BILLIE HOLIDAY REMIXED & REIMAGINED
Swingsett & Takuya's Mighty Fine Remix
I HEAR MUSIC
RT 5:09 Animation & Archival Footage
SONY BMG / Legacy Recordings
"Before Billie Holiday, pop and jazz vocalists were actors, emoting their songs from an imaginative perspective. Only the blues valued singers who sang as if they'd lived the trials and tribulations of their lyrics. Holiday changed all that, marshalling a memorable amalgam of infallible technique, indubitable spirit, and what would come to be called "soul". Born in Baltimore in the 1910s, she caught early breaks with Benny Goodman, Count Basie, and Artie Shaw in the 30s, and by 1941, she'd arrived in full force with her own composition "God Bless the Child". Peppered by drug problems, jail time, failed marriages, and heart trouble, Holiday's personal life was anything but enviable, but the catalogue of music she left is essential in the whole, bolstered regularly by huge reissues, film portrayals like 1972's Lady Sings the Blues (starring Diana Ross as Holiday), and an enduring cult of personality." Soundunwound