The Lady Still Sings

She has been described as possibly the greatest jazz vocalist, but for a long time when I saw the name Billie Holiday, all I could think of was the character Diana Ross had played in "Lady Sings the Blues."

Now I knew she was a real person, but the film had colored my perception of her. Though the film has very little to do with the life Billie Holiday actually led, the image of Holiday as a hard-living, heroin-addicted jazz singer is the one that remains.

But last year I got to know the "real" Holiday when I read her autobiography of the same name. The only problem is, as many musical historians have noted, that the book is highly fictionalized. In fact, it wasn't even written by Holiday, but by William Dufty, a journalist.

What most agree on is that she lived from 1915 from 1959 and had a crippling drug addiction that marred most of her adult life. Much like the character in the film, she was a hard-living, heroin-addicted jazz singer. And yes, she was a victim--of herself, the system, men, you name it. But she was an artist, and her talent is still undeniable.