hello again mia ! i won't add anything to the information that jerry provided, except that i always heard piaf referred to as the " little sparrow " not " kid sparrow." ( for what its worth !) i just wanted to suggest a few albums by her, as well as billie, that i have in my collection. i've always been partial to billie's " lady in satin." it is her last album and it always breaks my heart when i listen to it. some say her voice was shot by then, from years of smoking and drug abuse, but it is just that quality in her voice which i think makes the album so wonderful. i just recently replaced my vinyl with a cd and i notice there are several bonus tracks included. columbia has a excellent series called " the quintessential billie holiday " which includes several volumes covering different periods of her career. i also have an album on verve entitled " the billie holiday songbook " which is a good overveiw of her early to mid career. ( the cd for it also has bonus tracks.) as for piaf, i have an album on columbia called " the very best of edith piaf," and it is. naturally the songs are in french, and even though i don't understand the language i can certainly understand the adoration she has received. i'm not sure if you are familiar with grace jones' work, she did an excellent cover of a song co-penned by piaf called " la vie en rose." ( the literally translation being the life in rose, but i understand that it is more of a french slang which translates as looking at life through rose colored glasses !) i believe grace covered another piaf song but it escapes me at this moment. hope this is of some help...
female vocalists rule, warren keith p.s. thanks for the influences info i was not aware of these two fine performers being joni influences !
