Drawing on a vast amount of new material that has surfaced in the last decade, jazz writer John Szwed considers how Holiday's life inflected her art, her influences, her uncanny voice and rhythmic genius, a number of her signature songs, and her legacy.

Paperback edition printed 2016 in a smaller format (22 cm), by Penguin Books.

The myth. The book I : Lady sings the blues ; The book II : the rest of the story ; The image : film, television, photography -- The musician. The prehistory of a singer ; The singer I ; The singer II ; The songs I ; The songs II.