Details
HOLIDAY, BILLIE, Jazz vocalist. Printed document signed ("Billie Holiday"), an American Guild of Variety Artists engagement contract, countersigned by Lester Isaacs, Business Manager of Lester Isaacs Big Five Social Club, New York City, 8 September 1958. One page, 4to, half-inch tear to upper margin, with a list of nine songs written in ink on verso, possibly by Holiday's accompanist, noting the keys and tempos. The contract stipulates that Holiday agrees to perform with an accompanying pianist on October 17 at the St. Nicholas Arena and on October 18 at the Armory in Elizabeth, New Jersey, for the sum of $500 each night--Accompanied by a glossy photograph of Holiday, [n.d., 1930s?], 254 x 203mm. (10 x 8 in.).
During the fall of 1958 Billie Holiday's health was in rapid decline following years of drug addiction and alcoholism. Her still numerous public appearances in the US and in Europe were emotionally wrenching for her friends, who watched her swaying on the stage, her once supple voice reduced to a hoarse whisper. Within a few weeks of the engagements agreed to in this contract she appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and was "barely able to rise to the occasion. Promoter Jimmy Lyons recounts: 'She had no idea where she was or what she was doing...'" (John White, Billie Holiday, her Life and Times, New York 1987, p. 104). The audience received her with "tumultuous applause" at the end of her set. Nine months later, on July 17 1959, Billie Holiday died, aged 44.
Engagement contracts signed by Billie Holiday are rare, since most were signed by her agent. The songs listed on the verso of this contract include several of her most popular pieces: "Lover Man," "God Bless the Child," "My Man," etc.
During the fall of 1958 Billie Holiday's health was in rapid decline following years of drug addiction and alcoholism. Her still numerous public appearances in the US and in Europe were emotionally wrenching for her friends, who watched her swaying on the stage, her once supple voice reduced to a hoarse whisper. Within a few weeks of the engagements agreed to in this contract she appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and was "barely able to rise to the occasion. Promoter Jimmy Lyons recounts: 'She had no idea where she was or what she was doing...'" (John White, Billie Holiday, her Life and Times, New York 1987, p. 104). The audience received her with "tumultuous applause" at the end of her set. Nine months later, on July 17 1959, Billie Holiday died, aged 44.
Engagement contracts signed by Billie Holiday are rare, since most were signed by her agent. The songs listed on the verso of this contract include several of her most popular pieces: "Lover Man," "God Bless the Child," "My Man," etc.