Andra Day

Of course, the role of Billie Holiday was for Andra Day an expert in candy, one of those roles for which many actresses spend their lives fighting. It must be said that due to her physical and interpretive characteristics, Andra has found a character that fits her like a glove, nothing less than the charismatic vocalist who competes with Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and perhaps Dinah Washington for first place among singers. jazz of all time In any case, nobody surpasses Holiday in terms of the originality of her vocal tone, with a soft way of singing that is impossible to forget and that she continues to dazzle at the turn of three-quarters of a century.

Andra Day –her full name is Cassandra Monique Battie– was born on December 30, 1984 in Spokane, in the state of Washington. When she was three years old, her family moved to San Diego, California. She began to sing as a child, in the Methodist Church of Chula Vista, California, and at the age of five she was already giving dance classes. She later attended the San Diego School for the Creative and Performing Arts in Paradise Hills, graduating in 2003. In 2010 she was “discovered” by chance by Kai Millard, Stevie Wonder’s then-wife, who saw Andra Day perform. as a children’s entertainer in a shopping mall. It was then Wonder who put her in contact with producer Adrian Gurvitz, who collaborated on the singer’s first and only album to date, entitled “Cheers to the Fall”. It was a well-received album and where a very strong influence of Amy Winehouse is perceived, especially in songs like “Only Love”, “Gold” or “City Burns”. Of course it was clear that Andra Day’s vocal versatility was enormous.

Apart from many “covers” uploaded to YouTube with great success, the single “Rise Up” earned a nomination for Best R&B Performance at the 2016 Grammy Awards. His name began to spread and he even performed at the White House. Two years later came her first work for the cinema, in the film Marshall , in which she had a slight appearance, but whose song “Stand Up for Something”, interpreted together with Common , got an Oscar nomination for Best Song. Original. Also, as if that were not enough, the duo sang it at the awards ceremony. Not bad to start.

And in her next film, The United States vs. Billie Holiday , the budding actress already landed the leading role. Few actresses could have better portrayed the one and only Billie Holiday, a woman with a complicated life who was celebrated as much for her curseness, her messy life and her addictions as for her singing talent. Andra Day does an enormous job in the film, so that her versions of songs as celebrated as “Strange Fruit” or “All of Me” make your hair stand on end and seem to revive the ill-fated Holiday, who died prematurely at the age of 44. The actress justly won the Golden Globes and also earned the Oscar nomination for best actress.