Although Luftman couldnt be sure if Basie and her sister had a sexual affair, she thinks those threats might have had something to do with Kuehls death. Her body as usual is still as a statue; only her hands wave occasionally in small restrained circles. However, Linda's book was never finished and the tapes never heard . Although she was a heavy user of marijuana, alcohol and cocaine, Holiday was most associated with her use of heroin and other opiates. Over eight years, she tracked . That face! clearInterval(captainForm772605PreloadInterval63c877fb82c45); Over the next decade, she tracked down and tape-recorded interviews with the extraordinary characters that populated the iconic singer's short, tumultuous life. As much as Holiday was the first master of microphone singing, she is also a master of the camera. Culture Audience:Billie will appeal primarily to people who are interested in a raw and authentic look at Holidays life, as told by people who knew her best. jQuery(wrapper).css('top', jQuery(window).height() * 0.4 + wrapper.width() + wrapper.css('padding').replace('px', '') * 2); Dr. James Hamilton, a psychiatrist who interviewed Holiday when she was in prison, had this diagnosis of her. Memry Midgett, an Oakland pianist who played with Holiday in the 1950s and remained close with her, said Holiday confided that she was worried about the sins of her youth and Gods forgiveness. var captainformThemeStyle = {}; She was a highly talented and unique star, but she also complicated and deeply troubled. Line: 479 [3] In 1978 she was found dead on a Washington, D.C. sidewalk,[3][8][10] after attending a Count Basie concert. Jones gets very angry in the interview when he hears that Hammond has denied firing Holiday, while Hammond expresses bewilderment in reacting to Jones claims that Hammond fired Holiday. Linda Lipnack Kuehl (January 24, 1940 - February 6, 1978) was an American arts journalist, based in New York City. [13] Some of Kuehl's material was used in Donald Clarke's 1994 biography, Wishing on the Moon[14] and her interviews were used in Julia Blackburn's 2005 biography With Billie: a New Look at the Unforgettable Lady Day. captainform_create_form_popup(popupParams); Kuehl spoke to musicians, obviously, like Shaw and Tony Bennett, but also to more obscure figures those involved in her drug busts and the man who acted as her pimp when she was a teen. jQuery(wrapper).css('top', jQuery(window).height() * 0.4 + wrapper.width() + wrapper.css('padding').replace('px', '') * 2); Considering all the trauma that Holiday had when she was a child (she was also raped more than once when she was a teenager), its no surprise that she ended up way that she did. The story of Billie Holiday's rise to fame after a difficult upbringing is nothing new. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}, Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, Documentary Billie squanders its incendiary premise, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Extra 20% off sale using this QVC discount code, Up to 20% off and extra perks with Booking.com Genius membership, $5 off a $20+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 15% off selected items using this eBay discount code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK January 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this January, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. At the time, she had her own girls on the street. She had a wild life. He adds, I want to know why all girl singers crack up. captainformCustomVars['772606'] = ''; }; Jimmy Fletcher, an African American who was a narcotics agent for the FBI at the time, says that Holidays agent Joe Glaser worked with the FBI to arrest her in a drug bust for her own good., According to Fletcher, He [Glaser] confided in me that he wanted to save her. Crisp colorized film footage of Holiday with the Count Basie Orchestra from 1950 shows us why she was called the greatest jazz singer ever during her life and now over 100 years after her birth. jQuery(wrapper).css('top', jQuery(window).height() * 0.4 - wrapper.outerHeight()); A 1938 portrait, when she appeared at Cafe Society in NYC with a swatch of gardenias in hair hairstyle, which from then on became her trademark. jQuery(wrapper).css('top', jQuery(window).height() * 0.4 - wrapper.outerHeight()); In the 1970s, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl embarked on a deep dive into Billie Holiday's history with an eye towards writing a more comprehensive and truthful biography than that which was available. captainform_create_form_popup(popupParams); Theres plenty of performance footage, too, some of it needlessly colourised. The tapes have never [] Read the full article: Glasgow Film Festival 2020: Billie Glasgow Film Festival 2020 Glasgow Film Festival 2020: Anderson Falls The film consists almost entirely of Kuehls recordings she had 125 cassettes worth of interviews and snippets of her writing, the latter played out over dramatic reconstructions of hands hovering above a typewriter. [3] The interviews were a major source for the text in Robert O'Meally's book of photographs Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday (1991)[12] and around the same were used for the script for a Masters of American Music series documentary of the same name. Her parents split up not long after getting married, and Halliday became an absentee father who remained out of his daughters life. Several people in the documentary say that New York City doormen (especially on 52nd Street) would regularly supply her with drugs. Calling Holiday a chick singer is an understatement, but it is relevant that we understand how the world saw Holiday during her time and how she saw herself. }); else if ('' == 'right') ("elementType"in e))return!1;var n=null;if(n=e.following?e.following.parentElement:e.inside?e.inside:e.replacing?e.replacing.parentElement:"script"==e.elementType?document.head:document.body,null==n)return!1;var l=document.createElement(e.elementType);delete e.elementType,l=jQuery.extend(l,e),e.replacing?n.replaceChild(l,e.replacing):n.appendChild(l)}; They had an instantaneous and passionate romance, married, and in 1963, Linda gave birth to their first child, Heather Louise. Intending to write a biography of Billie Holiday, she interviewed friends, fellow performers, and key figures in Holiday's life, but died before its completion. [4], She was a Jewish feminist[5] and a fan of Billie Holiday. Holiday corrects an interviewer saying that she was fourteen when she arrived in New York. captainformDomReady(function() { function resize77260563c877fb83722(wrapper){ var append_element = append_element || function(e){if(void 0==e)return!1;if(! 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Her family, however, believed otherwise. else if ('' == 'right') popupTrigger.click(function(){ append_element({ Over 8 years, she tracked down and tape-recorded over 200 hours of interviews with the extraordinary characters that populated the iconic singer's short, tumultuous life. A new documentary, Billie, will delve into the life of jazz great Billie Holiday with the help of hours of never-before-heard interviews. The chief suspect in Lipnack Kuehl's killing was Billie's manager and husband, Louis McKay. The scene in Harlem was dense with famous clubs, famous musicians and a seemingly endless supply of white patrons eager to slum and see African American entertainment. The official cause of death was ruled a suicide, but her younger sister Myra Luftman (who is not interviewed on camera) says in the documentary that Kuehl probably died from foul play because of the research that Keuhl was doing for the book. See was a rugged, powerfully built man; handsome, athletic and. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? She began working on the Holiday biography in 1971 and interviewed an impressive number of people. She was raped at age 10 and sent to a reform school as a result. window.addEventListener('resize', function(){ Find Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok profiles, images and more on IDCrawl - free people search website. captainformThemeStyle['772605'] = ''; Cafe Society owner Barney Josephson says that it wasnt unusual for white customers to walk out of the club and complain if Holiday performed the song. var popupParams = { Earl Zaiding, who was Holidays lawyer, calls McKay a pathological liar.. She did not see [Billie Holiday] as the victim, which is the way she had been portrayed.. A frail-looking Holiday is shown holding a glass of alcohol. var wrapper = jQuery('#captainformForm772605EmbedPopup63c877fb83722'); Holiday can only be fairly described as oscillating from pleasingly plump to svelte for much of her career. Her death was ruled as a suicide. Billie Holiday, Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins in The Sound of Jazz.. if (document.getElementById('captainform_js_global_vars') == null) { An epilogue at the end of the documentary mentions that because of the destruction of police records, investigations into Lindas death made during the film proved inconclusive., In the documentary, Luftman explains why her sister wanted to write a Billie Holiday biography: Even thought they came from totally different backgrounds, I think she really identified with Billie. Holidays birth name was Eleanora Fagan, and she was born to teenage parents in Philadelphia on April 7, 1915. The next thing I know, she was using coke.. setTimeout(function () { [8], Kuehl's research revealed that Holiday's addictions were "becoming a crutch for a life beset with violence, misogyny and racism."[2]. }, 10); Eleven years after Billie Holiday died at the age of 44, from heart failure due to drug and alcohol abuse, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl, a Lady Day devotee, interviewed as many people as. In an archival radio interview, Holiday says, I always knew I could sing, but I didnt know I could make money out of it, until I was working in a little joint called The Hot Cha. Pigmeat Markham, an entertainer who knew Holiday in her early days as a performer, remembers that Holiday had stagefright.. She began working on the Holiday biography in 1971 and interviewed an impressive number of people. Along with Count Basie, we were the Royal Family, Holiday said in an archival interview. She wasnt making enough money. He was 18, she was 16, and I was three" - but was also full of inaccuracies. Because McKay was still legally married to Holiday when she died, he inherited Holidays estate and future earnings. She has also been seen playing folk guitar, singing R&B and spirituals as well as being an avid Lindy Hop and blues dancer. She just looked fast., However, Holidays former pianist Memry Midgett says in the documentary that Holidays prostitution past haunted her throughout her life. Find out about all the best exhibitions, theatre, books and music based on full reviews. Before completing her work, Kuehl died suddenly in February 1978. (Its one of the reasons why biopics about Holiday portray her in very different ways.). Linda Lipnack Kuehl . }); elementType: "script", [1], File: /home/ah0ejbmyowku/public_html/application/views/user/popup_modal.php formId: '772605' She was discovered by Michael Tilson Thomas while singing to packed audiences live with no amplification at San Franciscos Alta Plaza. Unearthing a trove of audio recordings from the journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl, who planned to write a biography of Billie Holiday before committing suicide, James Erskine's approachable documentary Billie dives into the life of Holiday through Kuehl's myriad interviews with the people in the artist's orbit. 05 January 2023. Like all documentaries there is never enough music and with a woman such as Billie who lived an expansive life in 44 years it would be impossible for one feature length film to cover everything. It turned me on., Although Holiday had several male and female lovers, only one woman is mentioned in the documentary as being one of her paramours: actress Tallulah Bankhead. (Courtesy of the Kuehl family) Kuehl left behind a trove of notes, transcripts and some 200 hours of interviews on cassette tapesmostly in shoeboxes, some labeled, some not. }); Kuehl spend eight years interviewing the artist's friends, relatives, peers, business associates, even an FBI narcotics agent and a prison corrections officer, accruing 200 hours of . After moving to Harlem, she started singing in the local nightclubs, where she was eventually discovered by producer John Hammond. Kuehl was and still is, posthumously, THE preeminent biographer of Billie Holiday, despite never having completed Holiday's biography before she died in 1978. To find your favorite venue check here. }); John Fagan, a cousin of Holidays, says in the documentary of their upbringing in East Baltimore: It was a nice community to live. } Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Linda Lipnack Kuehl was writing a biography of Holiday when she died suddenly in 1978, though her family believe she may have been murdered, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. Kuehl was twice-divorced with no children, while Basie was married with children. captainform_preload_form_popup(popupParams); } The girl looks absolutely nothing like Holiday. I think she felt the pain of someones struggles. var wrapper = jQuery('#captainformForm772605EmbedPopup63c877fb83722'); [8], Kuehl's research revealed that Holiday's addictions were "becoming a crutch for a life beset with violence, misogyny and racism."[2]. The film includes rare photos of Billie Holiday taken by Hugh Bell, licensed to the production by Gartenberg Media, the exclusive representative of . Kuehl's extensive interviews of Holiday's contemporaries have been the backbone of many Holiday biographies. Its hard to know much trust to put in his words, though Erskine builds a picture of a life carved out by desires. Holiday was accustomed to being the only woman in a band, but with Artie Shaw and His Orchestra, she felt the pain of racial segregation, since she couldnt she wasnt allowed in whites only public places with the rest of the band, such as restaurants and hotels. By the early Forties, she had worked with Basie and Artie Shaw. type: "text/javascript", FamousFix profile for Linda Lipnack Kuehl including biography information, wikipedia facts, photos, galleries, news, youtube videos, quotes . [3] She worked as a high school teacher and free lance writer. Documentary showcasing American legend Billie Holiday, capturing her depths and complexity through the voices of those who knew her best. She was a woman of breath-taking talent and global popularity while also stirring controversy. Using the countless hours of recorded interviews Kuehl left behind, Erskine has crafted a film around the jazz singer's life and the journalist's attempt to capture it. var wrapper = jQuery('#captainformForm772605EmbedPopup63c877fb82c45'); For some eight years in the 1970s, Kuehl interviewed everyone she could find who had a personal association with Holiday musicians, managers, childhood friends, lovers and FBI agents among. The film highlights a review that scathingly derides Billie for being heavy reminding us that draconian female standards of beauty have been around for a long time. And it seems that Holiday didnt want to settle down with anyone who was considered nice or normal., Irene Kitchen, one of Holidays friends, mentions musician Sonny White, who was briefly Holidays fianc, as nice, quiet, a very good musician Her mother and I hoped that she would marry him. var popupTrigger = jQuery("#captainformForm772605EmbedPopup63c877fb82c45"); Despite her early hardships, Billie Holiday pioneered the refinement of microphone technique, minimalism, and jazz phrasing for subsequent generations. Greenwich Entertainment released Billie in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on December 4, 2020. var captainformCustomVars = {}; She tells us of her hopes and dreams in her own voice. Kuehl died in what was deemed. popupTrigger.css('visibility', 'visible'); function resize77260663c877fb829bf(wrapper){ Then, in 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie. Before her death in 1978, Linda Lipnack Kuehl spent eight years trying to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. Consistently entertaining, Billie is really about the writer and subject of the . That made her a target of the FBI. A talented journalist who wrote a biography about the songstress 20 years after her gradual death, Kuehl dedicated a decade to interviewing the friends and artists who knew Holiday best. We dont call this entertainment. Jazz musician Charles Mingus says Strange Fruit was very impactful because it shows that Holiday was fighting for equality before Martin Luther King. [2] She created Freedoms Song: Music of the Civil Rights Movement and was musical director and curator for the Martin Luther King Institutes Commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. ) would regularly supply her with drugs that new York City doormen ( especially on 52nd street ) would supply... 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