Blues for Lady Day: The Story of Billie Holiday

by Paolo Parisi

Overview

Billie Holiday, one of the greatest jazz singers of all time, had a troubled life: a childhood in poverty, brothels, jail, broken love, and a dependence on alcohol and heroin. Her first performances in the night clubs of prohibitionist America was where her pioneering vocal style was born—later to become a lasting influence on jazz, pop, and modern music to this day.

Performing with jazz legends such as Lester Young, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, and Artie Shaw, she became a true American icon. This graphic novel, told through short biographical fragments, is the story of Lady Day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781642730210
Publisher:	One Peace Books
Publication date:	05/15/2019
Pages:	112
Sales rank:	623,019
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.40(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Paolo Parisi is a professional graphic designer, illustrator, and artist who regularly collaborates with major Italian publishers. He has worked with companies in countries all over the globe, including England, France, Japan, Denmark, Brazil, and the United States. His latest graphic novels are Coltrane and Blues for Lady Day. He has also collaborated with London-based music label Soul Jazz Records. Paolo currently lives in Rome, Italy.

Editorial Reviews

"Lady Day is unquestionably the most important influence on American popular singing. With a few exceptions, every major pop singer in the U.S. has been touched in some way by her genius." —Frank Sinatra

From the Publisher

11/01/2019

Known for her recording of "Strange Fruit," a lyrical ballad about lynchings, Billie Holiday became one of the greatest jazz singers of all time despite a troubled life of poverty, jail, violence, discrimination, ill-fated love, and substance abuse. Parisi's spare, approachable account uses mostly Holiday's voice as narrator, dramatized by understated images and vignettes in black and grayscale.

Library Journal

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