Album: Lady in Satin
Artist: Billie Holiday
Born: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Released: February 1958
Genre: Jazz
Influenced: Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Erykah Badu, Norah Jones
Though this album was released after the Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan entries on this list, there's no doubt Billie Holiday, the trailblazer among jazz vocalists, was a major influence on both those singers. Lady in Satin was recorded near the end of Holiday's troubled life, just after her release from prison on a drugs charge, aged 42. The following year, in 1959, she would die from liver cirrhosis in a New York hospital, with barely a penny to her name. All the ravages of drink and drugs addiction, the sadnesses of heartbreak and racial oppression (best articulated by her own version of Strange Fruit) are plain to hear in Holiday's damaged but beautiful voice.
On some songs the damage is almost too difficult to bear, but on others like But Beautiful, You Don't Know What Love Is and The End Of A Love Affair the effect is sublime. Even though Holiday is clearly in the autumn of her life, there is a defiance there and a strength of spirit characteristic of the very best singers. I don't tend to like many of the syrupy string arrangements that accompany many jazz albums from this period, but in my (admittedly limited) opinion the orchestra complements Holiday's voice very well throughout this recording. This is the sound of an artist baring her soul, especially on the End Of A Love Affair, and nobody does melancholy like Lady Day.
Artist: Billie Holiday
Born: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Released: February 1958
Genre: Jazz
Influenced: Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Erykah Badu, Norah Jones
Though this album was released after the Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan entries on this list, there's no doubt Billie Holiday, the trailblazer among jazz vocalists, was a major influence on both those singers. Lady in Satin was recorded near the end of Holiday's troubled life, just after her release from prison on a drugs charge, aged 42. The following year, in 1959, she would die from liver cirrhosis in a New York hospital, with barely a penny to her name. All the ravages of drink and drugs addiction, the sadnesses of heartbreak and racial oppression (best articulated by her own version of Strange Fruit) are plain to hear in Holiday's damaged but beautiful voice.
On some songs the damage is almost too difficult to bear, but on others like But Beautiful, You Don't Know What Love Is and The End Of A Love Affair the effect is sublime. Even though Holiday is clearly in the autumn of her life, there is a defiance there and a strength of spirit characteristic of the very best singers. I don't tend to like many of the syrupy string arrangements that accompany many jazz albums from this period, but in my (admittedly limited) opinion the orchestra complements Holiday's voice very well throughout this recording. This is the sound of an artist baring her soul, especially on the End Of A Love Affair, and nobody does melancholy like Lady Day.
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