Billie Holiday

Andra Day: ‘I want to be sexy and pow in an awards outfit’
Playing Billie Holiday was a daunting task for the first-time actor and now Oscar nominee, but she’s having a blast at the virtual award ceremonies
11, Apr, 2021 @9:00 AM

TV tonight: the story of Billie Holiday
Billie traces writer Linda Lipnack Kuehl’s search to complete the comprehensive biography of the jazz singer. Plus: Man in Room 301 concludes. Here’s what to watch this evening
Ammar Kalia, Graeme Virtue, Hannah Verdier, Hannah J Davies and Paul Howlett
13, Mar, 2021 @6:00 AM

The United States vs Billie Holiday review – Andra Day's film all the way
As the blues singer, Day is magnetic in Lee Daniels’s often chaotic biopic, built around a speculative romance between Holiday and a government agent
Mark Kermode
28, Feb, 2021 @8:00 AM

God bless the style: how Billie Holiday made glamour revolutionary
With Lee Daniels’ film The United States Vs Billie Holiday out this week, the jazz star’s signatures – gowns, gloves and gardenias – are being reassessed. Could they be seen as a radical act?
Lauren Cochrane
22, Feb, 2021 @5:58 AM

Lee Daniels: ‘Studios will give you about $10 to make a black movie’
The maverick director makes the films no one else would dare to – persuading Oprah to break her acting drought, and Nicole Kidman to pee on Zac Efron. What’s his next coup?
Hadley Freeman
20, Feb, 2021 @12:00 PM

The United States vs Billie Holiday review – Lee Daniels' misguided biopic | Peter Bradshaw's film of the week
Lee Daniels’ bizarre decision to root this account of the singer’s late years in supposition about her romance with a federal agent cheapens her courage
Peter Bradshaw
19, Feb, 2021 @5:00 PM

M Ward: Think of Spring review – a spectral tribute to Billie Holiday
The ever-questing Matthew Ward turns his minimalist attentions to Holiday’s lush 1958 album Lady in Satin
Neil Spencer
05, Dec, 2020 @4:00 PM

Streaming: the best jazz films
A new Billie Holiday documentary prompts a look at the films that best capture the spirit of the jazz greats
Guy Lodge
14, Nov, 2020 @8:00 AM

Billie review – a truer, historical spin on the great Billie Holiday
Exploitation and harassment, not ‘inner demons’, brought down the singer, argues this documentary that showcases her superb voice
Peter Bradshaw
12, Nov, 2020 @11:00 AM

Singer, activist, sex machine, addict: the troubled brilliance of Billie Holiday
A new documentary uncovers lost tapes to tell the intimate real story of the jazz singer – one with terrible resonance today as the US continues to fight institutional racism
Alex Godfrey
06, Nov, 2020 @11:51 AM

Jimmy Cobb obituary
Jazz drummer who continued to perform for half a century after recording Kind of Blue with Miles Davis
John Fordham
28, May, 2020 @4:16 PM

Live Aid to Sonic Death Monkey – the best gigs at the movies
As the Queen and Elton John biopics prove, great concert performances are at the heart of the best films about music. Here are 15 of the finest
Tom Fordy
29, May, 2019 @6:32 AM
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