Artist	Song
Diana Ross	Good Morning Heartache
from Lady Sings the Blues (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2005)
Nina Simone	Strange Fruit
from Compact Jazz: Nina Simone (1989)
Ella Fitzgerald & Count Basie Big Band	Fine and Mellow
from Bluella - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Blues (2006)
Frank Sinatra	Night and Day
from Classic Sinatra - His Great Performances, 1953-1960 (2000)
Michael Bublé	These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)
from Special Delivery - EP (2010)
Cat Power	Don't Explain
from Jukebox (Deluxe Edition) (2008)
Marianne Faithfull	Gloomy Sunday
from A Perfect Stranger - The Island Anthology (1998)
Kate Bush	The Man I Love
from The Glory of Gershwin (1994)
Barbra Streisand	My Man
from The Essential Barbra Streisand (2002)
Aretha Franklin	Crazy He Calls Me
from Love Songs (2008)
Bettye LaVette	God Bless the Child
from Change Is Gonna Come Sessions (2009)
Carmen McRae	Billie's Blues
from Any Old Time (1993)
Anita O'Day	Them There Eyes
from Anita O'Day's Finest Hour (2000)
Blossom Dearie	Lover Man
from Blossom Dearie (1989)
Dianne Reeves	What a Little Moonlight Can Do
from A Little Moonlight (2003)
Rod Stewart	All of Me
from Fly Me to the Moon... - The Great American Songbook, Vol. V (Deluxe Version) (2010)
Chet Baker	Travelin' Light
from Baker's Holiday (1989)
Wynton Marsalis	I Cover the Waterfront
from Standard Time, Vol. 3: The Resolution of Romance (1990)
Dee Dee Bridgewater	Lady Sings the Blues
from Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love from Dee Dee (2010)
Casey MacGill & the Spirits of Rhythm	Swing Brother Swing
from Jump (2007)

Comment:

The best singers don't merely cover Billie Holiday — they absorb her, carrying her torch a few yards more, keeping her flame alive for new generations. Former Supremes leader Diana Ross, who garnered an Academy Award® nomination for her portrayal of Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues, captures Billie's deep-seated vulnerability — not to mention her pitch-perfect phrasing — in "Good Morning Heartache." Nina Simone slows the already dirge-like "Strange Fruit" to a glacial crawl, slicing open the song's veins with a performance that's equal parts mournful, bitter, and defiant. And if you thought only soul and R&B singers dive heart-first into Billie Holiday's songbook, check out Marianne Faithfull's burned-out, bummed-out, cabaret-chanteuse take on "Gloomy Sunday." But don't stop there: From Chet Baker to Cat Power, your favorite artists — from every corner of the musical universe — have spent the last 50-plus years striving for just a little taste of the Holiday magic.

Feedback: