Diana Ross Michel Legrand  
Format: Audio CD
 
Face it, when searching for female singers to portray the hard-knock life of troubled jazz legend Billie Holiday, Diana Ross's name shouldn't even have come to mind. But portray her she did, earning herself an Oscar nod in the process. The mother of all divas did Lady Day's legacy proud. This soundtrack (which includes dialogue from the 1972 film) ain't Holiday, but it ain't bad; Ross is in fine and flavorful voice. She manages to both capture Holiday's idiosyncratic sound (which such pretenders to the throne as Erykah Badu have trampled on) and still sound enough like herself to satisfy her own legions of fans. She conjures up Holiday's vulnerability and phrasing without attempting to slavishly imitate. As an homage this works. --Amy Linden
 
Track Listings
Disc: 1
  1. The Arrest
  2. Lady Sings The Blues
  3. Baltimore Brothel
  4. Billie Sneaks Into Dean & Dean's Swingin Uptown
  5. T'Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do
  6. Big Ben, C.C. Rider
  7. All Of Me
  8. The Man I Love
  9. Them There Eyes
  10. Gardenias From Louis
  11. Cafe Manhattan
  12. God Bless The Child
  13. I Cried For You (Now It's Your Turn To Cry Over Me)
  14. Billie & Harry, Don't Explain
  15. Mean To Me
  16. Fine And Mellow
  17. What A Little Moonlight Can Do
  18. Louis Visits Billie On Tour, Love Theme
  19. Cafe Manhattan Party
  20. Persuasion, T'Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do
  21. Agent's Office
  22. Love Is Here To Stay
  23. Fine And Mellow
  24. Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)
  25. You've Changed
  26. Gimme A Pigfoot (And A Bottle Of Beer)
  27. Good Morning Heartache
  28. All Of Me
  29. Love Theme
  30. My Man (Mon Homme)
  31. Don't Explain
  32. I Cried For You (Now It's Your Turn To Cry Over Me)
  33. Strange Fruit
  34. God Bless The Child
  35. Closing Theme
Audio CD (April 13, 1992)
Original Release Date: October 12, 1972
Number of Discs: 1
Format: Soundtrack
Label: Motown Records
Run Time: 144 minutes