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I INDIVIDUAL DIVAS* I RANKINGS I VOTE I

I INTRODUCTION I THEIR STORIES I PERSONAL QUOTES I TRIVIA I NICKNAMES I GALLERIES I CURIOS I VOX POPULI* I SHOPS I

 

 
Billie Holiday - Vox Populi
 
 
 

INTRODUCTION

 

HER STORY

 

QUOTES

 

TRIVIA

 

NICKNAME

 

GALLERY

 

CURIOS

 

VOX POPULI

 

SHOP

 

Books

Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Cafe Society, and an Early Cry for Civil Rights by David Margolick, Hilton Als
Billie Holiday (Divas) by Chris Ingham

Strange Fruit: The Biography of a Song by David Margolick, Hilton Als

Billie Holiday (Black Americans of Achievement) by Bud Kliment, Nathan I. Huggins (Editor)

Sisters of the Extreme: Women Writing on the Drug Experience, Including Charlotte Bronte, Louisa May Alcott, Anais Nin, Maya Angelou, Billie Holiday, Nina Hagen, Carrie Fisher, and Others by Michael Horowitz (Editor), Cynthia Palmer (Editor), Antonio Escohotado

The Billie Holiday Companion: Seven Decades of Commentary by Leslie Gourse (Editor)

Billie Holiday: Wishing on the Moon by Donald Clarke (Introduction)

Best of Billie Holiday by Billie Holiday

Lady Day's Diary by Ken Vail

The Journal of John Wieners Is to Be Called 707 Scott Street for Billie Holiday, 1959 by John Wieners

Lady Sings the Blues/With a Revised Discography by Billie Holiday, William Dufty, Vincent Pelote (Contributor)

Don't Explain: A Song of Billie Holiday by Alexis De Veaux

Billie Holiday by Carlos Sampayo, Jose Munoz (Illustrator)

Billie's Blues: The Billie Holiday Story, 1933-1959 by John Chilton, Buck Clayton

If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday by Farah Jasmine Griffin

Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday by Angela Y. Davis

Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday by Robert G. O'Meally

Billie Holiday: Her Life and Times (Jazz life & times) by John White

This Indecision Is Final: 32 Management Secrets of Albert Einstein, Billie Holiday, and a Bunch of Other People Who Never Worked 9 to 5 by Barry J. Gibbons
 

 

 

Wall posters

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Apparel

Billie Holiday Canvas Printed Handbag

 


Divas - The Site appreciates your votes and comments. Here are some of the little gems you chose to share with us.

 

Valerie (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She went against all odds."

Jackie (USA) on Billie Holiday
"... because she rocks! I am reading a book right now about her and I think she kicked butt when she was here! She went through so much stuff!  There are so many good ones, but Billie's music is just so amazing."

Tanisha (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She had such grace, poise and style. Her voice is haunting and unapologetic. And her eyes... her eyes almost speak 2 u. The saddest beauty I've ever seen."

Alenka (Slovenia) on Billie Holiday
"I admire her because she was a great person. She had a very tough life and her story is very sad."

Helen (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Something is special about her. I cannot describe it."

Jessica (USA) on Billie Holiday
"... because she just is!"

Ron (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Her voice is like no other. It goes right through you. You feel her every word!"

Aubrey (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She was a very good singer and she sang with her heart. No matter what was going on in her personal life she always put singing first."

Roy (USA) on Billie Holiday
"I like her spirit and her style was/is very unique."

Javon (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She had a beautiful voice. She truly was a lady and her life was so tragic she deserves all the recognition we can give her!"

Megan (UK) on Billie Holiday
"She is one of the original divas--beautiful, talented, and tragic."

Yolie (USA) on Billie Holiday
"When I hear her voice, my soul smiles."

Lois (USA) on Billie Holiday
"No one could ever sing a torch song like Billie Holiday... no one!  She was ahead of her time in her craft and personified real, raw emotional talent not seen in today's take off your clothes era... Truly a renowned siren of sorts not to mention gorgeously well dressed siren.  Also a master of interpretation of any lyric."

Ashlee (USA) on Billie Holiday
"... because her songs are different from today's, it's not all about love and hate. There is more meaning to her songs."

Teri (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Unique!"

Lauren (USA) on Billie Holiday
"... because she has the best and most emotional voice in all jazz music.  The only person that can just stand beneath her is Vivian Green."

Bre (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She my fav diva because she was the one who made jazz well known. She was beautiful and her voice could bring tears to your eyes. When she sang it felt like that was her life she was talking about."

Susana (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Whenever I listen to Billie Holiday, I feel what she feels: happiness, sadness... it never fails. She has this way of singing that is just absolutely extraordinary."

Debbie (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Her voice in its prime was one in a million."

Christy (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She is the beginning of all divas! The emotion that you feel through her is almost a spiritual high."

Joanne (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Prelude to a Kiss is my all time favorite song!"

Diane  (USA) on Billie Holiday
"... because of her excellence!"

Caren (USA) on Billie Holiday
"I love her music. It is fun to sing. I love her."

James (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Billie Holliday changed the world of singing in the same way Satchmo change trumpet playing.  Every singer who has followed Billie sings a little Billie when they open their mouths.  It is unbelievable that she was able to do this with such little range (one octave) but the emotion and joy she bought to her work is awesome."

Hillary (USA) on Billie Holiday
"I love Billie Holiday because she was a dedicated woman and had a horrible life like mine. She had a very strong spirit and I respect her so much."

Kymee (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She had the courage and ability to sing Strange Fruit in public. Her voice is amazing."

Lil (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Billie Holiday? She's a beauty women. Rest in peace!"

Crystal (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She went through live and came out a winner."

Lulu (Croatia) on Billie Holiday
"Billie rocks, plain and simple."

Alexis (New Zealand) on Billie Holiday
"Billie rocks man! She sings real sweet and rocks the world with her rhythm!"

Lexia (Canada) on Billie Holiday
"Billie Holiday was actually born Eleanora Fagan. She was born in Baltimore in 1915 to an unwed 13-year-old mother, Sadie Fagan, and a 15-year-old father, Clarence Holiday. Clarence Holiday, since she was a tomboy for most of her childhood years, took to calling her Bill. Later on, she modified her name to Billie after Billie Dove, her favorite movie star.  She lived a harsh life- her father left when she was but three years of age. She had various relationships in her life, most resulting in abuse and rape. She was put into a home for wayward girls for no apparent reason when she went to court when she was raped by her neighbor. She took drugs, and they killed her in the end. Yet, even if she never had any formal training, and lacked confidence, she was a fantastic singer. No one can really describe her singing: she felt what she sang and made others feel it as well!"

Angel (USA) on Billie Holiday
"I'm doing a paper on her and she had some interesting things about her. Plus, she could sing."

Clarissa (USA) on Billie Holiday
"... because of her song Strange Fruit."

Cat (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She went through so much. She had a beautiful voice as well. I think that the least we could do was make her our favorite siren to honor her don't you?"

Kiara (USA) on Billie Holiday
"... because she kept it real, she was very creative. She will always be remembered in my heart."

Debra (USA) on Billie Holiday
"... because she had a beautiful, soulful voice. she sang what she lived. She truly sang the blues for all women from her era and mine. Rest in peace, Billie."

Kalora (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She came from a bad background and that in turn affected her life. She sang about serious issues in the time. Some of her songs were controversial. She really was beautiful and she needs to be remembered."

Bellerose (France) on Billie Holiday
"... because she sang very well and was beautiful!"

Laudelino (Spain) on Billie Holiday
"... because every time I hear her she touches me and makes me feel different. Sometimes she even make me cry with
emotion."

DeJushay (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Her voice was so unduplicable and original. Her many faces and fascinating but hard life really makes me feel like you can come from anywhere and still make it to where you want to be in life."

Wanda (USA) on Billie Holiday
"I love the way she sings."

Robin (Singapore) on Billie Holiday
"She sang with her life and her soul, and so touched my life and my soul."

Leah (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Her passion for the music is inspiring to young and aspiring musicians and even dancers as myself."

Jazmyn (USA) on Billie Holiday
"... because of her music her style. There is no one else out there that is anything like her style. Her music comes to live as she sings it to you. And the simple fact that she stood out of the norm to defend the right is just peachy! She had a beautiful voice and soul! May she R.I.P."

Ruud (Holland) on Billie Holiday
"She is for ever the best."

Natalie (Canada) on Billie Holiday
"Her gorgeous voice."

Anne (France) on Billie Holiday
"Wonderful tortured broken voice, sadness and irony. Elle est merveilleuse."

Kate (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Her music. You can feel everything she feels to an extent."

Nina (Greece) on Billie Holiday
"She has one of the most touching, spiritual and beautiful voices ever."

Lavai (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She is the original in what a diva stands for!"

Andrea (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Her sound was unique.  She was not only beautiful, but articulate. The words spilled off of her lips, the way dew drips off the leaves of a tree, precisely, softly, with purpose."

Ebonye (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She was the essence of womanness, complete with a regal presence, blatant humanity and the heartache of life plastered across her facade."

Ceeatta (USA) on Billie Holiday
"If she had been born later, she would now rule the world. No one could really ever know her story however through her words and the sweet soulful way that she sang you feel that she knows you."

Plinio (Brazil) on Billie Holiday
"There's no words to explain. Billie is the music!"

Klara (Sweden) on Billie Holiday
"She is just the best singer and the way she moved and looked. And her voice. She is the all time diva."

Jeannette (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Billie was an example of tears, fears and success. She had a heart that never changed with her success.  She was blessed with a beautiful voice and God knowing the roads she would have to travel gave her an inner strength that she just forgot to reach out and capture. The Lowe family loves her."

Cece (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She was a great jazz singer and commanded everybody's attention when she opened her mouth. I have been listening to her records all my life and they are all wonderful. Even though her life ended abruptly she accomplished a lot and is a great role model among other things. She went through trials and tribulations throughout her whole life and still managed to make her mark in American History and influence a lot of others."

Damien (USA) on Billie Holiday
"... because she is the greatest actress in the world making u know that I'm real and honest and if I meet u, I will be the same and that is how u must be if u ever become a "star".  You must be yourself first in order to ever be happy, and I learned that from Lady and I am so happy I know that. That's it!"

Claude (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Her voice, her warmth, and her beauty."

Nikita (France) on Billie Holiday
"She's the Lady who sings the blues... She's got 'peps'!"

Vladimir (USA) on Billie Holiday
"The best singer of all times."

Alan (UK) on Billie Holiday
"For the quality, range and emotive impact of her extraordinary voice and for her originality."

Kenisha (USA) on Billie Holiday
"I love her songs. I can relate to her."

KaRecia (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Ever since I was a child I have had my ears blessed with the one of a kind voice of Billie Holiday. I have basically grown up on her music. I have grown up to love her and her music. Even though I am young I have a great outlook on Jazz because of Billie Holiday "Lady Day." She deserves to be number one."

Jontae (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Billie Holiday is my favorite diva because she strived to succeed. She did whatever she had to do in order to survive. Even though she didn't make wise choices that's ok because everyone makes mistakes. That's what makes Billie so different from other jazz singers. Even though I  am only 13 yrs. old I truly admire her work, and  hopefully I can continue to have the strong voice of singing jazz as well as the legendary Billie Holiday."

Nicole (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She is a remarkable singer and is an essential part of jazz. She passed over many barriers like racism and family problems. She was a beautiful person."

Cawen (Hong Kong) on Billie Holiday
"The Lady Sings the Blues... the lady sings what she wants to sing. "Strange Fruit" shows that she is so brave and just."

Kate (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She's uncommon. She's a type a diva you will never see again. She's real, she bares her soul to you through her voice. It's beautiful. All other divas like her are now gone or fading fast.
hopefully some will be able to carry on some of her legacy."

Carrie (Canada) on Billie Holiday
"Billie Holiday's voice really says it all.  She sang with so much emotion."

Barrett (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Her voice, her phrasing, her melancholy, her expressiveness, her musical taste!"

Jenny (UK) on Billie Holiday
"She really lived the words that she sang. Her voice was so pained yet so beautiful. Her song Strange Fruit was incredibly important and a stand against the racism that was rife at the time. Also, no-one can sing Gloomy Sunday like Billie."

Jeannine (Canada) on Billie Holiday
"She is not my all-time favorite, who is Maria Callas, but I also love jazz."

Morgan (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She went thru a lot in her life, with drug addiction and backstabbers."

Jenny (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She's got major style and flavor. She sings about a broken heart and you know that she has felt how it is to have one. I've got much love and respect for her."

Jenny (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She is so soulful, and it seems like she knows everything about love, mostly being hurt by it.  She's gorgeous."

Vince (USA) on Billie Holiday
"For sheer passion, depth of feeling and style there is no diva more diva than Lady Day!"

Roulhac (USA) on Billie Holiday
"With all the disadvantages she faced she still was a shining star."

Justin (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Billie Holiday is mine because, she was a black woman in a white dominated, and segregated America, and was not afraid to take a stand up for what she believed in. Lady Day also only sang songs that she could relate to, and you can feel the music through her, as well as her pains or joys alike."  

Natasha (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She is it, and that's all."

Harriette (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Billie Holiday's life story is filled with so much tragedy (racism, sexism, prostitution, physical abuse, drug addiction) yet she was still a great performer. Her voice is not the clearest but it's the words and the tone of her voice that speaks to my heart. I've loved and been intrigued with Billie Holiday ever since I was ten years old when I first saw and understood Lady Sings the Blues. She is a true diva whose flame was extinguished too soon. Viva Diva Holiday!"

Tom (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Isn't it obvious?"

Ruud (Holland) on Billie Holiday
"I have most of her music, and I have for many years been a fan of Billie Holiday. I listen every day to 'Lady Day'."

Paulo (Brazil) on Billie Holiday
"Nunca esqueço, quando criança, estava ouvindo uma emissora de radio, quando começou a tocar uma musica, com uma cantora diferente, com uma voz diferente, depois que ouvi a primeira vez, nunca mais deixei de ouvir."  

Alice (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She has influenced so many singers many of which are in this list of divas. There has never been anyone like her and probably never will be.  She is a natural wonder and one of the best singers to date."

Ann Marie (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Just the best, different from anyone else in style yet so able to touch that secret feeling deep inside that anyone who listens to her recognizes as their own pain, joy, regret ... Like a phoenix, she rises as if from the ashes whenever her music is played. Billie lives!"

Julien (France) on Billie Holiday
"I feel well when I am listening to her. Her voice meets me and touches me."  

Lenadagua (Portugal) on Billie Holiday
"She sang her life with all her body and soul."

Joey (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Grew up on Lady Day! Grew to love her! Grew to love her music! Grew to understand her music! Will love her till day I die!"

J.P. (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Best jazz voice ever!"

N.K. (USA) on Billie Holiday
"A great presence in musical history. Able to convey deep emotion through song."

Jennifer (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She had a life, and her life comes through in her singing.  With a few exceptions, the other diva candidates seem shallow by comparison."

Kristina (USA) on Billie Holiday
"... her life, her sadness and that wonderful voice, so timeless. I would be lost without her!"

Gary (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She fits all the criteria and she's beautiful."

Justin (USA) on Billie Holiday
"Nobody else sings the blues like Billie."

Linda (USA) on Billie Holiday
"There is only one like her and there will only be one like her."

Adriano (USA) on Billie Holiday
"She's been through so much, she really lived what she sang - my favorite singer of all time!"


 

at peace

blues, jazz, gospel divas

buttons & bows

divine links

eye-catching

from I do to I'll sue

kiddies' korner

mommie dearest

star-studded

 

 


 
DVDs

Presenting Billie Holiday
Lady Day's Life

Lady Day - The Many Faces of Billie Holiday

New Orleans

The Ladies Sing the Blues

Monterey Jazz Festival: 40 Legendary Years

Genuis of Lady Day

Billie Holiday - The Life and Artistry of Lady Day

Ultimate Collection
 


 
CDs

Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday
Billy Remembers Billie

Summertime

Love Songs

Strange Fruit

Musical Romance

Greatest Hits

The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Vol.5: 1937-1938

Songs for Distingué Lovers

The Lady Sings

The Commodore Master Takes

God Bless the Child

Lady in Satin

First Issue: Great American Songbook

Lady Sings the Blues: The Billie Holiday Story, Vol.4

Lady in Autumn: The Best of the Verve Years

The Complete Billie Holiday On Verve, 1945-1959

All or Nothing at All
 

 


 
Books

Billie Holiday by Stuart Nicholson
Tony Bennett on Holiday: A Tribute to Billie Holiday by Tony Bennett

Billie Holiday Anthology: Piano Vocal Music Book by Billie Holiday, Leonard Feather

Songbird: Fabulous Female Vocalists from Billie Holiday to Britney Spears by Donald F. Reuter

L'âme de Billie Holiday by Marc-Edouard Nabe

Billie Holiday: The Tragedy and Triumph of Lady Day (Impact Biographies) by Leslie Gourse

Billie Holiday - Original Keys for Singers