The Foote Files: Billie Holiday

(CBS 11) - Our twin spins will return on Thursday, but today we feature the queen of jazz from the 1930s-1950s: Billie Holiday.

Holiday is no stranger to the Foote Files so we won't repeat some of her life's successes and challenges.

American blues singer Billie Holiday (1915 - 1959) singing with an orchid in her hair, early 1950s. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Today's song is called "A Fine Romance," composed in 1936 by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. It was written for the RKO feature film, "Swing Time," starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Many singers have recorded this song, including Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, Leana Horne and Frank Sinatra. But the Holiday version is a good one!

Released on September 29, 1936, on the Vocation Records label, running 2:53 (by the way, the record format it was released on was a 78 RPM single!).

Enjoy!!

Billie Holiday - A Fine Romance by purple0accident on YouTube

 

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