Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter.
Nicknamed Lady Day by her sometime collaborator Lester Young, Holiday was a seminal influence on jazz, and pop singers' critic John Bush wrote that she "changed the art of American pop vocals forever." Her vocal style — strongly inspired by instrumentalists — pioneered a new way of manipulating wording and tempo, and also popularized a more personal and intimate approach to singing.
She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably "God Bless the Child," "Don't Explain," and "Lady Sings the Blues."
“In this country, don’t forget, a habit is no damn private hell. There’s no solitary confinement outside of jail. A habit is hell for those you love. And in this country it’s the worst kind of hell for those who love you.”
Billie Holiday
“Everyones got to be different. You can't copy anybody and end up with anything. If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling. And without feeling, whatever you do amounts to nothing.”
Billie Holiday
“I never hurt nobody but myself and that's nobody's business but my own.”
Billie Holiday
“Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain.”
Billie Holiday
“If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all.”
Billie Holiday
“Love is like a faucet: it turns on and off.”
Billie Holiday
“You can't copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling. No two people on earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music or it isn't music.”
Billie Holiday
“You've got to have something to eat, and a little love in your life before you can hold still for any damn body's sermon on how to behave.”
Billie Holiday
“You can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation.”
Billie Holiday