linda lipnack kuehl biography

resize77260663c877fb829bf(wrapper); The documentary is also organized around approximately 200 hours of interviews conducted over the course of a decade by Linda Lipnack Kuehl, who, as the film notes, didn't like seeing Holiday . Did Kuehl jump, or was she pushed? Linda Lipnack Kuehl (24. tammikuuta 1940 - 6. helmikuuta 1978) oli yhdysvaltalainen taidetoimittaja New Yorkissa. var popupParams = { Missing from this documentary is incisive exploration about exactly what makes Billie Holiday so great musically. [3] She worked as a high school teacher and free lance writer. She was discovered by Michael Tilson Thomas while singing to packed audiences live with no amplification at San Franciscos Alta Plaza. }, 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. var readyStateOverflowInterval; As Holidays fame grew, so too did her notoriety for being a drug addict. Holiday can only be fairly described as oscillating from pleasingly plump to svelte for much of her career. captainformDomReady(function() { 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. var append_element = append_element || function(e){if(void 0==e)return!1;if(! Contact Us In the documentary interview, Hammond says, There was a real problem between Billie and Basie. captainformCustomVars['772606'] = ''; They loved it. Several people in the documentary describe Holiday as a masochist who never knew what it was like to have a healthy love relationship when she was adult. By the time that Holiday was arrested in 1947, she listed her marital status as separated. She and Monroe got divorced the same year. resize77260563c877fb82c45(wrapper); Her highs, lows and everything in between are detailed in the film, but theres still a sense of mystery about Holiday that remains to this day. Holidays birth name was Eleanora Fagan, and she was born to teenage parents in Philadelphia on April 7, 1915. In his estimation, Holiday was a psychopath strictly in the sense that she was ruled by impulse. It was a different kind of poor We were happy with what we had. Mary Pony Kane, a childhood friend of Holidays, remembers that Eleanor was foul-mouthed, even as a child. 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. Her archive passed to a private collector and was later used in other writers' biographies of Holiday. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies, Wondrous sounds: Billie Holiday in the early 1950s. [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. Line: 24 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". Kuehl was and still is, posthumously, THE preeminent biographer of Billie Holiday, despite never having completed Holiday's biography before she died in 1978. Be the first to contribute! Watching the footage of her face singing with no sound could reduce the watcher to tears alone without hearing a single note. [3], Interviews that Kuehl conducted with writers were published in The Paris Review in 1972 and 1978. Unearthing a trove of audio recordings from the journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl, who planned to write a biography of Billie Holiday before committing suicide, James Erskine's approachable documentary Billie dives into the life of Holiday through Kuehl's myriad interviews with the people in the artist's orbit. if ('' == 'left') View eatdrinkfilmsmags profile on Instagram, View eatdrinkfilmssos profile on Pinterest, BILLIE documentary is Actually Linda Kuehl on Billie. However, Linda's book was never finished and the tapes never heard . Its an incendiary piece of prologue for James Erskines thorough, informative documentary, simply titled Billie. window.addEventListener('resize', function(){ Raw and brutally honest, incredible testimonies from Charles Mingus, Sarah . ("elementType"in e))return!1;var n=null;if(n=e.following?e.following.parentElement:e.inside?e.inside:e.replacing?e.replacing.parentElement:"script"==e.elementType?document.head:document.body,null==n)return!1;var l=document.createElement(e.elementType);delete e.elementType,l=jQuery.extend(l,e),e.replacing?n.replaceChild(l,e.replacing):n.appendChild(l)}; id: "captainform_js_global_vars", She was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. Nalleysmany philanthropic endeavors include founding theKim Nalley Black Youth Jazz Scholarshipat the California Jazz Conservatory. On tour, especially in the U.S. South, they encountered a lot of vicious racism. Afterwards she ran errands at a whorehouse where she heard Bessie Smith records which Holiday claimed to be a seminal influence along with Louis Armstrong. captainform_preload_form_popup(popupParams); [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. if ('' == 'left') Although it may seem counterintuitive to have more audio only interviews for a film documentary instead of videos, we quickly hear the ease and genuineness in the interviewees voices. clearInterval(captainForm772605PreloadInterval63c877fb83722); (document.removeEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",d),window.removeEventListener("load",d)):(document.detachEvent("onreadystatechange",d),window.detachEvent("onload",d))},d=function(){t||!document.addEventListener&&"load"!==event.type&&"complete"!==document.readyState||(t=!0,n(),e())};if("complete"===document.readyState)e();else if(document.addEventListener)document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",d),window.addEventListener("load",d);else{document.attachEvent("onreadystatechange",d),window.attachEvent("onload",d);var o=!1;try{o=null==window.frameElement&&document.documentElement}catch(a){}o&&o.doScroll&&!function c(){if(!t){try{o.doScroll("left")}catch(d){return setTimeout(c,50)}t=!0,n(),e()}}()}}; In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. Show more 3 months left to watch 1 hour, 30 minutes Last on. Wells, African Americans were most often lynched because they were financially successful or not deferential enough. [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. jQuery(wrapper).css('top', jQuery(window).height() * 0.4 + wrapper.width() + wrapper.css('padding').replace('px', '') * 2); }; Linda Lipnack Kuehl was an American arts journalist, based in New York City. } The journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl worked for years on a Billie Holiday biography before Kuehl's sudden death in 1978. [3] In 1978 she was found dead on a Washington, D.C. sidewalk,[3][8][10] after attending a Count Basie concert. 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. Greenwich Entertainment released Billie in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on December 4, 2020. var captainformCustomVars = {}; if('' == 'floating') { Eleanoras parents got married when she was 3 years old, and she was raised primarily in Baltimore. var wrapper = jQuery('#captainformForm772606EmbedPopup63c877fb829bf'); Her drug problems led to her multiple arrests at the height of her fame. Pigmeat Marham and white record producer John Hammond (instrumental in the lives of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Benny Goodman and more) both claim to have discovered her. She never bothered anybody. And to the best of anyones knowledge, Holiday didnt sing while she was incarcerated. resize77260563c877fb83722(wrapper); "[9] However, Kuehl did not complete the book. Detractors from the film will likely say there is too much emphasis on Linda Kuehl. [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. She was raped at age 10 and sent to a reform school as a result. } Billie feels typical, even if its attention to detail gives it an obvious appeal. Holidays eyes plead, her lips sneer and her single eyebrow rises suggestively and reproachfully. The scene in Harlem was dense with famous clubs, famous musicians and a seemingly endless supply of white patrons eager to slum and see African American entertainment. There never was a black critic in swing music. Then, in 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie. One of Holidays most poignant recordings, Lady in Satin, is a lush string album and her last album is made multidimensional by the testimonies of the musicians who played with her and friends she was close with. Linda Lipnack Kuehl (January 24, 1940 February 6, 1978)[1] was an American arts journalist, based in New York City. She wanted to sing. Get a load of the critics, the people who judge our music. (Photo by George Rinhart). Before her mysterious death in 1978, Lipnack Kuehl had taped over 200 hours of interviews. Presentations and performance on Billie Holiday include: Rethinking Billie Holiday on her Centennial (Google Talk), Blues Legacies and Black Feminism with Angela Davis (SFJAZZ), Your email address will not be published. Her body as usual is still as a statue; only her hands wave occasionally in small restrained circles. That made her a target of the FBI. gallery of images and videos of both singers. The documentary doesnt uncover any new visual footage of Billie Holiday. jQuery(wrapper).css('top', jQuery(window).height() * 0.4 - wrapper.outerHeight()); }, 50); }, true); var captainformCustomVars = {}; Considering the documentary is made almost exclusively of one persons previously unheard interviews, I cannot agree. } var append_element = append_element || function(e){if(void 0==e)return!1;if(! } As an historian who has used Linda Kuehls interviews to write several papers and presentations on Billie Holiday I realize that I am biased and others might not share in my joy in learning more about Kuehl. Monroe would become Holidays first husband, whom she married in 1941. Recently some articles based on faulty interviews emphasize her persecution in Hoovers war on drugs without realizing this was a fact of life for all African American jazz musicians. She began working on the Holiday biography in 1971 and interviewed an impressive number of people. Line: 479 if (document.getElementById('captainform_js_global_vars') == null) { [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. Holiday co-wrote her 1956 memoir Lady Sings the Blues with William Dufty, and the book became the basis of the 1972 feature film of the same name, starring Diana Ross, who earned an Oscar nomination for her role as Holiday. var popupParams = { FamousFix profile for Linda Lipnack Kuehl including biography information, wikipedia facts, photos, galleries, news, youtube videos, quotes . She began working on the Holiday biography in 1971 and interviewed an impressive number of people. The official cause of death was ruled a suicide, but her younger sister Myra Luftman (who is not interviewed on camera) says in the documentary that Kuehl probably died from foul play because of the research that Keuhl was doing for the book. (document.removeEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",d),window.removeEventListener("load",d)):(document.detachEvent("onreadystatechange",d),window.detachEvent("onload",d))},d=function(){t||!document.addEventListener&&"load"!==event.type&&"complete"!==document.readyState||(t=!0,n(),e())};if("complete"===document.readyState)e();else if(document.addEventListener)document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",d),window.addEventListener("load",d);else{document.attachEvent("onreadystatechange",d),window.attachEvent("onload",d);var o=!1;try{o=null==window.frameElement&&document.documentElement}catch(a){}o&&o.doScroll&&!function c(){if(!t){try{o.doScroll("left")}catch(d){return setTimeout(c,50)}t=!0,n(),e()}}()}}; Music producer Marty Gabler says in the documentary that Columbia Records didnt want to release Strange Fruit because of the social content and because of how unusual it was to do a protest song. Strange Fruit is considered historically important because it was one of the first social justice songs released by a mainstream performer prior to the U.S. civil rights movement. Like all documentaries there is never enough music and with a woman such as Billie who lived an expansive life in 44 years it would be impossible for one feature length film to cover everything. popupTrigger.click(function(){ "She excited me with just three notes," drummer Roy Harte tells Kuehl. Kuehl was white, born in the Bronx and relatively prosperous. Beloved daughter of Sol and Ida Llpnack and loving sister of Myra Luttman died February 6th, 1978. That voice. captainform_preload_form_popup(popupParams); 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. Song list and samples here.She portrayed Holiday on stage in C.J.Verburgs play Lady Day in Love. KUEHLLinda (Lipnack). She also began hanging out at a brothel, which is where she first heard jazz music. 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. }); For the biography, Kuehl set out to interview hundreds of people, ranging from band members and pimps (Holiday . Theres a lingering sense that Kuehl understood something deeper, but Billie never seems all that curious to find out what that might be. [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. The director James Erskine does a great job inserting commentary during relevant moments. Her death was ruled as a suicide. This unusual, ambitious doc doubles down on the challenge, adding an extra frame to the portrait: the obsession that drove journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl to toil for years on an epic biography of . Eleanors favorite curse words were motherfucker and cocksucker., By all accounts, Eleanor started working as a housecleaner/maid before she was a teenager. The images of her are legion. Holiday grew up in Baltimore, poor and lonely her father had abandoned her and her mother was often absent due to work. if('' == 'floating') { if(typeof cfJsHost != 'undefined'){ There are great archival photos of East Baltimore and of the reform school and the jail she was sent to. Her family, however, believed otherwise. Considering all the trauma that Holiday had when she was a child (she was also raped more than once when she was a teenager), its no surprise that she ended up way that she did. 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. As much as Holiday was the first master of microphone singing, she is also a master of the camera. window.addEventListener('resize', function(){ 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. }); Not everyone wanted to share their memories with her. resize77260663c877fb834ac(wrapper); And by the age of 14, Holiday was singing professionally in nightclubs. 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. Billie Holiday is the subject of the documentary, and theres expected archival footage of her in her film. [8], Kuehl's research revealed that Holiday's addictions were "becoming a crutch for a life beset with violence, misogyny and racism."[2]. Linda Lipnack Kuehl (January 24, 1940 February 6, 1978)[1] was an American arts journalist, based in New York City. function resize77260563c877fb83722(wrapper){ Function: _error_handler, File: /home/ah0ejbmyowku/public_html/application/views/page/index.php She just looked fast., However, Holidays former pianist Memry Midgett says in the documentary that Holidays prostitution past haunted her throughout her life. var append_element = append_element || function(e){if(void 0==e)return!1;if(! 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. 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Typical, even as a housecleaner/maid before she was discovered by Michael Tilson Thomas while singing to packed live... Was often absent due to work daughter of Sol and Ida Llpnack and loving sister Myra.