Paul Alexander

Dec 8, 2024 | fivebooks.com | Whoopi Goldberg |Paul Alexander |David Greenberg |Patrick Kennedy

Every year the editors at AudioFile magazine spend a lot of time putting together their best-of-the-year list of recommended audiobooks, picking out titles they regard as exceptional. Below you’ll find their choices of the best audiobooks of 2024 in the biography and memoir category. Memoirs can be particularly rewarding to listen to as audiobooks, as often it’s the author narrating the story of their own life.

Apr 3, 2024 | bookbrowse.com | Paul Alexander |Valerie Morales

BookBrowse: Billie Holiday's haunting voice captivated thousands, but she couldn't control her personal demons. In 1958, Billie Holiday began work on an ambitious album called Lady in Satin. Accompanied by a full orchestra for the first time in her career and nervous, she was often late to rehearsal, drunk, or both.

Mar 6, 2024 | amazon.ca | Paul Alexander

“Making it as real as if you had been there, Paul Alexander has done an incomparable job bringing to life both elements of his title. He shows us the malice and ignorance of Billie’s accusers and eventual killers, the love and support of friends, and her own courage and purity of heart. A must- read for all lovers of the immortal Lady Day.”—Dan Morgenstern, executive director emeritus, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University“The unfinished life of Billie Holiday haunts us.

Feb 26, 2024 | wbgo.org | Paul Alexander

The last time Billie Holiday and Lester Young appeared together was in 1957, fifteen months before his death, when they were both included in a television program featuring some of the most revered figures in jazz. “The best thing that ever happened to television,” author Eric Larrabee wrote in Harper’s Magazine at the time, “happened on CBS between 5 and 6 in the afternoon on December 8, [1957].

Feb 25, 2024 | nydailynews.com | Michael Aronson |Paul Alexander

Billie Holiday rose to prominence in 1939 headlining at Manhattan’s Café Society, America’s first integrated nightclub. The price of that fame was to be stalked by law enforcement and the media. Holiday’s reputation as a beloved jazz singer was marred by the counter-narrative that she was a hapless drug addict and victim of shady men. Now, 65 years after her death, it’s time to restore Holiday’s legacy — unconditionally — as an indisputable creative genius and American icon.