Wishing on the Moon: Life and Times of Billie Holiday by Donald Clarke
This biography of Billie Holliday describes the music business and club scene of her youth and her childhood in Baltimore (where the author suspects she was a teenage prostitute and an abused child) before she became a dancer and then a singer. The book presents her life and achievements in the context of the music industry of the period. With accounts of the recording sessions and club dates, in chronological order.