First published 2006
Julia Blackburn constructs an oral history of Billie Holiday through the memories of those who shared her world. Piano players recall late night sessions. Dancers remember her presence in smoky clubs. Lovers describe private moments. Producers talk business. Critics offer their assessments. Pimps, junkies, and narcs each contribute their piece of the story. Blackburn weaves these diverse testimonies into a collective portrait that challenges common assumptions about the jazz legend. The voices reveal a woman who understood her own desires and priorities, contradicting the myths that grew around her name. Through this chorus of recollections, Holiday emerges as complex and contradictory, but also as someone who maintained agency over her choices and knew what truly mattered in her life.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, african-american, music
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Period: 20th Century
368 pages · Paperback · Vintage Books/Random House, Inc.
Content warnings: addiction, drug-use