happy 100th birthday, billie holiday //Â april 7, 1915 - july 17, 1959 // âno two people on earth are alike, and itâs got to be that way in music or it isnât music.â
âBehind me, Billie was on her last song. I picked up the refrain, humming a few bars. Her voice sounded different to me now. Beneath the layers of hurt, beneath the ragged laughter, I heard a willingness to endure. Endure - and make music that wasnât there before.â President Barack Obama âWith few exceptions, every major pop singer in the US during her generation has been touched in some way by her genius. It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me. Lady Day is unquestionably the most important influence on American popular singingâŚ" Frank Sinatra âOnce, when I was playing at the Apollo, Billie Holiday was working a block away at the Harlem Opera House. Some of us went over between shows to catch her, and afterwards we went backstage. I did something then, and I still donât know if it was the right thing to do - I asked for her autograph.â Ella Fitzgerald âIf I hear a record once, I usually never listen to it again. I rarely listen to music - unless itâs Billie Holiday.â Barbra Streisand "I have the ability to sing with emotion and feeling, but if you say I sound like Billie Holiday, thatâs cool. Letâs look at who Billie was: she was this person, this singer, this beautiful diva who could move the audience with the slightest gesture of her hand." Erykah Badu "Billie HolidayâŚ.she is so subtle, she can milk you with two notes. She can go no farther than from a to b, and she can make you feel like she told you the whole universeâŚ" Janis Joplin "My great hero is Billie Holiday." Tim Curry
