Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Eleanora Fagan, professionally known as Billie Holiday, was an American jazz musician and singer-songwriter with a career spanning nearly thirty years. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. Holiday was known for her vocal delivery and improvisational skills, which made up for her limited range and lack of...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJazz Singer
Date of Birth7 April 1915
CityPhiladelphia, PA
CountryUnited States of America
I can only sing songs my way. I don't know any other way.
God bless the child that's got his own,
I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years.
There's no damn business like show business - you have to smile to keep from throwing up.
I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That's all I know.
If nobody can learn from the past, then there's no point in raking it up.
And when you're poor, you grow up fast.
Don't be in such a hurry.
In this country kings or dukes don't amount to nothing. The greatest man around then was Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he was the President; so I started calling Lester the President. It got shortened to Pres.
Love is like a faucet, it turns off and on.
When Lester plays, he almost seems to be singing; one can almost hear the words.
I've been told that nobody sings the word 'hunger' like I do.
A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted.
One day a whole damn song fell into place in my head.