werd en hoe ze daarmee proberen om te gaan. Billie's drugsverslaving is pijnlijk, maar er is zoveel meer en zoveel moois.
Ik ben er heilig van overtuigd dat je - terwijl ze na haar vierde glas even naar het toilet gaat - tegen de waard zucht: "Wat een leven! Wat een madame!"

Wat een boek. ❤️ show less

I am by no means any kind of Billie Holiday expert, so I’m not going to speculate about how much of the content is “true” or how much of this book is written in her own words. From a casual fan’s perspective, I found this to be an incredibly entertaining memoir about the behind the scenes life of one of show biz’s most badass performers. Holiday’s narrative voice reads as sassy and straight up, and her life story makes for a truly wild ride (especially those first few chapters!). I wish there was more description of key moments throughout Holiday’s career because I am left with some questions (e.g. how do you become a megastar after being banned from performing in New York City?!?), but overall I thoroughly enjoyed show more learning more about Billie in this weird, wonderful memoir. show less

Lady Day's version of the literal truth may have been a bit unreliable, but this book was real and raw and was her absolute truth. 3 1/2 stars.

Lady Day
Review of the Harlem Moon / Broadway Books 50th Anniversary Edition paperback (2006) of the Doubleday hardcover original (1956)

Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was 18, she was 16, and I was three.

Iconic jazz singer Billie Holiday's autobiography starts off with a gut-punch. 2-sentence & 23-word, introduction, and doesn't stop with her frank discussion about her life and career with all its ups and downs for the rest of its journey.

I'm having a bit of a Billie Holiday month this February 2022 and I've already gone on to read John Szwed's revelatory Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth (2015) which provides further background on the 1956 book and details some of its censored passages. These show more were primarily about Hollywood characters whose agents and lawyers threatened to sue if Holiday's escapades with actors Charles Laughton, Orson Welles and Tallulah Bankhead had been left in the final edit.

Even without those elements there is plenty of joy and despair to be found in the remaining work, which comes through completely in Holiday's voice even if the hand of ghostwriter William Dufty crafted the final production. Dufty also wrote several articles for the New York Post after Holiday's passing which he had hoped would be included in future printings of Lady Sings the Blues, but no enhanced or uncensored edition has yet appeared.

See original cover at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8d/LadySingsTheBlues.jpg
Front cover of the original first edition hardcover published by Doubleday in 1956. Image sourced from Wikipedia.

Soundtrack
These were the main Billie Holiday albums that I was listening to while reading Lady Sings the Blues:
1. Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia (1933-1944) Vol. 1 A collection of the earliest recordings, esp. the first 2 songs (Your Mother's Son-in-Law & Riffin' the Scotch) with Benny Goodman, recorded in 1933.

Box set cover image sourced from Discogs.
2. Strange Fruit (1939), original 10" shellac single (listened via YouTube)

Disc image sourced from Discogs.
3. Lady Sings the Blues (1956), an album recorded, titled and released in order to coincide with the publication of the book.

Cover image sourced from Discogs.
4.The Essential Billie Holiday: Carnegie Hall Concert Recorded Live (1961), a November 10, 1956 live concert to celebrate the release of the book, including readings from the book. Album released posthumously.

Cover image sourced from Discogs.

Trivia and Link
Lady Sings the Blues was adapted as the same-titled film in 1972 directed by Sidney Furie with Diana Ross in the role of Billie Holiday. A trailer for the film can be viewed on YouTube here. show less

I am a big Billie Holiday fan, I have all of her music and once I start playing it, it so difficult to stop.
When I received it in the mail, the cover seemed strangely familiar. Then I read the first page three times and it hit me! I had read the first edition of this book when it first came out. I remember not being able to lay it down. She had happy moments in her life but not many. The end of her life was very heart breaking. When she sings her heart and soul come out with the sounds. Her troubles in love, in being black and living under Jim Crow Laws

It is too difficult for me to travel that road again. I do recommend reading and learning some about her life although it may not all be true, you can feel her sorrow over her own life show more and the racial hatred that all blacks experience through all the rules. Do not eat with the whites, do not stay in the same hotel, if there is not a separate restroom, then you have no place for yourself.

I received a finished copy of this book from the publisher as a win from FirstReads but that in no way made a difference in my thoughts or feelings in this review. show less

I have been a fan of Billie Holiday's music for many years. I knew that she lead a hard life, but had no idea how hard until I read her autobiography. Her words are honest and frank--no holds barred. And it doesn't exactly have a happy ending. But now I have a greater appreciation for her work and admiration for what she was able to accomplish in spite of all that happened to her along the way.