} She spoke to Holidays friends, and to those who had been there for the most transformative chapters of her life. She sang in clubs in Harlem and. [2] Various other writers' biographies on Holiday have drawn upon Kuehl's material, as did the film Billie (2019), which is narrated by Kuehl's recorded interviews. 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Linda Lipnack Kuehl IMDbPro Starmeter See rank Help contribute to IMDb. jQuery(wrapper).css('top', jQuery(window).height() * 0.4 - wrapper.outerHeight()); Linda Lipnack Kuehl (January 24, 1940 - February 6, 1978) was an American arts journalist, based in New York City. Even though she performed a historic sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall after she was let out of prison in 1948 (at the time, Carnegie Hall was a venue for classical and opera music, not jazz), the damage to her reputation was done. In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. Being a solo act gave Holiday the freedom to record whats considered the most important and most controversial song of her career: Strange Fruit. Written by Abel Meeropol under the alias Lewis Allan, and released in 1939, the song is a poetically brutal commentary on racial injustice, particularly in describing the lynching of black people in the South. Over the next decade, she tracked down and tape-recorded interviews with the extraordinary characters that populated the iconic singer's short, tumultuous life. resize77260563c877fb83722(wrapper); Linda delivers due diligence and interviews all the people involved to come up with an answer, or answers, that are closer to the truth than any other biographer. var wrapper = jQuery('#captainformForm772605EmbedPopup63c877fb82c45'); Oral history is only as good as the interviewer and Kuehl, a very attractive white woman, put her interviewees at ease by interviewing them most often in bars where they worked and turning off the microphone when asked. }; Her predilection for weed, opium and coke gave them the excuse to hound her relentlessly. 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. Some people in the documentary allude to Holiday being fond of sex orgies. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Biography submission guide. } Did someone consider the pairs intimacy a threat? {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. John Fagan, a cousin of Holidays, says in the documentary of their upbringing in East Baltimore: It was a nice community to live. if (document.getElementById('captainform_js_global_vars') == null) { Enjoy our special Billie Holiday Gallery of photos, posters, record covers, surprises and film clips with lots of great music. Raw and brutally honest, incredible testimonies from Charles Mingus, Sarah . 9.45pm, BBC Two Director James Erskine brings this detailed, fascinating documentary charting the tumultuous life of jazz singer Billie Holiday, based on hundreds of hours of interviews conducted. Her romances didnt get any better. 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. She wanted to sing. Billie certainly encompassed both requirements. But, for the most part, hes squandered it. captainform_create_form_popup(popupParams); She started a notable rebellion singing "Strange Fruit" which exposed the realities of Black life in America and earned her powerful enemies. Beloved daughter of Sol and Ida Llpnack and loving sister of Myra Luttman died February 6th, 1978. She said of Young, who would become her constant companion: I returned the compliment and called him the President., In a 1972 interview, pianist Jimmy Rowles had this to say about Holiday and Youngs relationship: They had the funniest way of loving each other. if(typeof cfJsHost != 'undefined'){ Then there's the story of journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl, who had been working on a biography of Holiday for nearly a decade before she met her own untimely death in 1978. 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. There might also be a tad too much focus on the woman who made those 125 cassettes, Linda Lipnack Kuehl, who was clearly a gifted writer and smart interviewer. She had also recorded her most important song, Strange Fruit a battle cry against Americas vicious history of lynching, sat right at the dawn of the civil rights movement. A side by side comparison of a pop singer singing a Billie Holiday tune compared to Billies version would have illuminated exactly why Holiday is a genius musically. Strange Fruit was banned from radio airplay in certain areas, and many venues forbid Holiday from performing the song. Linda Lipnack Kuehl [1] was an American arts journalist, based in New York City. Her face is an actress as much as her voice. The proof existed as early as Symphony in Black, the 1935 rhapsody of black American life in which she sang the broken-hearted "Saddest Tale". [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. (Its one of the reasons why biopics about Holiday portray her in very different ways.). [11] "Police deemed it suicide, Kuehl having supposedly jumped from her hotel room, although there was no proof of this",[3] and her family believes she may have been murdered. Some of the best moments of the documentary are hearing Billie talk about herself in her slight drawl infused with vocal fry. Billie feels typical, even if its attention to detail gives it an obvious appeal. The insightful documentary Billie (directed by James Erskine) is a highly unusual non-fiction film because most of it is based on previously unreleased audio interviews that were conducted in the 1970s. Function: view, File: /home/ah0ejbmyowku/public_html/index.php Kuehl was and still is, posthumously, THE preeminent biographer of Billie Holiday, despite never having completed Holidays biography before she died in 1978. Song list and samples here.She portrayed Holiday on stage in C.J.Verburgs play Lady Day in Love. var wrapper = jQuery('#captainformForm772606EmbedPopup63c877fb834ac'); 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. She was high profile, successful, and the opposite of small. } Documentary showcasing American legend Billie Holiday, capturing her depths and complexity through the voices of those who knew her best. Along with Count Basie, we were the Royal Family, Holiday said in an archival interview. Its an incendiary piece of prologue for James Erskines thorough, informative documentary, simply titled Billie. } formId: '772605' 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. 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. captainform_create_form_popup(popupParams); Linda Lipnack Kuehl was an American high-school teacher and arts journalist, based in Washington. Kuehl's parents were Sol and Ida Lipnack and she had a sister, Myra Luftman. Theres plenty of performance footage, too, some of it needlessly colourised. As for Holidays love life, several people in the documentary say that Holiday was openly bisexual. Pulled out of school at 11, she worked in a brothel at age 12, and by age 14 she was in Harlem singing at the Hot Cha Club. The documentary includes stories of people witnessing McKay (whos been described as a mafia enforcer) being physically abusive to Holiday. Her family, however, believed otherwise. He reportedly ripped her off. Monroe would become Holidays first husband, whom she married in 1941. The audio recordings in Billie come from the archives of New York City-based journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl, who died by falling from a hotel in Washington, D.C., on February 4, 1978. The documentary will thread her story through the eyes of one of her most enamored fans, Linda Lipnack Kuehl, who, in 1971, set out to write a definitive biography. Contact Us The journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl worked for years on a Billie Holiday biography before Kuehl's sudden death in 1978. Kuehl's parents were Sol and Ida Lipnack and she had a sister, Myra Luftman. To find your favorite venue check here. var captainformThemeStyle = {}; append_element({ captainform_preload_form_popup(popupParams); A frail-looking Holiday is shown holding a glass of alcohol. Over the next decade, she tracked down and tape-recorded hundreds of hours of interviews with the extraordinary characters that populated the iconic singer's short, tumultuous life. [3] She interviewed almost 200 peoplefriends, family members, band members, peers from 1930s Harlem, piano players, psychiatrists and a pimpand was still finding people in 1978. Although she was a heavy user of marijuana, alcohol and cocaine, Holiday was most associated with her use of heroin and other opiates. BILLIE, directed by James Erskine, is a portrait of legendary singer Billie Holiday based on more than 200 audio interviews conducted by journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl in the 1970s.A compelling look at the jazz legend who should never be forgotten. 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. Born in Philadelphia in 1915, Billie Holiday was raised in poverty in Baltimore, where she ran errands in a brothel as a child, before moving to New York in 1928. } Kuehl was and still is, posthumously, THE preeminent biographer of Billie Holiday, despite never having completed Holiday's biography before she died in 1978. captainformDomReady(function() { In 1928, Holiday and her mother moved to New York Citys Harlem neighborhood. 05 January 2023. In the late 60s, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Holiday's life, interviewing everyone from jazz greats such as Charles Mingus, Tony Bennett and. if(typeof cfJsHost != 'undefined'){ 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. resize77260563c877fb82c45(wrapper); }; var captainformDomReady = captainformDomReady || function(e){var t=!1,n=function(){document.addEventListener? An avid fan of Holiday, she planned to write a biography of the hero with whom she, perhaps to an unhealthy degree, self-identified. She has also been seen playing folk guitar, singing R&B and spirituals as well as being an avid Lindy Hop and blues dancer. Her stillness is fantastic for the camera. She was 38. window.addEventListener('resize', function(){ The Last Dance, which chronicles the rise of basketball superstar Michael Jordan and the 1990s Chicago Bulls, won the documentary series Emmy ahead of American Masters, Hillary, McMillion$ and. The Official Billie Holiday website maintained by the Estate of Billie Holiday and hosted by Concord Jazz. A 1947 shootout with cops in Philadelphia led to Holidays first arrest for narcotics possession. captainformDomReady(function() { Holiday can only be fairly described as oscillating from pleasingly plump to svelte for much of her career. 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.. Her name is eponymous with the phrase jazz singer. There is no jazz figure so well-known, yet shrouded in mystery, as Lady Day. And the only way to save her was to have her knocked out by the government. George H. White, who was a narcotics agent at the time, says Holidays lavish lifestyle also made her a target for the FBI and other law enforcement: Billie flaunted her way of living.. Joe Guy, a trumpet player in her band, was also one of her main drug connections. The description of Holiday as fast would no longer be an appropriate description of a prepubescent girl who had been raped at age 10 and sent to reform school because of it. Tarkoituksena oli kirjoittaa Billie Holidayn elmkerta , hn haastatteli ystvi, muita esiintyji ja Holidayn elmn avainhenkilit, mutta kuoli ennen sen valmistumista. captainformCustomVars['772605'] = ''; window.addEventListener('resize', function(){ I would expect that at least they could have found a child with the same coloring as Holiday. Line: 479 textContent: 'var frmRef=""; try { frmRef=window.top.location.href; } catch(err) {}; var captainform_servicedomain="app.captainform.com";var cfJsHost = "https://";', }; Shaw, bassist Sid Weiss, guitarist Al Arola, guitarist Les Robinson and friend Mae Weiss all mention in their documentary interviews that many racist people back then refused to accept a black female singer performing with a group of white musicians. In the late 1960's, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. In the late '60s, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); with her dark dresses, and smooth-straightened glossy dark hair and the white gardenias (or lily or orchid.) Kuehl died after attending a Basie concert in Washington, D.C. Luftman says that a big clue for her that it wasnt a suicide was that Kuehl had a cosmetic face mask on, which was her habit when she got ready for bed. The first of the two films - "Billie" is a documentary built around some previously unheard audio interviews conducted by Linda Lipnack Kuehl, who was working on a comprehensive biography on Billie Holiday before her untimely death in 1978.Ms. Milt Hilton, a bass player who worked with Holiday during her last music recording sessions, remembers: She was in pretty bad shape. He took many of the widely published photos of her during these last sessions. In a 1971 interview, Ruby Davis, who was Holidays roommate before the singer was famous, says that Holidays nickname was Mr. Billie Holiday because she was seldom seen with fellas Her mother put it in her mind to be careful [of men] because theyll always break your heart, just like Billies father., Harry Sweets Edison, a trumpeter in the Count Basie Orchestra comments on Holiday: She was like a man, but feminine. John Simmons, who was her bass player and lover, calls her a sex machine. Music conductor Ray Ellis also comments on Holidays sex appeal: I was in love with Billie, not necessarily Billie, but somebody. Basies saxophonist Lester Young is credited with giving Holiday the nickname Lady Day. Add a bio, trivia, and more. The Billie documentary gives added depth to Holidays memoir, since it includes the perspectives of people who talk about things that Holiday didnt want to talk about in her book. popupTrigger.css('visibility', 'visible'); On tour, especially in the U.S. South, they encountered a lot of vicious racism. captainform_preload_form_popup(popupParams); var readyStateOverflowInterval; Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Then in the late 1960's journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie. Her archive passed to a private collector and was later used in other writers' biographies of Holiday. Her body as usual is still as a statue; only her hands wave occasionally in small restrained circles. captainform_create_form_popup(popupParams); Line: 107 textContent: 'var frmRef=""; try { frmRef=window.top.location.href; } catch(err) {}; var captainform_servicedomain="app.captainform.com";var cfJsHost = "https://";', setTimeout(function () { Kuehl was a journalist and high school teacher that interviewed close to 200 people that knew Ms. Holliday. formId: '772606' At the time of her death, she and McKay were separated and not divorced. }); var append_element = append_element || function(e){if(void 0==e)return!1;if(! Shortly after she became a professional singer as a teenager, Holiday began working with musician/producer John Hammond, who introduced her to Benny Goodman in 1933. [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. 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. As a woman, Kuehl seems to instinctively know that Holidays last husband, Louis McKay (Holiday filed for divorce but it was not completed before she died), who owned the rights to Billies estate after her death was an unreliable hustler who was prone to say anything to interviewers as long as he was paid for the interview. She also got a lot of abuse and harassment from racists they encountered. Review: Billie (2020), an oral history of Billie Holidays life. }, true); Sign up for a chance to win prizes (such as free gift cards) and get priority alerts or invitations to the hottest lifestyle/culture news, discounts and promotions. Wells, African Americans were most often lynched because they were financially successful or not deferential enough. But the interviews are by numerous people who knew her best who wouldnt be able to be interviewed today, because almost everyone is now deceased. resize77260563c877fb82c45(wrapper); 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. var append_element = append_element || function(e){if(void 0==e)return!1;if(! 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. During the famous 1957 Sound of Jazz television recording of Fine & Mellow others have described Holidays face as smacked out on drugs or liquor; instead, this film makes it clear that the ecstasy on Holidays face is from hearing the sounds of her musical soulmate saxophonist Lester Young play. }, 10); Holidays time with Basie and his band ended on a sour note when she left. Erskine at least benefits from the basic volume of his source material. [3] She worked as a high school teacher and free lance writer. Line: 192 It was brother and sister, but it was another thing He was one of the strangest people on Earth. Her make-up is minimal. According to Luftman, her sister Kuehl was threatened by people close to Count Basie, who became close to Kuehl when she interviewed him for the book. They are particularly pertinent, showing what kind of child she was and what the neighborhood was like for poor African Americans. [2] type: "text/javascript", (Photo by George Rinhart). Find Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok profiles, images and more on IDCrawl - free people search website. She was a generous person, Id say, in thought anyway. Her drug problems led to her multiple arrests at the height of her fame. She wasnt like a slut. }, true); var captainformCustomVars = {}; Her second drug bust came in San Francisco in 1949, but she didnt get any prison time for that arrest. captainformCustomVars['772605'] = ''; She interviewed and interviewed. She tells us of her hopes and dreams in her own voice. Hopefully someday a filmmaker will be able to tackle the intersectionality of Holiday being both Black and a woman when neither had many rights, and Holiday as a jazz genius when singers were considered neither musicians nor geniuses. Because of the power structure, [black people] never had a chance.. She was the victim of repeated sexual abuse. At times the interviews use words that grate on modern ears. }, 50); if('' == 'floating') { }); Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? captainformCustomVars['772606'] = ''; Over the next decade, she tracked down and tape-recorded interviews with the. As Holidays fame grew, so too did her notoriety for being a drug addict. Then, in 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie. jQuery(wrapper).css('top', jQuery(window).height() * 0.4 - wrapper.outerHeight()); KUEHLLinda (Lipnack). Before her mysterious death in 1978, Lipnack Kuehl had taped over 200 hours of interviews. Sarah Julia Sadie Fagan (a maid) was 13 when she gave birth to Eleanora, and Clarence Halliday (a musician) was 15. }); When they reach the top, something tragic happens.. formId: '772606' Racism is still an enduring feature of Black life in America, but it does pull the viewer out of Holidays time too much. Kuehl was twice-divorced with no children, while Basie was married with children. Kuehl is heard in the interview going back and forth with Jones and Hammond to get their reactions to these conflicting allegations. [11][14][15] Documentary director James Erskine bought the rights to Kuehl's tapes[3] and his subsequent film, Billie (2019), is "a journey through Holiday's life, narrated by the voices on those tapes",[3][14][16][17] including Kuehl's. I avsikt att skriva en biografi om Billie Holiday intervjuade hon vnner, andra artister och nyckelpersoner i Holiday's liv, men dog innan den slutfrdes. Can an author ever truly separate themselves from their subject? }, 10); In Holidays case we could also add being female to that equation as well. var readyStateOverflowInterval; [3]. } Kuehl had dedicated the last eight years of her life to a biography of jazz singer Billie Holiday, whose rich, sensuous voice had been steeped in a lifetime of pain. Dcouvrez la bande annonce du film Billie : BILLIE HOLIDAY est l'une des plus grandes voix de tous les temps. }); In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. There are so many photos in circulation of Holiday at the end of her life when she was skeletal it might be shocking for some to realize that for most of her life she was plump. So many people have rhapsodized about her voice that we often forget that for those who saw her sing live her face was also a powerful vehicle of emotion. She had $750 to her name when she died, according to the documentary. Culture Clash:Holiday battled drug addiction, and several people who knew her say that she was a target of the FBI. For those who wish to delve more deeply into her interviews, the Julia Blackburn book With Billie is a collection of Kuehls transcriptions. } 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. Kuehl died by suicide in 1978, though her sister appears in the documentary and asserts that she believes her sister was murdered. Before her death in 1978, Linda Lipnack Kuehl spent eight years trying to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. } else if ('' == 'right') formId: '772605' var append_element = append_element || function(e){if(void 0==e)return!1;if(! Holidays mother Sadie (who took an interested in her daughters career) was nicknamed Duchess. Several people in the documentary say that New York City doormen (especially on 52nd Street) would regularly supply her with drugs. } var append_element = append_element || function(e){if(void 0==e)return!1;if(! The documentary Billie, now showing, does not start at Billies birth or death, but rather the date of Linda Kuehls death. Earl Zaiding, who was Holidays lawyer, calls McKay a pathological liar.. resize77260663c877fb829bf(wrapper); Holidays light brown skin contrasts dramaticallywith her dark dresses, and smooth-straightened glossy dark hair and the white gardenias (or lily or orchid.) You can hear Kuehls excellence as an interviewer asking why repeatedly rather than inserting her own understanding.
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