Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday, beginning with her traumatic youth. The story depicts her early attempts at a singing career and her eventual rise to stardom, as well as her difficult relationship with Louis McKay, her boyfriend and manager. Casting a shadow over even Holiday's brightest moments is the vocalist's severe drug addiction, which threatens to end both her career and her life.
Keywords: 1930s , 1940s , addiction , based-on-memoir-or-autobiography , billie-holiday , biography , black-singer , black-woman , blues-music , brothel , carnegie-hall , cautionary , death-of-a-musician , deep-south-racism , desperate , disheartening , drug-overdose , dying-young , following-one-s-dream , harlem-new-york-city , heroin-addict , jazz-singer-or-musician , kkk-rally , lynching , mental-breakdown , music-history , music-tour , new-york-city , nightclub-singer , period-drama , period-film , powerful , racism , rape-victim , rise-to-fame , somber , straight-jacket , tour-bus , wayward-girl , withdrawal , woman-musician , woman-s-story