Billie Holiday

Janis loved Billie’s voice. She once said, “Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday….They are so subtle, they can milk you with two notes. They can go no farther than from a to b, and they can make you feel like they told you the whole universe…” One of the two books that Janis took with her to San Francisco was Billie’s autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues. Richard Hundgen, a friend of Janis’, believes that it was like a bible to her and that she kept it all her life.