var captainformThemeStyle = {}; Not everyone wanted to share their memories with her. if('' == 'floating') { Its an incendiary piece of prologue for James Erskines thorough, informative documentary, simply titled Billie. Her face is an actress as much as her voice. The first of the two films - "Billie" is a documentary built around some previously unheard audio interviews conducted by Linda Lipnack Kuehl, who was working on a comprehensive biography on Billie Holiday before her untimely death in 1978.Ms. [2] Various other writers' biographies on Holiday have drawn upon Kuehl's material, as did the film Billie (2019), which is narrated by Kuehl's recorded interviews. var wrapper = jQuery('#captainformForm772605EmbedPopup63c877fb83722'); if('' == 'floating') { She just looked fast., However, Holidays former pianist Memry Midgett says in the documentary that Holidays prostitution past haunted her throughout her life. At one point, she began to receive strange, threatening calls. In the late 60s, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Holiday's life, interviewing everyone from jazz greats such as Charles Mingus, Tony Bennett and. }, true); var captainformCustomVars = {}; if ('' == 'left') } [7][3][8] Her archive on Holiday included these interviews on 125 audio tapes[8] as well as "a long paper trail, including police files, transcripts of court cases, royalty statements, shopping lists, hospital records, private letters, muddled transcripts and fragments of unfinished chapters. Her highs, lows and everything in between are detailed in the film, but theres still a sense of mystery about Holiday that remains to this day. An avid fan of Holiday, she planned to write a biography of the hero with whom she, perhaps to an unhealthy degree, self-identified. }); For some eight years in the 1970s, Kuehl interviewed everyone she could find who had a personal association with Holiday musicians, managers, childhood friends, lovers and FBI agents among. Function: _error_handler, File: /home/ah0ejbmyowku/public_html/application/views/page/index.php Kuehl conducted over 150 interviews in the early 1970s, less than two decades after Holidays death in 1959, so the memories of Holiday are still fresh and free from todays prejudices. (document.removeEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",d),window.removeEventListener("load",d)):(document.detachEvent("onreadystatechange",d),window.detachEvent("onload",d))},d=function(){t||!document.addEventListener&&"load"!==event.type&&"complete"!==document.readyState||(t=!0,n(),e())};if("complete"===document.readyState)e();else if(document.addEventListener)document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",d),window.addEventListener("load",d);else{document.attachEvent("onreadystatechange",d),window.attachEvent("onload",d);var o=!1;try{o=null==window.frameElement&&document.documentElement}catch(a){}o&&o.doScroll&&!function c(){if(!t){try{o.doScroll("left")}catch(d){return setTimeout(c,50)}t=!0,n(),e()}}()}}; Over 8 years, she tracked down and tape-recorded over 200 hours of interviews with the extraordinary characters that populated the iconic singer's short, tumultuous life. captainform_create_form_popup(popupParams); The scene in Harlem was dense with famous clubs, famous musicians and a seemingly endless supply of white patrons eager to slum and see African American entertainment. Linda Lipnack Kuehl was writing a biography of Holiday when she died suddenly in 1978, though her family believe she may have been murdered Clarisse Loughrey Friday 13 November 2020 11:03 if(typeof cfJsHost != 'undefined'){ gallery of images and videos of both singers. textContent: 'var frmRef=""; try { frmRef=window.top.location.href; } catch(err) {}; var captainform_servicedomain="app.captainform.com";var cfJsHost = "https://";', Intending to write a biography of Billie Holiday, she interviewed friends, fellow performers, and key figures in Holiday's life, but died before its completion. Kuehl was an experienced arts journalist who wrote for The Paris Review and The New York Times Sunday magazine. They are particularly pertinent, showing what kind of child she was and what the neighborhood was like for poor African Americans. if(typeof cfJsHost != 'undefined'){ In 1928, Holiday and her mother moved to New York Citys Harlem neighborhood. Theres also a clip of her role as Endie in the 1947 film New Orleans., Because Billie is told in chronological order of her life, the documentary has a very easy narrative to follow. She was discovered by Michael Tilson Thomas while singing to packed audiences live with no amplification at San Franciscos Alta Plaza. } A new documentary, Billie, will delve into the life of jazz great Billie Holiday with the help of hours of never-before-heard interviews. Holidays time with Basie and his band ended on a sour note when she left. Intending to write a biography of Billie Holiday, she interviewed friends, fellow performers, and key figures in Holiday's life, but died before its completion. By singing and recording the anti-lynching protest song Strange Fruit Holiday became a race woman and outspoken proponent of civil rights 15 years before Brown v. Board and almost 20 years before the March on Washington. Over 8 years, she tracked down and tape-recorded over 200 hours of interviews with the extraordinary characters that populated the iconic singer's short, tumultuous life. Linda Lipnack Kuehl . The film includes rare photos of Billie Holiday taken by Hugh Bell, licensed to the production by Gartenberg Media, the exclusive representative of . captainform_preload_form_popup(popupParams); Most Popular So, in the late 1960s journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of. For some eight years in the 1970s, Kuehl interviewed everyone she could find who had a personal association with Holiday musicians, managers, childhood friends, lovers and FBI agents among them. On 6 February 1978, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl fell from the balcony of a Washington DC hotel. Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan on April 17, 1915, in Philadelphia, but she was raised in the Pigtown slum of Baltimore, Maryland. Tarkoituksena oli kirjoittaa Billie Holidayn elmkerta , hn haastatteli ystvi, muita esiintyji ja Holidayn elmn avainhenkilit, mutta kuoli ennen sen valmistumista. Considering the documentary is made almost exclusively of one persons previously unheard interviews, I cannot agree. She also got a lot of abuse and harassment from racists they encountered. [3] She worked as a high school teacher and free lance writer. Holidays eyes plead, her lips sneer and her single eyebrow rises suggestively and reproachfully. setTimeout(function () { Her death was ruled as a suicide. And by the age of 14, Holiday was singing professionally in nightclubs. She sang and recorded till the end of her life. In a 1971 interview, Ruby Davis, who was Holidays roommate before the singer was famous, says that Holidays nickname was Mr. Billie Holiday because she was seldom seen with fellas Her mother put it in her mind to be careful [of men] because theyll always break your heart, just like Billies father., Harry Sweets Edison, a trumpeter in the Count Basie Orchestra comments on Holiday: She was like a man, but feminine. John Simmons, who was her bass player and lover, calls her a sex machine. Music conductor Ray Ellis also comments on Holidays sex appeal: I was in love with Billie, not necessarily Billie, but somebody. The documentary includes archival news video footage of Joan Allen, a correctional officer who worked at the federal rehabilitation facility in Alderston, West Virginia, where Holiday served her prison time. John Levy became her manager and lover, even though he was married at the time. popupTrigger.css('visibility', 'visible'); Occasionally, pieces of Kuehls own life enter into the picture, but never with much attempt to build a connection. Holiday corrects an interviewer saying that she was fourteen when she arrived in New York. The film opens with footage of Holiday that I had not seen before. Eleanors favorite curse words were motherfucker and cocksucker., By all accounts, Eleanor started working as a housecleaner/maid before she was a teenager. Many important details of her life and her musical genius have been overshadowed by a lurid interest in her love life and drug use. When she was released from jail at age 14, she left prostitution for good and set her sights on singing for a living. "[9] However, Kuehl did not complete the book. textContent: 'var frmRef=""; try { frmRef=window.top.location.href; } catch(err) {}; var captainform_servicedomain="app.captainform.com";var cfJsHost = "https://";', The Official Billie Holiday website maintained by the Estate of Billie Holiday and hosted by Concord Jazz. Eleven years after Billie Holiday died at the age of 44, from heart failure due to drug and alcohol abuse, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl, a Lady Day devotee, interviewed as many people as. [3] She interviewed almost 200 peoplefriends, family members, band members, peers from 1930s Harlem, piano players, psychiatrists and a pimpand was still finding people in 1978. window.addEventListener('resize', function(){ Be the first to contribute! Dr. James Hamilton, a psychiatrist who interviewed Holiday when she was in prison, had this diagnosis of her. }); resize77260663c877fb829bf(wrapper); In the late '60s, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie. 05 January 2023. Holiday grew up in Baltimore, poor and lonely her father had abandoned her and her mother was often absent due to work. Then, in 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie. The journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl worked for years on a Billie Holiday biography before Kuehl's sudden death in 1978. Shaw, bassist Sid Weiss, guitarist Al Arola, guitarist Les Robinson and friend Mae Weiss all mention in their documentary interviews that many racist people back then refused to accept a black female singer performing with a group of white musicians. Protest songs became more prevalent in the 1960s, but Holiday was a pioneer. She was 38. Monroe would become Holidays first husband, whom she married in 1941. There was a rebellious engine inside both of them. KUEHLLinda (Lipnack). Daviss and Parkers women are not given a megaphone to comment on them, and I never have seen their musical genius attributed to drug use. At the time, she had her own girls on the street. jQuery(wrapper).css('top', jQuery(window).height() * 0.4 - wrapper.outerHeight()); if(typeof cfJsHost != 'undefined'){ [3] The interviews were a major source for the text in Robert O'Meally's book of photographs Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday (1991)[12] and around the same were used for the script for a Masters of American Music series documentary of the same name. } captainForm772606PreloadInterval63c877fb834ac = setInterval(function(){ The documentary includes stories of people witnessing McKay (whos been described as a mafia enforcer) being physically abusive to Holiday. In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. var readyStateOverflowInterval; The documentary is also organized around approximately 200 hours of interviews conducted over the course of a decade by Linda Lipnack Kuehl, who, as the film notes, didn't like seeing Holiday . Jo Jones says bitterly and vehemently, Holiday was persecuted less for the song Strange Fruit or drugs and more for being an uppity Negress who lived large wearing furs, diamonds, driving a Cadillac and spending money freely. I do not see the same attention given to Miles Daviss or Charlie Parkers drug use or their abusive relationships. Presentations and performance on Billie Holiday include: Rethinking Billie Holiday on her Centennial (Google Talk), Blues Legacies and Black Feminism with Angela Davis (SFJAZZ), Your email address will not be published. resize77260563c877fb83722(wrapper); Billie feels typical, even if its attention to detail gives it an obvious appeal. Funeral services Friday February 10th, 11 A.M. Parkside Chapel, 170th St . Kuehl was and still is, posthumously, THE preeminent biographer of Billie Holiday, despite never having completed Holiday's biography before she died in 1978. Her drug problems led to her multiple arrests at the height of her fame. var readyStateOverflowInterval; var popupParams = { On tour, especially in the U.S. South, they encountered a lot of vicious racism. Your email address will not be published. Lipstick and brow pencil are the hallmark features. The testimonies of those who knew Holiday before she became famous help make up for that deficiency. To describe it any other way is to diminish her musicianship. "She excited me with just three notes," drummer Roy Harte tells Kuehl. But the time she was 13, she was a prostitute. window.addEventListener('resize', function(){ That Holiday took the bottom of the barrel Tin Pan Alley tunes that no one wanted to record and made them works of art is never covered. } }); id: "captainform_js_global_vars", The story of Billie Holiday's rise to fame after a difficult upbringing is nothing new. Skinny Davenport, a pimp who knew Holiday in her prostitution days, describes how the hookers in the neighborhood were treated: Knock em down, kick em in the ass. Her death was ruled a suicide. Enjoy our special Billie Holiday Gallery of photos, posters, record covers, surprises and film clips with lots of great music. MTT invited her to sing a program of Gershwin with the San Francisco Symphony and she subsequently became a Rounder Records recording artist and went on a worldwide tour gracing concert halls from Moscow to Lincoln Center and festivals from Umbria Jazz to Monterey Jazz garnering effusiveinternational press and many awards. She said of Young, who would become her constant companion: I returned the compliment and called him the President., In a 1972 interview, pianist Jimmy Rowles had this to say about Holiday and Youngs relationship: They had the funniest way of loving each other. captainformThemeStyle['772606'] = ''; Required fields are marked *. The description of Holiday as fast would no longer be an appropriate description of a prepubescent girl who had been raped at age 10 and sent to reform school because of it. She was the victim of repeated sexual abuse. var captainformDomReady = captainformDomReady || function(e){var t=!1,n=function(){document.addEventListener? append_element({ Jimmy Flashy Monroe [a pimp who became a trombonist in Holidays band] broke them up. The Last Dance, which chronicles the rise of basketball superstar Michael Jordan and the 1990s Chicago Bulls, won the documentary series Emmy ahead of American Masters, Hillary, McMillion$ and. They got married in 1957. var captainformThemeStyle = {}; Intending to write a biography of Billie Holiday, she interviewed friends, fellow performers, and key figures in Holiday's life, but died before its completion. Her second drug bust came in San Francisco in 1949, but she didnt get any prison time for that arrest. if('' == 'floating') { Linda Lipnack Kuehl (January 24, 1940 February 6, 1978)[1] was an American arts journalist, based in New York City. Shes a psychopath. While interviewer Kuehl can be heard gasping in shock when she hears this description, Hamilton elaborates that Holiday was impulse-driven, strong, talented but not a dependable individual. He noted that he thinks that Holidays inability to control her impulses made her psychopathic. She had a wild life. He adds, I want to know why all girl singers crack up. She was a generous person, Id say, in thought anyway. }); Intending to write a biography of Billie Holiday, she interviewed friends, fellow performers, and key figures in Holiday's life, but died before its completion. She spoke to Holidays friends, and to those who had been there for the most transformative chapters of her life. }); In the late 1960's, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Biography submission guide. }; For the biography, Kuehl set out to interview hundreds of people, ranging from band members and pimps (Holiday . ("elementType"in e))return!1;var n=null;if(n=e.following?e.following.parentElement:e.inside?e.inside:e.replacing?e.replacing.parentElement:"script"==e.elementType?document.head:document.body,null==n)return!1;var l=document.createElement(e.elementType);delete e.elementType,l=jQuery.extend(l,e),e.replacing?n.replaceChild(l,e.replacing):n.appendChild(l)};

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