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Lady Sings the Blues the 50th Anniversary Edition (Harlem Moon Classics) |  | Authors: Billie Holiday, William Dufty
Creator: David Ritz
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $8.68
as of 9/7/2010 18:57 PDT details
You Save: $7.27 (46%)
New (26) Used (26) from $4.05
Seller: xyzbook123
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 304404
Media: Paperback
Edition: 50 Anv
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0767923863
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.42165092
EAN: 9780767923866
ASIN: 0767923863
Publication Date: July 25, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9780767923866 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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Product Description
Lady Sings the Blues is the fiercely honest, no-holds-barred autobiography of Billie Holiday, the legendary jazz, swing, and standards singing sensation. Taking the reader on a fast-moving journey from Holiday’s rough-and-tumble Baltimore childhood (where she ran errands at a whorehouse in exchange for the chance to listen to Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith albums), to her emergence on Harlem’s club scene, to sold-out performances with the Count Basie Orchestra and with Artie Shaw and his band, this revelatory memoir is notable for its trenchant observations on the racism that darkened Billie’s life and the heroin addiction that ended it too soon. We are with her during the mesmerizing debut of “Strange Fruit”; with her as she rubs shoulders with the biggest movie stars and musicians of the day (Bob Hope, Lana Turner, Clark Gable, Benny Goodman, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and more); and with her through the scrapes with Jim Crow, spats with Sarah Vaughan, ignominious jailings, and tragic decline. All of this is told in Holiday’s tart, streetwise style and hip patois that makes it read as if it were written yesterday.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
 A Holiday minus the idealism August 16, 2010
Myrna
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.
 WARNING -- THERE IS NO ACCOMPANYING CD IN BACK OF THIS BOOK January 30, 2010
Kackerr
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
 Lady Sings The Blues...kind of November 23, 2008
SM (NY)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
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.
 Great book, and GREAT CD!!! April 5, 2008
Aaron (Wausau,WI USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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 still hear Billie singing, and I just finished the book....... May 13, 2007
D. Pawl (Seattle)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
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!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
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