Billie Holiday, the Lady Day for #ttt

Hello, Hivers and Music lovers!

It's Tuesday music sharing day on Hive thanks to #threetunetuesday, which by the way, I haven't done lately but we are going to make up for it right now.

This morning I woke up with the idea of unpacking photos and old papers that I brought from my mom's house in an old wooden suitcase and when I opened it I saw it. A Billie Holiday Cd. I got rid of all the CDs in the move but I wanted to keep this one. I love jazz and so does my husband and this was a collection compilation of some songs performed by Holiday with a booklet with pictures of the legendary singer. And just like that today I got the inspiration for a #ttt.

If you like jazz Billie Holiday needs no introduction.

But for those that never listen to her before, Billie Holiday was an American singer and songwriter, a great star of the 1930s who had a youth marked by violence and hardship. Her style and unique voice made her one of the great icons of jazz.

But before I get into the tunes, let me give you a little background if you are new to Hive and aren't familiar with #threetunetuesday. In the words of @ablaze who initiate it:

The jist is as follows
Every Tuesday I'm going to share 3 songs which I like to listen to and I invite your feedback in the comments below. Better still, why not have a blast of your own Three Tune Tuesday and mention me in the post and I'll come and find the post and upvote it. If you could also use #threetunetuesday tag that would be great, as that is what I use when sifting through all the entries every Wednesday. It'll be a sweet way for us all to discover new music. You'll also be in with a chance of winning the prize - more on that later.

You can find out more at ablaze's post with his recommendations for this week the #209 of the initiative. The #ttt is four years old! Awesome! Thank you ablaze!!!

Don't forget to support @ablaze's and if you would like to become a sponsor of #ttt like me, give him a shout out.

And now without further ado, let's go with my tunes for this week. By the way, it was not easy to choose only three songs from the many performed by the legendary Billie Holiday. But here we go.

Tune 1 - Billie Holiday - Fine And Mellow

To begin with I chose Fine And Mellow, a jazz song written by Holiday herself in 1939.

Looking for some info about the song for this post. I found that Fine And Mellow was performed by Holiday in a television show on CBS in December 1957 with, among others, her great friend the tenor saxophonist Lester Young, one of the most influential saxophonists in the history of jazz. Young affectionately called Billie Holiday, Lady Day and she called him Prez in allusion to President Franklin Roosevelt, who Billie's used to think was the “greatest man around”.

That show was the last they recorded together. They both died in 1959 within months of each other. Lester was Holiday's greatest platonic love. You can watch the show at this link. link.

Tune 2 - Billie Holiday - Georgia on My Mind

The following song Georgia On My Mind you have probably heard it performed by Ray Charles who popularized it in 1960. After which it became the official song of Georgia state in the US.

But the song was written by Stuart Gorrell and composed by Hoagy Carmichael in 1930 and is said to have been composed as a tribute to Carmichael's sister and not in allusion to the state of Georgia.

I love Billie Holiday's voice performing this song.

Tune 3 - Billie Holiday - Blue Moon

This song is not on the compilation Cd I brought home, but I love it.

“Blue Moon” is a popular ballad from 1934. It was written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. It has been covered hundreds of times by different singers.

This is Holiday's version. In her voice it is simply magnificent!

Are you a jazz lover? Have you listened to Billie Holiday before?
If you liked the songs, which one did you like the most? Tell me in the comments.

Thank you very much for reading!

Enjoy the music, and enjoy life!

_{If you're reading this and you are not on Hive yet, I invite you to join through my referral link. Let me know and I can delegate some resource credit to help you get started.}