Lady Sings The Blues (1972 Film)
Face it, when searching for female singers to portray the  hard-knock life of troubled jazz legendBillie 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 asErykah Baduhave  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