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All Of Me: The Betrayal of Billie Holiday

BBC, Radio
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??/??/1939
Billie Holiday
Set 1When Billie Holiday died at the age of 44 she did not have a dollar to her name. This hugely successful singer had been exploited for her whole career. Her addiction to drugs and alcohol meant that as long as she was getting her fix, she wasn't examining her bank balance. Presenter and fellow songstress Neneh Cherry grew up in a house full of Holiday's music and when she started singing, Billie was her inspiration. You can hear the hurt in Cherry's voice as she listens to extracts from an archive of interviews recorded around 30 years ago with friends and fellow musicians. These reveal that Holiday's own manager, Joe Glaser, was responsible for the prison-term that precipitated her long final decline.
CommentBroadcast 7-7-09
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