Name: Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth
Brand: John Szwed

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

9780143107965

Colour

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format Books US

Paperback

Format detail

Limited edition

Release date

2015-03-15

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Rando­m Hou­se

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

Artist

John Szwed

Genre US

Jazz

Label US

Melville House

Newest Listed Items

Published in celebration of Holiday’s centenary, the first biography to focus on the singer’s extraordinary musical talent

When Billie Holiday stepped into Columbia’s studios in November 1933, it marked the beginning of what is arguably the most remarkable and influential career in twentieth-century popular music. Her voice weathered countless shifts in public taste, and new reincarnations of her continue to arrive, most recently in the form of singers like Amy Winehouse and Adele.

Most of the writing on Holiday has focused on the tragic details of her life—her prostitution at the age of fourteen, her heroin addiction and alcoholism, her series of abusive relationships—or tried to correct the many fabrications of her autobiography. But now, Billie Holiday stays close to the music, to her performance style, and to the self she created and put into print, on record and on stage.

Drawing on a vast amount of new material that has surfaced in the last decade, critically acclaimed jazz writer John Szwed considers how her life inflected her art, her influences, her uncanny voice and rhythmic genius, a number of her signature songs, and her legacy

Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth 

Books US

Discover Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth by John Szwed. Dive into the extraordinary musical talent of Billie Holiday with this exclusive book from Melville House.