Billie Holiday: Jazz Singer is a full-length biography about Billie Holiday from her birth in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to her childhood in Baltimore, Maryland, through her 30-year career by Meredith Coleman McGee. The late great Lady Day became the defining voice in jazz in Harlem, New York in 1933. Her 1939 recording of the protest song, Strange Fruit, made her a superstar, a race woman, and a target. Though Billie Holiday passed over 64 years ago, her musical influence is wide reaching, and her legacy is everlasting.

56,361 words – 266 pages – release date: 01.14.2024.

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Billie Holiday: Jazz Singer

McGee, Meredith Coleman and Shaunte, Tawanna

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Billie Holiday: Jazz Singer

McGee , Meredith Coleman and Shaunte, Tawanna

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Billie Holiday: Jazz Singer book release party photos – Sat. 01.27.2024

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Image of books and research Meredith Coleman McGee used for the biography Billie Holiday: Jazz Singer. The author also watched documentaries about Jazz, Blues, and the icon Billie Holiday.

Keywords: jazz singer, biography, strange fruit, Billie Holiday, Eleanora Fagan, Harlem, Lester Young

Meredith Coleman McGee interviews Famous Saxophonist Sonny Rollins, age 92, June 1, 2023

Meredith Coleman McGee interviews Famous Saxophonist Sonny Rollins, age 92, June 1, 2023, 12noon to 12:48 pm central, 1pm to 1:48 pm eastern for her upcoming book Billie Holiday: Jazz Singer which is slated for release later this year.

“I can’t even describe how important it is to have had a conversation with one of the last Jazz icons from the Bebop era who knew Lady Day, Duke Ellington, Lester Young, Max Roach, Charlie Parker… Oh my God!” Meredith Coleman McGee.

MEREDITH COLEMAN MCGEE, a poet, book publisher, book collector, lecturer, a contributing writer, and a small business owner, is the author of six full-length and seven children’s books which include: Baby Bubba and Kay, Juneteenth: Freedom Day, Every Inch Love Will, Midnight Moon, Odyssey, Nashida: Visits Mississippi’s Old Capitol Museum, James Meredith: Warrior and the America that created him, Nashida: Visits the Smith Robertson Museum, Nashida: Visits the Mississippi State Capitol, Married to Sin, Casada al Pecado, My Picture Dictionary, and My First Book Series (a volume of six primer books).

Billie Holiday Jazz Singer media page

Mailing and hand delivering proof copies to reviewers. 09.26.2023

Thankful to Central Mississippi Blues Society President Malcolm Sheppard, who plays the congas, and Guitarist Bernard Jones. They are reviewing my book which is forthcoming Billie Holiday: Jazz Singer and writing book blurbs.

Foreword

I was seventeen when I recorded my first song. However, I don’t remember what age I was when I initially heard the song God Bless the Child. I do remember how it made me feel. I recall paying close attention to the lyrics and melody, which were cheerful, whimsical, and warm. The song offered a soundscape of guidance for independence. 

“Them that’s got shall get, 

Them that’s not shall lose 

So, the bible said, and it still is news 

Mama may have

Papa may have 

But God bless the child that’s got his own, that’s got his own.” 

When I was sixteen, my music mentor, Melvin (Housecat) Hendrix, reintroduced me to Billie Holiday’s music. He asked, what songs did I desire to learn and sing?” I named a few pieces, including Billie Holiday’s God Bless the Child. A few weeks later, we visited his friend’s home studio, which had an incredible jazz collection. He played Lady Day’s recordings from her diverse catalog of songs. Some songs I knew, and some I didn’t. However, I enjoyed getting more familiar with the musical classics. What I do remember is that her music was alluring. While listening to her music, I listened closely to the nuisances in her voice and the way she manipulated phrasing and tempo. I discovered that her music and lyrics were her survivors’ license. I then understood that is what enchanted her audience. 

Not to mention, her vocal style and improvisational skills strongly influenced jazz vocalists and music. Meredith Coleman McGee tells a compelling story of Billie Holiday’s ability to interpret the music the way she did. Holiday’s turbulent childhood, her abusive relationships, her drug addiction, how the government informants plotted to destroy her career, and the joy she found through true, meaningful, organic friendships molded her musical growth. Also, the emotional joys and pains she shared through her musical creative process were authentic.

Billie Holiday’s song Strange Fruit is sadly one of America’s most potent revolutionary songs. She was arguably the most dynamic artist in music history. Though, she lived an American horror story. Her life and music revealed the incredible amount of tenacity that she had to endure tragedies and triumphs to fight against injustices. 

Billie Holiday: Jazz Singer by Meredith Coleman McGee offers incredible scenes into Lady Day’s short life that reflects light on society’s complexities as a reminder that you don’t have to be perfect to create meaningful change.

Tawanna Shaunte, Jazz Vocalist

Tawanna Shaunte bio: The sultry multi-faceted singer and songwriter is a Mississippi native. She has performed in some of the most notable venues in the U.S. and internationally. Her album and EP discography include: Eclectik Soul, Rising, Shades of Color, Freedom Agent, Life, Blues & LightningBugs and Merry Go Round which express an array of genres from soulful jazz, blues, and more.  

Advance Praise for Billie Holiday: Jazz Singer

I just read Billie Holiday: Jazz Singer a biography of Lady Day.” What a great book!! The author covers so much information in this book. It reads easily, as well. I learned so much from this wonderful biography and feel like I met Billie Holiday! All the great pictures are just a bonus!! 

Chris Gill, Central Mississippi Blues Society, Musician, Member, Performer

Billie Holiday: Jazz Singer is an excellent, informative, inspirational, and musically historically accurate book which is a must read for jazz lovers.

Ronald Shelton, Pensacola Jazz Society, Member & Jazz Music Collector

Meredith Coleman McGee’s portrait of American icon Billie Holiday is intimate and unflinching, as it details her life and music in the context of 20th century race relations, drug use and abuse, rackets and the jazz business, and complicated relations with her family and friends. As an introduction to the great singer’s place in history and the present, it’s highly relatable to readers now.

Howard Mandel, Author, Editor, President, Jazz Journalists Association

Meredith Coleman McGee’s scholarly book, Billie Holiday: Jazz Singer, is a loving and sincere reflection of the genius of Lady Day whose contributions to jazz are unparalleled. This intimate work which beautifully summarizes the struggles and accomplishments of this incredible artist spans her life from childhood through her 30-year career to her untimely death in 1959. This book honors how her musical interpretations and inspirations changed our world forever. While reading, I heard Holiday’s classic sultry voice. This book is a must read for fans of Billie Holiday and Jazz music scholars. 

Dr. Laura Petillo, Music Programs Manager, Count Basie Center for the Arts, Red Bank, NJ

I just finished reading Billie Holiday: Jazz Singer. What a wonderful and refreshing look at her. Her life was chronicled in such a refreshing way, the low’s and high’s of her life was given true meaning and showed the promise music provides to healing.

Malcolm Sheppard, President, Central Mississippi Blues Society

As Pluto once said, “…Books give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” I found Meredith Coleman McGee’s  Billie Holiday: Jazz Singer, a biography of Lady Day,  to be an extraordinary and exceptional book which shares the incredible life of Billie Holiday.  May the gardenias in the garden continue to bloom for the next generation of artists who have a passion for the arts and revolution.

Arcell Cabuag, Director of Education, Restoration Dance Youth Ensemble Artistic Director

LEFT: Dr. Laura Petillo, Music Programs Manager, Count Basie Center for the Arts, Red Bank, NJ. RIGHT: Alma Fisher, Retired School Librarian, Meredith Coleman McGee, Jackson, MS, Oct. 23, 2023

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Meredith Coleman McGee, a poet, a professional writer, book publisher, book collector, lecturer, and small business owner, is the author of six full-length and seven children’s books which include: Billie Holiday: Jazz Singer, Baby Bubba and Kay, Juneteenth: Freedom Day,  Midnight Moon,Every Inch Love Will,   Odyssey,  Nashida: Visits Mississippi’s Old Capitol Museum, James Meredith: Warrior and the America that created him,  Nashida: Visits the Smith Robertson Museum, Nashida: Visits the Mississippi State Capitol,Married to Sin (Casada al Pecado), My Picture Dictionary, andMy First Book Series. McGee chairs Community Library Mississippi and promotes early literacy. McGee is a native of Los Angeles, California. She was raised in the Capital City of Jackson, Mississippi.

Meredith Coleman McGee, Author/ Acquisition Editor/ Publisher | Meredith Etc

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