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For news, music (including some previously unreleased live recordings), complete discography, videos and much more visitKims websiteand many more performances can be found on herYouTube channel. Read the latest opinions on key events by our acclaimed critics today She was 38. if(typeof cfJsHost != 'undefined'){
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Even though she performed a historic sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall after she was let out of prison in 1948 (at the time, Carnegie Hall was a venue for classical and opera music, not jazz), the damage to her reputation was done. Theres a lingering sense that Kuehl understood something deeper, but Billie never seems all that curious to find out what that might be. The project is centered around 200 hours of previously. if (document.getElementById('captainform_js_global_vars') == null) {
However, Linda's book was never finished and the tapes never heard . append_element({
Like the singer she idolized and identified with, Linda Lipnack Kuehl had her own bad habits, failed relationships and dreams unfulfilled. She was the victim of repeated sexual abuse. 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. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}, Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, Documentary Billie squanders its incendiary premise, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Extra 20% off sale using this QVC discount code, Up to 20% off and extra perks with Booking.com Genius membership, $5 off a $20+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 15% off selected items using this eBay discount code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK January 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this January, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. Kuehl died after attending a Basie concert in Washington, D.C. Luftman says that a big clue for her that it wasnt a suicide was that Kuehl had a cosmetic face mask on, which was her habit when she got ready for bed. textContent: 'var frmRef=""; try { frmRef=window.top.location.href; } catch(err) {}; var captainform_servicedomain="app.captainform.com";var cfJsHost = "https://";',
The film consists almost entirely of Kuehls recordings she had 125 cassettes worth of interviews and snippets of her writing, the latter played out over dramatic reconstructions of hands hovering above a typewriter. jQuery(wrapper).css('top', jQuery(window).height() * 0.4 + wrapper.width() + wrapper.css('padding').replace('px', '') * 2);
Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Get a load of the critics, the people who judge our music. 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. Courtesy of the Kuehl family. In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. Kuehls extensive interviews of Holidays contemporaries have been the backbone of many Holiday biographies. (Photo by George Rinhart). Billie certainly encompassed both requirements. var captainformDomReady = captainformDomReady || function(e){var t=!1,n=function(){document.addEventListener? formId: '772606'
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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. Culture Mix Survey
Both died young Holiday at age 44, of liver cirrhosis. The documentary includes stories of people witnessing McKay (whos been described as a mafia enforcer) being physically abusive to Holiday. By the time that Holiday was arrested in 1947, she listed her marital status as separated. She and Monroe got divorced the same year. }
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Watching the footage of her face singing with no sound could reduce the watcher to tears alone without hearing a single note. She created Freedoms Song: Music of the Civil Rights Movement and was musical director and curator for the Martin Luther King Institutes Commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. When she was released from jail at age 14, she left prostitution for good and set her sights on singing for a living. One is the subject Billie Holiday and the other, her biographer Linda Lipnack Kuehl. resize77260563c877fb83722(wrapper);
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It also brings up a few necessary, if rarely confronted questions. As much as Holiday was the first master of microphone singing, she is also a master of the camera. else if ('' == 'right')
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Enjoy our special Billie Holiday Gallery of photos, posters, record covers, surprises and film clips with lots of great music. Function: _error_handler, File: /home/ah0ejbmyowku/public_html/application/views/page/index.php She was high profile, successful, and the opposite of small. captainForm772606PreloadInterval63c877fb834ac = setInterval(function(){
FISHER Satisfies the Appetite, Memorable and Best Forgotten Thanksgivings. It seems amazing that most writers have speculated on the reason Billie Holiday left both the Basie Band and the Shaw Band without getting the testimony of Basie and Shaw themselves. Over the next decade, she tracked down and tape-recorded interviews with the extraordinary characters that populated the iconic singer's short, tumultuous life. [8], Kuehl's research revealed that Holiday's addictions were "becoming a crutch for a life beset with violence, misogyny and racism."[2]. The film includes rare photos of Billie Holiday taken by Hugh Bell, licensed to the production by Gartenberg Media, the exclusive representative of . A new documentary, Billie, will delve into the life of jazz great Billie Holiday with the help of hours of never-before-heard interviews. captainform_create_form_popup(popupParams);
She was a perfectionist, according to her sister, which is why it took so long for Kuehl to work on the uncompleted book. function resize77260663c877fb829bf(wrapper){
Her face is an actress as much as her voice. Along with Count Basie, we were the Royal Family, Holiday said in an archival interview. I think she felt the pain of someones struggles. Billie Holiday is the subject of the documentary, and theres expected archival footage of her in her film. if (document.getElementById('captainform_js_global_vars') == null) {
Viewers will see sparkling flashes of Holidays personality that render other biographies and documentaries one dimensional. clearInterval(captainForm772606PreloadInterval63c877fb829bf);
Her second drug bust came in San Francisco in 1949, but she didnt get any prison time for that arrest. Holiday was promptly arrested and did time in Welfare Island (now known as Roosevelt); she lied about her age to make sure she did not end up in juvenile until she was the age of majority. 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 Hopefully someday a filmmaker will be able to tackle the intersectionality of Holiday being both Black and a woman when neither had many rights, and Holiday as a jazz genius when singers were considered neither musicians nor geniuses. Wells, African Americans were most often lynched because they were financially successful or not deferential enough. formId: '772605'
She was fired by John Hammond. Jones says that Hammond fired Holiday because she refused Hammonds demands to sing blues music. [11][14][15] Documentary director James Erskine bought the rights to Kuehl's tapes[3] and his subsequent film, Billie (2019), is "a journey through Holiday's life, narrated by the voices on those tapes",[3][14][16][17] including Kuehl's. So many people have rhapsodized about her voice that we often forget that for those who saw her sing live her face was also a powerful vehicle of emotion. The conditions for African Americans were much more dismal than many people realize and Holidays struggles stand on their own. Lipstick and brow pencil are the hallmark features. A side by side comparison of a pop singer singing a Billie Holiday tune compared to Billies version would have illuminated exactly why Holiday is a genius musically. I sometimes see the hardships of being a Black man highlighted but I do not see the same courtesy given to Miss Holiday. Keuhl is also remarkable for not trying to angle the information in a Procrustean manner to fit her argument. popupTrigger.click(function(){
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Kuehl is heard in the interview going back and forth with Jones and Hammond to get their reactions to these conflicting allegations. Funeral services Friday February 10th, 11 A.M. Parkside Chapel, 170th St . jQuery(wrapper).find('a').removeAttr('href');
Here, Erskine has been given the opportunity to illuminate the lives of two women by seeing where they intertwine. The chief suspect in Lipnack Kuehl's killing was Billie's manager and husband, Louis McKay. }, true); var captainformCustomVars = {};
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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. In the documentary interview, Hammond says, There was a real problem between Billie and Basie. FamousFix profile for Linda Lipnack Kuehl including biography information, wikipedia facts, photos, galleries, news, youtube videos, quotes . Sylvia Syms, a singer and longtime friend of Holidays, comments on Holidays drug addiction: She really dug being high, but I never saw anyone with such a capacity., Its mentioned several times in the documentary that Holidays well-known drug problem and the controversy over Strange Fruit led to a conspiracy to bring her down, with the FBI involved. popupTrigger.css('visibility', 'visible');
He reportedly ripped her off. The project is centered around 200 hours of previously. The documentary will thread her story through the eyes of one of her most enamored fans, Linda Lipnack Kuehl, who, in 1971, set out to write a definitive biography. 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. Although it may seem counterintuitive to have more audio only interviews for a film documentary instead of videos, we quickly hear the ease and genuineness in the interviewees voices. Despite her early hardships, Billie Holiday pioneered the refinement of microphone technique, minimalism, and jazz phrasing for subsequent generations. A new documentary, Billie, will delve into the life of jazz great Billie Holiday with the help of hours of never-before-heard interviews. var readyStateOverflowInterval;
Linda delivers due diligence and interviews all the people involved to come up with an answer, or answers, that are closer to the truth than any other biographer. ("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)};
Her parents split up not long after getting married, and Halliday became an absentee father who remained out of his daughters life. formId: '772606'
In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. Culture Clash:Holiday battled drug addiction, and several people who knew her say that she was a target of the FBI. [4], She was a Jewish feminist[5] and a fan of Billie Holiday. Particularly jarring is a small girl made up to look as if she was Billie as a child. elementType: "script",
Because of the power structure, [black people] never had a chance.. Holiday, who died of heart failure and cirrhosis of the liver at age 44 in 1959, was an iconic jazz singer who was also one of the first African American entertainers to record music speaking out against racial injustice. Kim Nalley, a PHD Candidate in History at University of California Berkeley, is a historian, playwright, and actress and is most known as jazz & blues singer with a powerful, 3 1/2 octave range that can go from operatic to gritty blues on a dime, projection that can whisper a ballad yet is capable of filling a room with no microphone, and the ability to scat blistering solos without ever losing the crowds interest or the intense swing. Like all documentaries there is never enough music and with a woman such as Billie who lived an expansive life in 44 years it would be impossible for one feature length film to cover everything. [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. jQuery(wrapper).css('top', jQuery(window).height() * 0.4 + wrapper.width() + wrapper.css('padding').replace('px', '') * 2);
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Pigmeat Marham and white record producer John Hammond (instrumental in the lives of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Benny Goodman and more) both claim to have discovered her. Song list and samples here.She portrayed Holiday on stage in C.J.Verburgs play Lady Day in Love. });
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She also began hanging out at a brothel, which is where she first heard jazz music. {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. By the early Forties, she had worked with Basie and Artie Shaw. I do not see the same attention given to Miles Daviss or Charlie Parkers drug use or their abusive relationships. She had also recorded her most important song, Strange Fruit a battle cry against Americas vicious history of lynching, sat right at the dawn of the civil rights movement. See was a rugged, powerfully built man; handsome, athletic and. Before completing her work, Kuehl died suddenly in February 1978. Her family, however, believed otherwise. var captainformThemeStyle = {};
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Considering all the trauma that Holiday had when she was a child (she was also raped more than once when she was a teenager), its no surprise that she ended up way that she did. I would expect that at least they could have found a child with the same coloring as Holiday. 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. [3]. After moving to Harlem, she started singing in the local nightclubs, where she was eventually discovered by producer John Hammond. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Biography submission guide. captainform_create_form_popup(popupParams);
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Kuehl, in that period of eight years, began to see parts of herself in Holiday. if(typeof cfJsHost != 'undefined'){
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Then in the late 1960's journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie. id: "captainform_js_global_vars",
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Holiday grew up in Baltimore, poor and lonely her father had abandoned her and her mother was often absent due to work. There are so many photos in circulation of Holiday at the end of her life when she was skeletal it might be shocking for some to realize that for most of her life she was plump. Line: 315 popupTrigger.css('visibility', 'visible');
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Her death was ruled as a suicide. (The documentary has lots of images of cassette recorders and reel-to-reel tap machines in operation, to give a visual representation of these interviews.) }, 10);
[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. }
Other people interviewed in the documentary include trombonist Melba Liston and singer Carmen McCrae. Midgett says that Holiday would talk for hours about how she started in prostitution when she was 13 years old. (Courtesy of the Kuehl family) Kuehl left behind a trove of notes, transcripts and some 200 hours of interviews on cassette tapesmostly in shoeboxes, some labeled, some not. Detroit Red, a dancer work worked with Holiday at The Hot Cha, remembers: At that particular time, the only vice she had was smoking [marijuana] reefers. Later, Holiday became an alcoholic and addicted to cocaine and heroin. You can hear Kuehls excellence as an interviewer asking why repeatedly rather than inserting her own understanding. });
Holiday can only be fairly described as oscillating from pleasingly plump to svelte for much of her career. To describe it any other way is to diminish her musicianship. Holiday can only be fairly described as oscillating from pleasingly plump to svelte for much of her career. [3] In 1978 she was found dead on a Washington, D.C. sidewalk,[3][8][10] after attending a Count Basie concert. 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. The film opens with footage of Holiday that I had not seen before. 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