linda lipnack kuehl biographylinda lipnack kuehl biography
The insightful documentary Billie (directed by James Erskine) is a highly unusual non-fiction film because most of it is based on previously unreleased audio interviews that were conducted in the 1970s. Several people in the documentary say that New York City doormen (especially on 52nd Street) would regularly supply her with drugs. Talk:Linda Lipnack Kuehl - Wikipedia Talk:Linda Lipnack Kuehl This article is of interest to the following WikiProjects : Start a discussion about improving the Linda Lipnack Kuehl page Talk pages are where people discuss how to make content on Wikipedia the best that it can be. [6] In 1971, she began plans for a biography of Holiday, who had died aged 44 in 1959. This documentary offers viewers the rare opportunity to see Billie Holiday through the eyes of those who knew her best. The film includes rare photos of Billie Holiday taken by Hugh Bell, licensed to the production by Gartenberg Media, the exclusive representative of . captainformDomReady(function() { When they reach the top, something tragic happens.. Holiday can only be fairly described as oscillating from pleasingly plump to svelte for much of her career. window.addEventListener('resize', function(){ }; Function: view, "Billie documentary review an oral history of Billie Holiday", "Singer, activist, sex machine, addict: the troubled brilliance of Billie Holiday", "Billie is a fanatical yet fascinating portrait of an immortal talent", "Billie a powerful documentary about the life of the singer", "Documentary Billie squanders its incendiary premise review", "Biography covers range of a vocalist (Published 2005)", "Billie review a double tragedy of destruction and obsession", "One Scats, the Other Doesn't (Published 1994)", "Observer review: With Billie by Julia Blackburn", "Billie review a truer, historical spin on the great Billie Holiday", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Linda_Lipnack_Kuehl&oldid=1111802271. Holiday deserves a multi-hour Ken Burns treatment on just her life. See also Other Works | Publicity Listings | Official Sites Did Kuehl jump, or was she pushed? In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. But the interviews are by numerous people who knew her best who wouldnt be able to be interviewed today, because almost everyone is now deceased. Function: _error_handler, Message: Invalid argument supplied for foreach(), File: /home/ah0ejbmyowku/public_html/application/views/user/popup_modal.php How Kuehl managed to construct Billies life and Kuehls life is just as interesting as Holidays life in my opinion. Theres plenty of performance footage, too, some of it needlessly colourised. Function: view, File: /home/ah0ejbmyowku/public_html/application/controllers/Main.php Along with Count Basie, we were the Royal Family, Holiday said in an archival interview. She was a highly talented and unique star, but she also complicated and deeply troubled. And it seems that Holiday didnt want to settle down with anyone who was considered nice or normal., Irene Kitchen, one of Holidays friends, mentions musician Sonny White, who was briefly Holidays fianc, as nice, quiet, a very good musician Her mother and I hoped that she would marry him. Linda Lipnack Kuehl was writing a biography of Holiday when she died suddenly in 1978, though her family believe she may have been murdered Clarisse Loughrey Friday 13 November 2020 11:03 Whatever the real reasons for Holidays exit from the Count Basie Orchestra, her next career opportunity was one that was groundbreaking but controversial at the time. Line: 208 In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. Wells, African Americans were most often lynched because they were financially successful or not deferential enough. When she was released from jail at age 14, she left prostitution for good and set her sights on singing for a living. [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. 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. Kuehl had. Kuehl's parents were Sol and Ida Lipnack and she had a sister, Myra Luftman. Kuehl was twice-divorced with no children, while Basie was married with children. [3] She worked as a high school teacher and free lance writer. Like most documentaries on older famous Black jazz musicians, stock photography is used since there was no available footage, but better photography could have been used. Some people in the documentary allude to Holiday being fond of sex orgies. Holiday's beauty and misery made her into a tragic figure to everyone except Linda Lipnack Kuehl. Holiday was accustomed to being the only woman in a band, but with Artie Shaw and His Orchestra, she felt the pain of racial segregation, since she couldnt she wasnt allowed in whites only public places with the rest of the band, such as restaurants and hotels. It turned me on., Although Holiday had several male and female lovers, only one woman is mentioned in the documentary as being one of her paramours: actress Tallulah Bankhead. However, Linda's book was never finished and the tapes never heard . } She sang and recorded till the end of her life. Many books have been written about her success and ongoing struggles. "[9] However, Kuehl did not complete the book. In the 1970s Linda Lipnack Kuehl, a journalist, sought to deepen her understanding of Holiday; she conducted these conversations in the hope of writing a definitive biography of the jazz. Holiday, who died of heart failure and cirrhosis of the liver at age 44 in 1959, was an iconic jazz singer who was also one of the first African American entertainers to record music speaking out against racial injustice. [1], File: /home/ah0ejbmyowku/public_html/application/views/user/popup_modal.php jQuery(wrapper).css('top', jQuery(window).height() * 0.4 - wrapper.outerHeight()); Racism is still an enduring feature of Black life in America, but it does pull the viewer out of Holidays time too much. if(typeof cfJsHost != 'undefined'){ 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 . Her make-up is minimal. 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. Her archive passed to a private collector and was later used in other writers' biographies of Holiday. But the time she was 13, she was a prostitute. She sang in clubs in Harlem and. var readyStateOverflowInterval; There might also be a tad too much focus on the woman who made those 125 cassettes, Linda Lipnack Kuehl, who was clearly a gifted writer and smart interviewer. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}, Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, Documentary Billie squanders its incendiary premise, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Extra 20% off sale using this QVC discount code, Up to 20% off and extra perks with Booking.com Genius membership, $5 off a $20+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 15% off selected items using this eBay discount code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK January 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this January, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. Being a solo act gave Holiday the freedom to record whats considered the most important and most controversial song of her career: Strange Fruit. Written by Abel Meeropol under the alias Lewis Allan, and released in 1939, the song is a poetically brutal commentary on racial injustice, particularly in describing the lynching of black people in the South. captainformCustomVars['772605'] = ''; One thing everyone agrees on is that Holiday grew up rough and grew up fast, which undoubtedly shaped the person she became later in life. jQuery(wrapper).find('a').removeAttr('href'); jQuery(wrapper).css('top', jQuery(window).height() * 0.4 + wrapper.width() + wrapper.css('padding').replace('px', '') * 2); if(typeof cfJsHost != 'undefined'){ Courtesy of the Kuehl family. She was 38. Born in Philadelphia in 1915, Billie Holiday was raised in poverty in Baltimore, where she ran errands in a brothel as a child, before moving to New York in 1928. Its implied that her addiction issues were inherited, because Sandy Williams, a bandmate of Holidays father Clarence, describes Clarence as a happy-go-lucky guy who loved his booze and was often drunk. Detractors from the film will likely say there is too much emphasis on Linda Kuehl. Her romances didnt get any better. }); He reportedly ripped her off. After moving to Harlem, she started singing in the local nightclubs, where she was eventually discovered by producer John Hammond. if('' == 'floating') { Read jazz pianist Richard Fregulias review of Billie. var popupTrigger = jQuery("#captainformForm772605EmbedPopup63c877fb82c45"); var captainformDomReady = captainformDomReady || function(e){var t=!1,n=function(){document.addEventListener? Linda Lipnack Kuehl (January 24, 1940 - February 6, 1978) was an American arts journalist, based in New York City. Documentary showcasing American legend Billie Holiday, capturing her depths and complexity through the voices of those who knew her best. }); We dont call this entertainment. Jazz musician Charles Mingus says Strange Fruit was very impactful because it shows that Holiday was fighting for equality before Martin Luther King. Calling Holiday a chick singer is an understatement, but it is relevant that we understand how the world saw Holiday during her time and how she saw herself. Several people in the documentary literally say in one way or another, She loved to get high. And they talk about how she had an unusually high physical tolerance for drugs that was stronger than men who were physically a lot bigger than she was. Holidays eyes plead, her lips sneer and her single eyebrow rises suggestively and reproachfully. Her name is eponymous with the phrase jazz singer. There is no jazz figure so well-known, yet shrouded in mystery, as Lady Day. Various biographies on Holiday have drawn upon Kuehl's material. She was a woman of breath-taking talent and global popularity while also stirring controversy. if ('' == 'left') She was a perfectionist, according to her sister, which is why it took so long for Kuehl to work on the uncompleted book. Her second drug bust came in San Francisco in 1949, but she didnt get any prison time for that arrest. }); Considering the documentary is made almost exclusively of one persons previously unheard interviews, I cannot agree. [6] In 1971, she began plans for a biography of Holiday, who had died aged 44 in 1959. 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. The conditions for African Americans were much more dismal than many people realize and Holidays struggles stand on their own. 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. }, true); var captainformCustomVars = {}; Her make-up is minimal. Allen shows the cell where Holiday stayed and describes Holiday as quiet and certainly no trouble ever. captainForm772606PreloadInterval63c877fb834ac = setInterval(function(){ Having a camera in ones face automatically creates artifice or at least a self-consciousness that is less present in an audio-only interview, especially one conducted after ones concert, over a drink. }); For some eight years in the 1970s, Kuehl interviewed everyone she could find who had a personal association with Holiday musicians, managers, childhood friends, lovers and FBI agents among them. Kuehl was white, born in the Bronx and relatively prosperous. id: "captainform_js_global_vars", var popupParams = { Greenwich Entertainment released Billie in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on December 4, 2020. var captainformCustomVars = {}; Kuehl had even grown close to some of her interview subjects, including Holidays former bandleader Count Basie. [3] She worked as a high school teacher and free lance writer. var popupParams = { She was terribly worried about whether or not God would forgive her.. Hammond says of Goodman, He slept with Billie. In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. Over the next decade, she tracked down and tape-recorded interviews with the extraordinary characters that populated the iconic singer's short, tumultuous life. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Linda Lipnack Kuehl was writing a biography of Holiday when she died suddenly in 1978, though her family believe she may have been murdered, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. She wasnt like a slut. Holidays career spanned 30 years. append_element({ She was a generous person, Id say, in thought anyway. The book was left unfinished, Kuehls tapes buried away until now. var append_element = append_element || function(e){if(void 0==e)return!1;if(! Billie is playing in selected cinemas and various streaming services. Jimmy Fletcher, an African American who was a narcotics agent for the FBI at the time, says that Holidays agent Joe Glaser worked with the FBI to arrest her in a drug bust for her own good., According to Fletcher, He [Glaser] confided in me that he wanted to save her. When asked if the stories were true that Holiday had to darken her skin when performing with Basie and his band, because she was so much lighter-skinned then they were, Basie also claims ignorance about that issue. }, 10); It was brother and sister, but it was another thing He was one of the strangest people on Earth. [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. Except Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of,! From jail at age 14, she began plans for a biography of Billie Kuehl white. Bust came in San Francisco in 1949, but she also complicated deeply! Is no jazz figure so well-known, yet shrouded in mystery, as Lady.. Make-Up is minimal a multi-hour Ken Burns treatment on just her life to Harlem, she left prostitution for and. 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