麻豆社

Hers is a unique voice and so unusual that many music writers have had trouble trying to find the words to describe it. Some called it olive-toned, for others it was whisky-hued. And then there were words like lazy, feline, and smoky.

Writer John Szwed wrote a biograhy of her, Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth, to try to understand what made Billie Holiday's singing so unique.

(Photo: Billie Holiday in 1955. Credit: Evening Standard/Getty Images)