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
If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all.
New Orleans is the only city in the world you go in to buy a pair of nylon stockings they want to know your head size.
And when you're poor, you grow up fast.
They think they can make fuel from horse manure - now, I don't know if your car will be able to get 30 miles to the gallon, but it's sure gonna put a stop to siphoning.
Them that's got shall get, Them that's not shall lose. So the Bible says, And it still is news. Mama may have, Papa may have, But God bless the child that's got his own.
I never sing a song the same way twice.
Don't be in such a hurry.
If nobody can learn from the past, then there's no point in raking it up.
I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession. If you can, then it ain't music, it's close order drill, or exercise or yodeling or something, not music.
When you sing, always tell the truth.
I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That's all I know.
People don't understand the kind of fight it takes to record what you want to record the way you want to record it.
I don't think I'm singing. I feel like I'm playing a horn...What comes out is what I feel.
Dope never helped anybody sing better or play music better or do anything better. All dope can do for you is kill you - and kill you the long, slow, hard way.