When Billie was released from prison in early 1948, she and others were worried that her career was over.The files attached here are for review only, and should be deleted after two weeks.If you like the bands, go buy the albums...I did.
What can purge my heart Of the song And the sadness What can purge my heart But the song Of the sadness What can purge my heart Of the sadness Of the song Do not speak of sorrow With dust in her hair, Or bits of dust in eyes A chance wind blows there. Bitter television blurred By sound that shimmers Where - Langston Hughes, Song For Billie Holiday. ![]() And even more than half a century after her death, she is still considered one of the most innovative and influential voices ever in popular music. Billie recorded her last sides with Columbia Records in late 1942. By the fall of 1943, the label had dumped her, failing to renew her contract and ending a decade-long partnership that made Columbia a lot of money and Holiday a star. Despite the mutual benefits of their business relationship, relations between Holiday and the label had been strained since 1939, when Columbia refused to let her record her then-current show-stopper during her residency at New Yorks Cafe Society, the anti-lynching protest song Strange Fruit. The best the label would do was allow Holiday to record the song on Milt Gablers Commodore Records. Gabler joined Decca Records as an AR man in late 1941, but continued to run Commodore under a special arrangement he made with the head of Decca, Jack Kapp - as long as Commodore stuck to jazz records and didnt try to encroach into Deccas market with pop recordings, Milt was good to go. After Holiday got dropped by Columbia, she went to Gabler to see if she could record again with him on his jazz label. Milt quickly agreed, recalling the success they had with Strange Fruit. He was looking forward to recording another half-dozen jazz singles with her over the next year. But one night soon after their agreement, Gabler walked into the New York club where Billie was performing, and heard her belting out Lover Man (Where Can You Be) He said later that he knew instantly that the song would be a smash hit, but he also knew that if he recorded it on Commodore, he would lose his job at Decca, since the tune was clearly more pop-oriented than most of Holidays Columbia releases. In a bind, he did what he thought was the best thing for the song and Holidays career - he convinced Decca to sign her as a pop artist. Billie signed on with the label on August 7th, 1944, an exclusive one-year contract for a minimum of twelve sides, with an additional one-year extension option by the label. At that time, Decca was the only major label still producing commercial recordings (In 1942, the American Federation of Musicians, led by their union president James Petrillo, had gone on strike against all of the other major American labels over royalty payments - the final label holdouts, RCA Victor and Columbia, didnt settle with the union until late 1944). Billie Holiday The Complete Commodore Recordings Rar File Full String EnsembleIn addition, for the first time Billie Holiday was treated as an artist of stature; the symbol of that stature was something that few recording artists at the time were provided - for her first sessions at Decca on October 4th, 1944, Holiday was backed by a full string ensemble. She was so overwhelmed with joy by the sight of them when she walked into the studio that day that she immediately walked out to compose herself. By 1947, she was one of the most popular and celebrated recording artists in America, with an income from royalties (for the first time in her career, Holiday would receive royalties for her recordings with Decca) exceeding 100,000 in 1946. However, in May 1947, Billie was busted for narcotics possession in New York City. Billie Holiday The Complete Commodore Recordings Rar File Trial Shortly ThereafterThe trial shortly thereafter was a farce - she was sick and dehydrated, and discovered as she stumbled into the courtroom that the attorney she hired to represent her had abandoned her. Even so, Holiday was sentenced to a year in federal prison in West Virginia.
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