Source: Down Beat magazine, February 1947
Today is the 53rd
anniversary of Billie Holiday’s death. She died in a hospital in NYC at the age
of 44, supposedly with $750 strapped to her leg. Ms. Holiday lived a tragic
life of degradation and abuse. She could sing the blues because she lived them.
No other popular singer in the English language has been able to express the
depths and harrowing pitch of sadness like Lady Day. Her ability to embody and share
the pain of living in song came from experiences so horrifying they almost seem
unreal. She was forced into prostitution by her mother as a child, dropped out
of school at the age of 11 and served at least three stints in juvenile detention
facilities. We celebrate her talent and lament that it was destroyed by
addiction. We don’t recognize that her ability to get up every day and live
with the terror of memory was a feat of courage.
Her music touched people
so deeply because she was not alone in experiencing melancholy so damaging it would
make you want to get high, or at least forget entire parts of your existence.
Lady Day will not be
forgotten. May her soul be at rest.
"Good Morning Heartache"
"I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm"
"A Fine Romance"
