A NancysingsBilllie

Hi, I my name is Nancy Ridley-Hughes. I first heard Billie Holiday's music from the movie "Lady Sings the Blues" starring Diana Ross. A friend gave me a Billie Holidy record in '82 and after that I purchased everything I could find. I felt a deep compassion for her feeling, sound, voice and soul. I listened and began to understand. Most of the standards she sang, I learned from listening to her sing them. I began singing her songs along 75th Street in Chicago, the then South Side Jazz Strip. I've had the fortune to perform with such great Masters as Von Freeman, Jodie Christian, Eddie Johnson, John Young, Eddie DeHass, George Hughes, Brad Goode and other Chicago Musicians. When I tell musicians that I sing Biilie's music, they shoo me away. After I perform a song I've had musicans kiss my hand. " What an honor" I am not a Billie Holiday imitator. I sing her music as close to how as she has originally composed it with her voice. And I do this better than any vocalist in the world. Each song I sing that she has composed (in song) comes out as a Billie Holiday composition.

Tags