From four-time Pulitzer Prize nominee David Margolick, STRANGE FRUIT explores the story of the memorable civil rights ballad made famous by Billie Holiday in the late 1930s. The song's powerful, evocative lyrics-written by a Jewish communist schoolteacher who, late in life, adopted the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg-portray the lynching of a black man in the South. Holiday's performances sparked conflict and controversy wherever she went, and the song has since been covered by Lena Horne, Tori Amos, Sting, and countless others. Margolick's careful reconstruction of the story behind the song, portions of which have appeared in Vanity Fair, includes a discography of "Strange Fruit" recordings as well as newly uncovered photographs that capture Holiday in performance at Greenwich Village's Cafe Society. A must for jazz aficionados.
- ISBN10 0786742127
- ISBN13 9780786742127
- Publish Date 6 November 2008 (first published 9 April 2001)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 27 January 2017
- Publish Country US
- Publisher INGRAM PUBLISHER SERVICES US
- Imprint Perseus Books
- Format eBook
- Pages 144
- Language English