Few singers have had as much of an impact on jazz as Billie Holiday. Her unique vocal style and emotionally charged performancesmade her one of the most popular and influential artists of her time. Her life was not easy, however, and she faced many obstacles along the way. This quotes compilation tells her best quotes, from her difficult childhood to her successful career in music. It also explores the personal dramas that played out in her life and how they influenced her work.
Discover the best Sing, Love, Feelings, Singing, Working quotes from Billie Holiday, and much more.
If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all. — Billie Holiday
When you sing, always tell the truth. — Billie Holiday
I can only sing songs my way. I don’t know any other way. — Billie Holiday
I never sing a song the same way twice. — Billie Holiday
I can’t stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years. — Billie Holiday
I’ve been told that nobody sings the word ‘hunger’ like I do. — Billie Holiday
BILLIE HOLIDAY QUOTES ABOUT LOVE
All dope can do for you is kill you the long hard way. and it can kill the people you love right along with you. — Billie Holiday
Don’t threaten me with love, baby. Let’s just go walking in the rain. — Billie Holiday
Love is like a faucet, it turns off and on. — Billie Holiday
You’ve got to have something to eat and a little love in your life before you can hold still for any damn body’s sermon on how to behave. — Billie Holiday
BILLIE HOLIDAY QUOTES ON SINGING
I don’t think I’m singing. I feel like I’m playing a horn…What comes out is what I feel. — Billie Holiday
When Lester plays, he almost seems to be singing; one can almost hear the words. — Billie Holiday
Singing songs like ‘The Man I Love’ or ‘Porgy’ is no more work than sitting down and eating Chinese roast duck, and I love roast duck. — Billie Holiday
I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That’s all I know. — Billie Holiday
BILLIE HOLIDAY QUOTES REGARDING WORKING
I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old. — Billie Holiday
You can’t copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you’re working without any real feeling. — Billie Holiday
Everyones got to be different. You can’t copy anybody and end up with anything. If you copy, it means you’re working without any real feeling. And without feeling, whatever you do amounts to nothing. — Billie Holiday
Why was Billie Holiday significant?
Billie Holiday was one of the greatest jazz singers from the 1930s to the ’50s.
She had no formal musical training, but, with an instinctive sense of musical structure and a deep knowledge of jazz and blues, she developed a singing style that was deeply moving and individual.
You can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation. — Billie Holiday
You can’t copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you’re working without any real feeling. No two people on earth are alike, and it’s got to be that way in music or it isn’t music. — Billie Holiday
BILLIE HOLIDAY QUOTES ABOUT FEELINGS
I try to improvise like Les Young, Louis Armstrong or someone else I admire. What comes out is what I feel. — Billie Holiday
Redundant Thematics
In Billie Holiday Statements
sing
year
feel
music
love
kill
working
singing
dope
feeling
If you find a tune and it’s got something to do with you, you don’t have to evolve anything. You just feel it, and when you sing it other people can feel something too. — Billie Holiday
The blues to me is like being very sad, very sick, going to church, being very happy … it’s sort of a mixed up thing. You just have to feel it. — Billie Holiday
I don’t think I ever sing the same way twice. The blues is sort of a mixed–up thing. You just have to feel it. Anything I do sing is part of my life. — Billie Holiday
Inspiring Phrases From Billie Holiday
Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what’s more than enough. — Billie Holiday
In this country kings or dukes don’t amount to nothing. The greatest man around then was Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he was the President; so I started calling Lester the President. It got shortened to Pres. — Billie Holiday