mia ortlieb wrote:
> I have seen some articles where Joni mentions other artists that she has
> appreciated and/or been influenced by. Some of these mentions are of Billie
> Holiday
Billie Holiday's grandfather was one of 17 children of a black Virginia slave
and a white Irish plantation owner.
Her mother was only 13 when she was born.
The future "Lady Day" first heard the music of Louis Armstrong and Bessie
Smith on a Victrola at Alice Dean's,
the Baltimore "house of ill repute" where she ran errands and scrubbed
floors as a young girl. She made her
singing debut in obscure Harlem nightclubs (borrowing her professional name
from screen star Billie Dove), then
toured with Count Basie and Artie Shaw before going solo. Benny Goodman
dragged the frightened singer to her
first studio session. Between 1933 and 1944, she recorded over 200 "sides,"
but she never received royalties for
any of them.
Despite a lack of technical training, Holiday's unique diction, inimitable
phrasing and acute dramatic intensity
made her the outstanding jazz singer of her day. White gardenias, worn in her
hair, became her trademark.
"Singing songs like the 'The Man I Love' or 'Porgy' is no more work than
sitting down and eating Chinese roast
duck, and I love roast duck," she wrote in her autobiography. "I've lived
songs like that." Her own compositions
"God Bless the Child," espousing the virtues of financial independence and
"Don't Explain," lament on
infidelity.
Billie Holiday, a musical legend still popular today, died an untimely death
at the age of 44.
Birth Name Eleanora Fagan Gough.
Used the name "Billie Holiday" because of her admiration for film star Billie
Dove.
She was discovered by John Hammond.
In 1933 Hammond organized her first recording session with Benny Goodman.
Her early band was organized by pianist Teddy Wilson.
At one time her sidemen included Benny Goodman and Roy Eldridge.
In 1937 teamed up with Count Basie.
Established a lifelong relationship with Lester Young "Prez."
In 1939 she introduced "Strange Fruit" & "God Bless the Child."
Portrayed in the movie "Lady Sings the Blues."
In 1946 she gave a triumphant concert at Town Hall and appeared in the film
"New Orleans."
In 1954 toured Europe.
Died on July 17,1959.
> and Edith Piaf.
Edith Piaf has always had a cult following. A voice like hers comes along
perhaps once in a century. Her
sad and valiant life story steals hearts.
She was born Edith Giovanna Gassion outside 72 rue de Belleville in 1915.
Abandoned by her mother, a street singer, the girl was first taken care of
by her
aunt and her Moroccan paternal grandmother. By the age of seven, she was
touring with her father, a circus acrobat, throughout Western Europe. She
received
little formal education.
By the age of eight, Gassion sang with her father's act, and by nine, she
sang (at
first, the "Marseillaise") on her own. In her early teens, she lived with her
possible
half-sister, Simone Bertaut, working as a street singer, sleeping in alleys
or in
cheap hotels. When she was nineteen, nightclub impressario, Louis Leplee,
discovered her. He was responsible for her nickname, "Kid Sparrow," and her
stage name, Edith Piaf.
Her life was brief, her fame international. In 1961, though nearly unable to
stand, Piaf appeared at the
Paris Olympia, and within eighteen months (1963), she was dead of cancer.
Although she died in the
of France, her body was transported secretly to her apartment at 67 Boulevard
Lannes so her fans
believe she had died in Paris.
She was forbidden a Mass by the archbishop of Paris (because of her
lifestyle), yet her ceremony at
Pere-Lachaise was bombarded by forty thousand fans. Charles Aznavour, whom
she helped launch in
business, recalled that Piaf's funeral procession was the only time, since
the end of World War II,
that Parisian traffic came to a complete stop.
A museum dedicated to this French icon's memory is tucked in a slightly seedy
quarter of Paris, which
is housed in a fervent fan's apartment. Menilmontant may be an up-and-coming
area, but it's still
ascending. Edith Piaf never lived in this neighborhood as an adult, but she
spent time here in her
childhood. The area is working class and immigrant, not highly frequented by
tourists.
On rue Crespin du Gast, the Musee Edith Piaf is a bit hard to find. It is
listed in few guidebooks. The
tiny plaque on the building's facade says "Les Amis de Edith Piaf,"
indicating only the fan club, with six
thousand members worldwide.
You will need to make an appointment to visit the apartment museum, which was
founded in 1977. Its
director, Bernard Marchois, will give you directions to the building and an
access code which will allow
you to enter through first door, then a second. You will need to climb four
winding flights of stairs (no
elevator), and meet Marchois, author of two of a multitude of Piaf
biographies. He escorts you into the
small, cluttered space, as does his low-slung dog. They live in this shrine
to Piaf's memory . In his early
childhood, Marchois knew Piaf slightly: " Between 1958 and 1963, I went to
boulevard Lannes (her last
address) many times," he states quietly.
The museum is two small rooms, quirky and very much a labor of love. You are
free to look around on
your own; Marchois will gladly answer questions but is not inclined to
lengthy conversations. He'd prefer
you seep yourself in the atmosphere of Piaf's trophies--gold records and one
platinum, countless
paintings and photographs--some excellent, some tacky--and see her
collections of dishes, clothing,
. A lifesize cardboard image of Piaf, dressed in a black dress "from her
good days," stands near a
seated life-sized teddy bear, a present from her dear Theo (husband number
two). Her voice is constantly
singing in the background as you explore.
Aside from Piaf's trophies and artwork, you will see tiny dresses, mostly
form-fitting black but one a
surprising bright red, clutch bags, a pair of her open-toed pumps (size 34),
souvenir glasses from grand
concerts in Paris and New York, letters to her from the likes of Maurice
Chevalier (who once called her "a
little bantamweight champion"), Marcel Cerdan's (a boyfriend, considered a
husband) boxing gloves, and
the bear, who seems like a guardian angel.
