Mastercuts The Essential Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday is quite simply the voice that has captured generation after generation with her so simple style. She is the stuff of legends and her entire history is interwoven with the power of song and the suffering of poverty. It is said that her mother was only 13 at the time of Billies birth and that her grandfather was one of 17 children of a black Virginia slave and white Irish plantation owner. This gives you a brief insight as to where Billie came from, she claimed that she was recruited by a brothel, worked as a prostitute and spent a bit of time in prison. It was in Harlem in the 1930s that she started singing for tips, according to legend she reduced an audience to tears signing 'Body & Soul' in order for her to escape eviction. Bille kept on working at a variety of clubs and ultimately landed a spot at 'Pod's and Jerry's' which was a well known Harlem jazz club. Billie hooked up with Benny Goodman and eventually landed her own recording contract and between 1935 and 1942 she laid down a number of recordings that have become an important segment of early American Jazz. Billie battled through the racially segregated music industry where the white girls got the best tracks and slowly started making a name for herself. Billie started working for Columbia in the late 1930's, it was Columbia that refused to release the classic 'Strange Fruit due to the subject matter and Billie was forced to record it with Commodore and it became her biggest recording by far, it also sealed her style which was slow, moving love ballads. By the 1950's Billies drug abuse, drinking and relations with abusive men set her on a steady decline, her voice was slightly maser but this made her even more of a heroine in peoples eyes. The end came for Billie on May 31 1959 when she was taken to Metropolitain Hospital in New York with liver and heart disease. She finally passed away on July 17th 1959 at the age of 44 with only $0.70 in the bank and $750 on her person. The power of Billie Holiday lives on and she has inspired so many female artists from Janis Joplin to Nina Simone, she has also inspired the underdog in society as she struggled against racism and sexism through her entire life and achieved fame despite a turbulent private life. Mastercuts are proud to bring you this selection that features the very best moments from Billie and highlights her powerful vocal range that changed over time. 1. Strange Fruit (Allan) B Marks Music Co. 2. That Ole Devil Called Love (Roberts/Fisher) Allan Roberts Music Co. 3. Let's Call The Whole Thing Off (Gershwin/Gershwin) Chappell Co Inc 4. Summertime (Gershwin/Hayward/Gershwin) Chappell Co Inc. 5. God Bless The Child (Herzog/Holiday) Edward B Marks Music Co. 6. Pennies From Heaven (Johnston/Burke) Santly Joy Inc. 7. The Very Thought Of You (Noble) Campbell Connelly & Co Ltd. 8. Ain't Nobody Business If I Do (Grainger/Robbins) Clarence Williams Music Publ Co. 9. On The Sunny Side Of The Street (McHugh/Fields) Shapiro Bernstein Co Inc./Cotton Club Publishing 10. The Mood That I'm In (Silver/Sharman) Broadway Music Corp 11. Stormy Weather (Arlen/Koehler) EMI Mills Music Inc Old Account 12. I Loves You Porgy (Gershwin/Heyward/Gershwin/Heyward) Chappell Co Inc. 13. Lover Man (Davis/Sherman/Ramirez) MCA Inc. 14. These Foolish Things (Strachey/Marvell/Walker) Boosey c Hawkes Inc. 15. A Fine Romance (Field/Kerns) Harms TB Company Licensed from Licensemusic.com ApS. Courtesy of Artist Alliance LLC ℗ 2007 Apace Music Ltd © 2007 Apace Music Ltd Made in England CD is packaged in a standard plastic clear-tray jewel case with Inlay card and 4-pp (folded) Cover-sleeve Booklet, notes in English; all inside a slipcase.