These days, it sure seems like the word “legend” gets tossed around and attached to names a little bit too often. I’m sorry, but some of the big names in music today are NOT legends. One person who actually does deserve the title, however, is Billie Holiday. When the famous jazz singer was given the accolade, it really meant something. She was definitely one of, if not THE, best jazz singers of all time. I mean, when you think of early Jazz, her name comes up – and that’s because she was a legend.
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Billie Holiday, aka Lady Day, could sing, write, and perform brilliantly. But like many other musical (and other) geniuses, Holiday led a troubled life. She was alive at an unforgiving time in a then unforgiving country, which played a major part in her untimely death at the age of 44.
This is the story of how the issues of race, drugs, and misogyny turned a talented young girl into a complicated woman and eventually into a legend.