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Unique, Incomparable, Unforgettable
Arguably the best female vocalist in jazz history, a legendary performer of international reputation, Billie Holiday (1915-1959) was known by the emotional intensity she put into the lyrics of her songs. In spite of her somewhat limited voice, her renditions were almost memorable and often uncanny, for Lady Day (as she was universally known by fans and musicians alike) lived the words she sang.
A one-in-a-million artist surrounded by a disturbing legend, Billie Holiday began singing in Harlem clubs and learned the ropes with the likes of Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson after her unique singing voice was discovered by talent-scout John Hammond in 1933. Early recognition followed after she waxed her first classic recordings alongside jazz masters such as Count Basie, Lester Young or Buck Clayton in the late Thirties. In spite of her many personal problems, during the Forties she recorded many of the songs that helped her establish a worldwide reputation as an incomparable vocalist: "Lover Man," "Strange Fruit," "Don't Explain," "God Bless the Child," "Crazy He Calls Me," "Them There Eyes"...In spite of her increasingly troubled existence, Lady Day's reputation kept growing during the final decade of her life, when she cut some of her most famous albums for the Verve label alongside jazz greats such as Harry "Sweets" Edison, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins or Jimmy Rowles. After her untimely death in 1959, Billie Holiday remains as one of the true legends in jazz.
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