말 그대로 전설적인 재즈 보컬리스트였던 빌리 할리데이(Billie Holiday)는 선천적인 작은 목소리를 특유의 감성적인 집중력을 사용하여 오히려 장점으로 승화시켜 나갔다. 그녀는 정규 교육을 받지는 못했지만 독특한 발성, 드라마틱한 창법, 날카로운 집중력으로 인해 그 시대의 보컬리스트 중에서 가장 높은 위치를 차지하게 된다.
그녀가 태어났을 때 그녀의 어머니의 나이는 겨우 13세였다. 그녀의 아버지는 그녀가 태어난 후 얼마 되지 않아 가족을 떠나게 된다. 10살 때 강간을 겪은 그녀는 생존을 위해 유곽에서 잔심부름을 해야만 했다. 12세 때 뉴욕으로 이주한 후에는 그녀 자신이 창녀가 된다. 여기서 루이 암스트롱(Louis Armstrong)과 베시 스미스(Bessie Smith)의 곡을 처음으로 듣게 된 그녀는 당시 영화배우였던 빌리 도브(Billie Dove)의 이름을 따서 빌리 할리데이라 개명하고 나이트클럽에서 노래를 부르기 시작했다.
이곳에서 재능 있는 인물들을 물색하던 존 해몬드(John Hammond)는 빌리의 목소리에 깊은 감명을 받고 그녀를 베니 굳맨(Benny Goodman)에게 소개시킨다. 존은 빌리에게 있어서 그 동안의 불행을 끊게 해주는 역할을 하였으며, 베니는 존의 의견에 동의하여 그녀와 레코딩 작업을 하기로 한다.
1933년, 겁을 집어먹은 데다 극도로 예민한 상태였던 빌리는 첫 작품으로 'Your Mother's Son-in-Law'와 가볍고 우아한 느낌의 'Riffin' The Scotch'를 녹음한다. 마이크 앞에 서기를 두려워했던 빌리의 이 첫 작품들은 성공하지 못했다. 1933년에서 1944년 사이에 그녀는 200여 곡을 작업하나 그로 인한 로얄티는 한 푼도 받지 못했다.
30년대 후반 그녀는 카운트 베이시(Count Basie), 아티 쇼(Artie Shaw) 등과 함께 공연한다. 1939년에서 45년 사이에는 여러 곡의 히트를 기록하는데, 'Fine And Mellow', 'God Bless The Child', 'Lover Man', 그리고 인종차별에 반대하는 'Strange Fruit' 등이 있었다. 이 시기에 나온 음반들은 재즈 역사상 가장 뛰어난 음반으로 평가받고 있다.
그러나 빌리는 이미 헤로인에 중독된 상태였다. 그렇지만 꾸준히 활동을 지속하여 북미에서의 위상을 확고히 하였다. 그녀는 영혼을 일깨우는 보컬리스트로서 추앙을 받았지만 개인사는 너무나 불행했다. 1940년대에 그녀는 3번 결혼했다가 이혼했다. 그 사이에 배우자로부터 학대를 받기도 했다. 콘서트에서 수많은 돈을 벌어들였지만 레코드사는 그녀를 이용하는 데만 급급했다. 게다가 대부분의 돈은 약물을 구입하는데 쓰여졌다. 수년간의 마약 상용 후 그녀는 1947년 체포되어 옥살이를 한다. 그 후 유럽 투어를 시작하는데 이전보다 더한 인기를 얻었다. 그러나 1956년 다시 마약 때문에 체포되었다. 재활원에서 힘겨운 투쟁을 하던 빌리는 1959년 아까운 나이에 삶을 마감했다.
이른 죽음에도 불구하고 그녀는 가장 인기 있고 극찬을 받았던 재즈 가수로 남아 있다. 음역의 한계에도 불구하고 독특한 기술로 자신만의 표현을 가능하게 한 빌리의 앨범은 현재 정규 앨범과 베스트 앨범, 컴필레이션 앨범을 통틀어서 100장이 넘고 있다. 또한 사후에도 빌리의 인기는 여전하여 계속 베스트 앨범이 발매되고 있으며 아직까지도 많은 뮤지션들이 그녀를 기리고 있다. 유투(U2)는 자신들의 앨범 [Rattle And Hum] 에서 'Angel of Harlem'을 불러 그녀에 대한 추모의 정을 기리고 있다. 그녀의 암울했던 삶은 1972년 다이아나 로스(Diana Ross) 가 빌리 역을 맡은 영화 [Lady Sings The Blues]에서 다시 한번 재조명되었다.
The way you wear your hat The way you sip your tea The memory of all that No, no they can't take that away from me
The way your smile just beams The way you sing off key The way you haunt my dreams No, no they can't take that away from me We may never, never meet again On the bumpy road to love Still I'll always, always keep the memory of The way you hold your knife The way we danced till three The way you changed my life No, no they can't take that away from me No, they can't take that away from me
We may never, never meet again On that bumpy road to love Still I'll always, always keep the memory of The way you hold your knife The way we danced till three The way you change my life No, no they can't take that away from me No, they can't take that away from me
There's something that rules our destiny Right from the first day of our birth Altough you may not care for me You have your mission on this earth You were born to love Sure as you live Born with everything heaven could give You have eyes and they express Love at a glance You have lips who's tenderness Speak of romance Like a dream of love, lovely to see You're the angel of my destiny And to think that you have found Your place on earth only to be Born to love and be loved by me
Deep rhythm captivates me Hot rhythms stimulate me Can't help but swing it boy Swing it brothers swing Don't stop to diddle daddle Stop this foolish prattle Come on swing me boy Swing it brothers swing Raring to go and there aint nobody Gonna hold me down Say listen boy
Hurry up and send me Let me go to town Stop this diddle daddle And this foolish prattle Come on kill me boy Swing it brothers swing
Deep rhythms captivate me Hot rhythms stimulate me Can't help but swing it boy Swing it brothers swing Don't stop to diddle daddle Stop this foolish prattle Come on send me Count Swing it brothers swing Rarin' to go and there aint nobody Gonna hold me down Say listen boy Hurry up and send me Let me go to town Stop this diddle daddle And this foolish prattle Come on swing me Count Swing it brothers swing
Who wants love? Love is a joy we borrow Pay back in tears tomorrow So who wants love?
Who wants love? Something to fill your heart with So very soon to part with So who wants love?
Love is a dream of weaving Moonbeams in patterns rare Love is a child believing Stories of castles in the air So who wants love I'll go away without it I know too much about it Who wants love
The way you wear your hat The way you sip your tea The memory of all that No, no they can't take that away from me
The way your smile just beams The way you sing off key The way you haunt my dreams No, no they can't take that away from me We may never, never meet again On the bumpy road to love Still I'll always, always keep the memory of The way you hold your knife The way we danced till three The way you changed my life No, no they can't take that away from me No, they can't take that away from me
We may never, never meet again On that bumpy road to love Still I'll always, always keep the memory of The way you hold your knife The way we danced till three The way you change my life No, no they can't take that away from me No, they can't take that away from me
Iv'e been around the world in a plane Settled revolutions in Spain The North Pole I have charted But can't get started with you And at the golf course I'm under par Metro-Goldwyn wants me to star I've got a house and a show place But can't get no place with you
You're so supreme The lyrics I write of you Dream, dream, day and night of you Scheme just for the sight of you Baby but what good dose it do I've been consulted by Franklin D. Even Gabel had me to tea But now I'm broken hearted Can't get started with you
You're so supreme The lyrics I write of you Dream, dream, day and night of you Scheme just for the sight of you But what good does it do I've been consulted by Franklin D. Even Basic had me to tea But now I'm broken hearted Can't get started with you
You can't be mine And someone else's too Someday you'll find I've been a friend to you I don't believe that life's worth living I gave you all there was worth giving You never cared how I fared or what I do
I called you mine but I was not to blame For all the time you played up to Hand and game Second hand love I can't see It's good for some but not for me You can't be mine And somene else's too
Tell me more and more and then some You know what I long to hear I want more and more and then some Of that "I Love You Only Dear"
Tell me more and more and then some The way that you feel and then When you've told that old sweet story And you're through, start right in again I've made that old mistake Know the awful ache Of a heart that's double crossed The waitin's been so long Hard to believ'in If I've missed my guess, happiness is lost
Tell me more and more and then some You know how I love that stuff Whisper on from now 'til Doomsday But I never will hear enough
Tell me more and more and then some The way that you feel and then When you've told that old sweet story And you're through, start right in again I've made that old mistake Know the awful ache Of a heart that's double crossed The waitin's been so long Hard to believ'in If I've missed my guess, happiness is lost
Tell me more and more and then some You know how I love that stuff Whisper on from now 'til Doomsday But I never will hear enough
I hate to see that evening sun go down I hate to see that evening sun go down 'Cause, my baby, he's gone left this town Fellin' tomorrow like I feel today If I'm feelin' tomorrow like I feel today I'll pack my truck and make my give-a-way
St. Louis woman with her diamond ring Pulls that man around by her If it wasn't for her and her That man I love would have gone nowhere, nowhere I got the St. Louis Blues Blues as I can be That man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me
I love my baby like a school boy loves his pie Like a Kentucky colonel loves his mint'n rye I love my man till the day I die
All of me Why not take all of me Can't you see I'm no good without you Take my lips I want to loose them Take my arms I'll never use them Your goodbye left me with eyes that cry How can I go on dear without you You took the part that once was my heart So why not take all of me
Sunday is gloomy, My hours are slumberless Dear as the shadows I live with are numberless Little white flowers Will never awaken you Not where the black culture's Sorrow has taken you Angels have no thoughts Of ever returning you Wouldn't they be angry If I thought of joining you?
Gloomy Sunday
Sunday is gloomy, with shadows I spend it all My heart and I Have decided to end it all Soon there'll be flowers And prayers that I say I know But let them not weep Let them know That I'm glad to go For death is no dream And in death I'm caressing you With the last Breath of my soul I'll be blessing you
Gloomy Sunday
Dreaming, I was only dreaming I awake and I find You asleep in the deep of my heart Deep Darling I hope That my dream never haunted you My heart is telling you How much I wanted you Gloomy Sunday
Away from the city that hurts and knocks, I'm standing alone by the desolate docks in the still and the chill of the night I see the horizon the great unknown my heart has an ache it's as heavy as stone with the dawn coming on, make it last
I cover the waterfront I'm watching the sea Will the one I love Be coming back to me
I cover the waterfront In search of my love An I'm covered By a starlit sky above
Here am I Patiently waiting Hoping and longing Oh how I yearn Where are you Have you thought back time Will you remember Will you return
.... 
