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Book title: Lady
Sings the Blues
Author: Billie Holiday with William Dufty
Publisher: Lancer Books
Year published & edition: 1972 [Fourth Printing]
This paper back book
has 191 pages. On the cover, it says "Now a major movie starring Diana
Ross as the unforgettable Lady Day." Inside, there are 4 photos
showing Ross playing Holiday in the movie and 4 photos of the real Billie
Holiday (one with her chihuahua). From inside the front cover: Lady Day is
what they called her during her bright rise to the top, but Billie Holiday
knew the darker detours and the slide down. To the wounds of racial
prejudice, the insecurities of illegitimacy, and the indignities of poverty,
she contributed her own versions of Hell -- from the degradation of
prostitution to the agonies of drug addiction. Perhaps she lived too much,
as many suggest, but live she did. And, when Billie sang of strays,
alley-cats or caged, walled-in lonely people, she sang with the lyrical and
throbbing ring of truth. This is Billie Holiday. This is her story. |
